HOW TO WRITE SPECIAL FEATURE ARTICLES

A HANDBOOK FOR REPORTERS, CORRESPONDENTS
AND FREE-LANCE WRITERS WHO DESIRE TO
CONTRIBUTE TO POPULAR MAGAZINES AND
MAGAZINE SECTIONS OF NEWSPAPERS

BY

WILLARD GROSVENOR BLEYER, PH.D.

Author of “Newspaper Writing and Editing,” and “Types of News Writing”;
Director of the Course in Journalism in the University of Wisconsin

BOSTON, NEW YORK, CHICAGO, SAN FRANCISCO

HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY

The Riverside Press Cambridge

The Riverside Press
CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS
PRINTED IN THE U.S.A.

PREFACE

This book is the result of twelve years’ experience in teaching
university students to write special feature articles for newspapers and
popular magazines. By applying the methods outlined in the following
pages, young men and women have been able to prepare articles that have
been accepted by many newspaper and magazine editors. The success that
these students have achieved leads the author to believe that others who
desire to write special articles may be aided by the suggestions given
in this book.

Although innumerable books on short-story writing have been published,
no attempt has hitherto been made to discuss in detail the writing of
special feature articles. In the absence of any generally accepted
method of approach to the subject, it has been necessary to work out a
systematic classification of the various types of articles and of the
different kinds of titles, beginnings, and similar details, as well as
to supply names by which to identify them.

A careful analysis of current practice in the writing of special feature
stories and popular magazine articles is the basis of the methods
presented. In this analysis an effort has been made to show the
application of the principles of composition to the writing of articles.
Examples taken from representative newspapers and magazines are freely
used to illustrate the methods discussed. To encourage students to
analyze typical articles, the second part of the book is devoted to a
collection of newspaper and magazine articles of various types, with an
outline for the analysis of them.

Particular emphasis is placed on methods of popularizing such knowledge
as is not available to the general reader. This has been done in the
belief that it is important for the average person to know of the
progress that is being made in every field of human endeavor, in order
that he may, if possible, apply the results to his own affairs. The
problem, therefore, is to show aspiring writers how to present
discoveries, inventions, new methods, and every significant advance in
knowledge, in an accurate and attractive form.

To train students to write articles for newspapers and popular magazines
may, perhaps, be regarded by some college instructors in composition as
an undertaking scarcely worth their while. They would doubtless prefer
to encourage their students to write what is commonly called
“literature.” The fact remains, nevertheless, that the average
undergraduate cannot write anything that approximates literature,
whereas experience has shown that many students can write acceptable
popular articles. Moreover, since the overwhelming majority of Americans
read only newspapers and magazines, it is by no means an unimportant
task for our universities to train writers to supply the steady demand
for well-written articles. The late Walter Hines Page, founder of the
World’s Work and former editor of the Atlantic Monthly, presented
the whole situation effectively in an article on “The Writer and the
University,” when he wrote:

Special feature stories and popular magazine articles constitute a type
of writing particularly adapted to the ability of the novice, who has
developed some facility in writing, but who may not have sufficient
maturity or talent to undertake successful short-story writing or other
distinctly literary work. Most special articles cannot be regarded as
literature. Nevertheless, they afford the young writer an opportunity to
develop whatever ability he possesses. Such writing teaches him four
things that are invaluable to any one who aspires to do literary work.
It trains him to observe what is going on about him, to select what will
interest the average reader, to organize material effectively, and to
present it attractively. If this book helps the inexperienced writer,
whether he is in or out of college, to acquire these four essential
qualifications for success, it will have accomplished its purpose.

For permission to reprint complete articles, the author is indebted to
the editors of the Boston Herald, the Christian Science Monitor, the
Boston Evening Transcript, the New York Evening Post, the Detroit
News, the Milwaukee Journal, the Kansas City Star, the New York
Sun, the Providence Journal, the Ohio State Journal, the New York
World, the Saturday Evening Post, the Independent, the Country
Gentleman, the Outlook, McClure’s Magazine, Everybody’s Magazine,
the Delineator, the Pictorial Review, Munsey’s Magazine, the
American Magazine, System, Farm and Fireside, the Woman’s Home
Companion, the Designer, and the Newspaper Enterprise Association.
The author is also under obligation to the many newspapers and magazines
from which excerpts, titles, and other material have been quoted.

At every stage in the preparation of this book the author has had the
advantage of the coöperation and assistance of his wife, Alice Haskell
Bleyer.

University of Wisconsin
Madison, August, 1919

CONTENTS

HOW TO WRITE SPECIAL FEATURE ARTICLES

PART I

CHAPTER I

THE FIELD FOR SPECIAL ARTICLES

Origin of Special Articles. The rise of popular magazines and of
magazine sections of daily newspapers during the last thirty years has
resulted in a type of writing known as the “special feature article.”
Such articles, presenting interesting and timely subjects in popular
form, are designed to attract a class of readers that were not reached
by the older literary periodicals. Editors of newspapers and magazines a
generation ago began to realize that there was no lack of interest on
the part of the general public in scientific discoveries and inventions,
in significant political and social movements, in important persons and
events. Magazine articles on these themes, however, had usually been
written by specialists who, as a rule, did not attempt to appeal to the
“man in the street,” but were satisfied to reach a limited circle of
well-educated readers.

To create a larger magazine-reading public, editors undertook to develop
a popular form and style that would furnish information as attractively
as possible. The perennial appeal of fiction gave them a suggestion for
the popularization of facts. The methods of the short story, of the
drama, and even of the melodrama, applied to the presentation of general
information, provided a means for catching the attention of the casual
reader.

Daily newspapers had already discovered the advantage of giving the
day’s news in a form that could be read rapidly with the maximum degree
of interest by the average man and woman. Certain so-called sensational
papers had gone a step further in these attempts to give added
attractiveness to news and had emphasized its melodramatic aspects.
Other papers had seen the value of the “human interest” phases of the
day’s happenings. It was not surprising, therefore, that Sunday editors
of newspapers should undertake to apply to special articles the same
methods that had proved successful in the treatment of news.

The product of these efforts at popularization was the special feature
article, with its story-like form, its touches of description, its
“human interest,” its dramatic situations, its character portrayal—all
effectively used to furnish information and entertainment for that rapid
reader, the “average American.”

Definition of a Special Article. A special feature article may be
defined as a detailed presentation of facts in an interesting form
adapted to rapid reading, for the purpose of entertaining or informing
the average person. It usually deals with (1) recent news that is of
sufficient importance to warrant elaboration; (2) timely or seasonal
topics not directly connected with news; or (3) subjects of general
interest that have no immediate connection with current events.

Although frequently concerned with news, the special feature article is
more than a mere news story. It aims to supplement the bare facts of the
news report by giving more detailed information regarding the persons,
places, and circumstances that appear in the news columns. News must be
published as fast as it develops, with only enough explanatory material
to make it intelligible. The special article, written with the
perspective afforded by an interval of a few days or weeks, fills in the
bare outlines of the hurried news sketch with the life and color that
make the picture complete.

The special feature article must not be confused with the type of news
story called the “feature,” or “human interest,” story. The latter
undertakes to present minor incidents of the day’s news in an
entertaining form. Like the important news story, it is published
immediately after the incident occurs. Its purpose is to appeal to
newspaper readers by bringing out the humorous and pathetic phases of
events that have little real news value. It exemplifies, therefore,
merely one distinctive form of news report.

The special feature article differs from the older type of magazine
article, not so much in subject as in form and style. The most marked
difference lies in the fact that it supplements the recognized methods
of literary and scientific exposition with the more striking devices of
narrative, descriptive, and dramatic writing.

Scope of Feature Articles. The range of subjects for special
articles is as wide as human knowledge and experience. Any theme is
suitable that can be made interesting to a considerable number of
persons. A given topic may make either a local or a general appeal. If
interest in it is likely to be limited to persons in the immediate
vicinity of the place with which the subject is connected, the article
is best adapted to publication in a local newspaper. If the theme is one
that appeals to a larger public, the article is adapted to a periodical
of general circulation. Often local material has interest for persons in
many other communities, and hence is suitable either for newspapers or
for magazines.

Some subjects have a peculiar appeal to persons engaged in a particular
occupation or devoted to a particular avocation or amusement. Special
articles on these subjects of limited appeal are adapted to
agricultural, trade, or other class publications, particularly to such
of these periodicals as present their material in a popular rather than
a technical manner.

The Newspaper Field. Because of their number and their local
character, daily newspapers afford a ready medium for the publication of
special articles, or “special feature stories,” as they are generally
called in newspaper offices. Some newspapers publish these articles from
day to day on the editorial page or in other parts of the paper. Many
more papers have magazine sections on Saturday or Sunday made up
largely of such “stories.” Some of these special sections closely
resemble regular magazines in form, cover, and general make-up.

The articles published in newspapers come from three sources: (1)
syndicates that furnish a number of newspapers in different cities with
special articles, illustrations, and other matter, for simultaneous
publication; (2) members of the newspaper’s staff; that is, reporters,
correspondents, editors, or special writers employed for the purpose;
(3) so-called “free-lance” writers, professional or amateur, who submit
their “stories” to the editor of the magazine section.

Reporters, correspondents, and other regular members of the staff may be
assigned to write special feature stories, or may prepare such stories
on their own initiative for submission to the editor of the magazine
section. In many offices regular members of the staff are paid for
special feature stories in addition to their salaries, especially when
the subjects are not assigned to them and when the stories are prepared
in the writer’s own leisure time. Other papers expect their regular
staff members to furnish the paper with whatever articles they may
write, as a part of the work covered by their salary. If a paper has one
or more special feature writers on its staff, it may pay them a fixed
salary or may employ them “on space”; that is, pay them at a fixed
“space rate” for the number of columns that an article fills when
printed.

Newspaper correspondents, who are usually paid at space rates for news
stories, may add to their monthly “string,” or amount of space, by
submitting special feature articles in addition to news. They may also
submit articles to other papers that do not compete with their own
paper. Ordinarily a newspaper expects a correspondent to give it the
opportunity of printing any special feature stories that he may write.

Free-lance writers, who are not regularly employed by newspapers or
magazines as staff members, submit articles for the editor’s
consideration and are paid at space rates. Sometimes a free lance will
outline an article in a letter or in personal conference with an editor
in order to get his approval before writing it, but, unless the editor
knows the writer’s work, he is not likely to promise to accept the
completed article. To the writer there is an obvious advantage in
knowing that the subject as he outlines it is or is not an acceptable
one. If an editor likes the work of a free lance, he may suggest
subjects for articles, or may even ask him to prepare an article on a
given subject. Freelance writers, by selling their work at space rates,
can often make more money than they would receive as regular members of
a newspaper staff.

For the amateur the newspaper offers an excellent field. First, in every
city of any size there is at least one daily newspaper, and almost all
these papers publish special feature stories. Second, feature articles
on local topics, the material for which is right at the amateur’s hand,
are sought by most newspapers. Third, newspaper editors are generally
less critical of form and style than are magazine editors. With some
practice an inexperienced writer may acquire sufficient skill to prepare
an acceptable special feature story for publication in a local paper,
and even if he is paid little or nothing for it, he will gain experience
from seeing his work in print.

The space rate paid for feature articles is usually proportionate to the
size of the city in which the newspaper is published. In small cities
papers seldom pay more than $1 a column; in larger places the rate is
about $3 a column; in still larger ones, $5; and in the largest, from $8
to $10. In general the column rate for special feature stories is the
same as that paid for news stories.

What Newspapers Want. Since timeliness is the keynote of the
newspaper, current topics, either growing out of the news of the week or
anticipating coming events, furnish the subjects for most special
feature stories. The news columns from day to day provide room for only
concise announcements of such news as a scientific discovery, an
invention, the death of an interesting person, a report on social or
industrial conditions, proposed legislation, the razing of a landmark,
or the dedication of a new building. Such news often arouses the
reader’s curiosity to know more of the persons, places, and
circumstances mentioned. In an effort to satisfy this curiosity, editors
of magazine sections print special feature stories based on news.

By anticipating approaching events, an editor is able to supply articles
that are timely for a particular issue of his paper. Two classes of
subjects that he usually looks forward to in this way are: first, those
concerned with local, state, and national anniversaries; and second,
those growing out of seasonal occasions, such as holidays, vacations,
the opening of schools and colleges, moving days, commencements, the
opening of hunting and fishing seasons.

The general policy of a newspaper with regard to special feature stories
is the same as its policy concerning news. Both are determined by the
character of its circulation. A paper that is read largely by business
and professional men provides news and special articles that satisfy
such readers. A paper that aims to reach the so-called masses naturally
selects news and features that will appeal to them. If a newspaper has a
considerable circulation outside the city where it is published, the
editors, in framing their policy, cannot afford to overlook their
suburban and rural readers. The character of its readers, in a word,
determines the character of a paper’s special feature stories.

The newspaper is primarily local in character. A city, a state, or at
most a comparatively small section of the whole country, is its
particular field. Besides the news of its locality, it must, of course,
give significant news of the world at large. So, too, in addition to
local feature articles, it should furnish special feature stories of a
broader scope. This distinctively local character of newspapers
differentiates them from magazines of national circulation in the matter
of acceptable subjects for special articles.

The frequency of publication of newspapers, as well as their ephemeral
character, leads, in many instances, to the choice of comparatively
trivial topics for some articles. Merely to give readers entertaining
matter with which to occupy their leisure at the end of a day’s work or
on Sunday, some papers print special feature stories on topics of little
or no importance, often written in a light vein. Articles with no more
serious purpose than that of helping readers to while away a few spare
moments are obviously better adapted to newspapers, which are read
rapidly and immediately cast aside, than to periodicals.

The sensationalism that characterizes the policy of some newspapers
affects alike their news columns and their magazine sections. Gossip,
scandal, and crime lend themselves to melodramatic treatment as readily
in special feature articles as in news stories. On the other hand, the
relatively few magazines that undertake to attract readers by
sensationalism, usually do so by means of short stories and serials
rather than by special articles.

All newspapers, in short, use special feature stories on local topics,
some papers print trivial ones, and others “play up” sensational
material; whereas practically no magazine publishes articles of these
types.

Sunday Magazine Sections. The character and scope of special
articles for the Sunday magazine section of newspapers have been well
summarized by two well-known editors of such sections. Mr. John O’Hara
Cosgrove, editor of the New York Sunday World Magazine, and formerly
editor of Everybody’s Magazine, gives this as his conception of the
ideal Sunday magazine section:

The ideal Sunday magazine, as Mr. Frederick Boyd Stevenson, Sunday
editor of the Brooklyn Eagle, sees it, he describes thus:

The Magazine Field. The great majority of magazines differ from
all newspapers in one important respect—extent of circulation. Popular
magazines have a nation-wide distribution. It is only among agricultural
and trade journals that we find a distinctly sectional circulation. Some
of these publications serve subscribers in only one state or section,
and others issue separate state or sectional editions. The best basis of
differentiation among magazines, then, is not the extent of circulation
but the class of readers appealed to, regardless of the part of the
country in which the readers live. The popular general magazine, monthly
or weekly, aims to attract readers of all classes in all parts of the
United States.

How Magazines Get Material. Magazine articles come from (1) regular
members of the magazine’s staff, (2) professional or amateur free-lance
writers, (3) specialists who write as an avocation, and (4) readers of
the periodical who send in material based on their own experience.

The so-called “staff system” of magazine editing, in accordance with
which practically all the articles are prepared by writers regularly
employed by the publication, has been adopted by a few general magazines
and by a number of class periodicals. The staff is recruited from
writers and editors on newspapers and other magazines. Its members often
perform various editorial duties in addition to writing articles.
Publications edited in this way buy few if any articles from outsiders.

Magazines that do not follow the staff system depend largely or entirely
on contributors. Every editor daily receives many manuscripts submitted
by writers on their own initiative. From these he selects the material
best adapted to his publication. Experienced writers often submit an
outline of an article to a magazine editor for his approval before
preparing the material for publication. Free-lance writers of reputation
may be asked by magazine editors to prepare articles on given subjects.

In addition to material obtained in these ways, articles may be secured
from specialists who write as an avocation. An editor generally decides
on the subject that he thinks will interest his readers at a given time
and then selects the authority best fitted to treat it in a popular way.
To induce well-known men to prepare such articles, an editor generally
offers them more than he normally pays.

A periodical may encourage its readers to send in short articles giving
their own experiences and explaining how to do something in which they
have become skilled. These personal experience articles have a reality
and “human interest” that make them eminently readable. To obtain them
magazines sometimes offer prizes for the best, reserving the privilege
of publishing acceptable articles that do not win an award. Aspiring
writers should take advantage of these prize contests as a possible
means of getting both publication and money for their work.

Opportunities for Unknown Writers. The belief is common among
novices that because they are unknown their work is likely to receive
little or no consideration from editors. As a matter of fact, in the
majority of newspaper and magazine offices all unsolicited manuscripts
are considered strictly on their merits. The unknown writer has as good
a chance as anybody of having his manuscript accepted, provided that his
work has merit comparable with that of more experienced writers.

With the exception of certain newspapers that depend entirely on
syndicates for their special features, and of a few popular magazines
that have the staff system or that desire only the work of well-known
writers, every publication welcomes special articles and short stories
by novices. Moreover, editors take pride in the fact that from time to
time they “discover” writers whose work later proves popular. They not
infrequently tell how they accepted a short story, an article, or some
verse by an author of whom they had never before heard, because they
were impressed with the quality of it, and how the verdict of their
readers confirmed their own judgment.

The relatively small number of amateurs who undertake special articles,
compared with the hundreds of thousands who try their hand at short
stories, makes the opportunities for special feature writers all the
greater. Then, too, the number of professional writers of special
articles is comparatively small. This is particularly true of writers
who are able effectively to popularize scientific and technical
material, as well as of those who can present in popular form the
results of social and economic investigations.

It is not too much to say, therefore, that any writer who is willing (1)
to study the interests and the needs of newspaper and magazine readers,
(2) to gather carefully the material for his articles, and (3) to
present it accurately and attractively, may be sure that his work will
receive the fullest consideration in almost every newspaper and magazine
office in the country, and will be accepted whenever it is found to
merit publication.

Women as Feature Writers. Since the essential qualifications just
enumerated are not limited to men, women are quite as well fitted to
write special feature and magazine articles as are their brothers in the
craft. In fact, woman’s quicker sympathies and readier emotional
response to many phases of life give her a distinct advantage. Her
insight into the lives of others, and her intuitive understanding of
them, especially fit her to write good “human interest” articles. Both
the delicacy of touch and the chatty, personal tone that characterize
the work of many young women, are well suited to numerous topics.

In some fields, such as cooking, sewing, teaching, the care of children,
and household management, woman’s greater knowledge and understanding of
conditions furnish her with topics that are vital to other women and
often not uninteresting to men. The entry of women into occupations
hitherto open only to men is bringing new experiences to many women, and
is furnishing women writers with additional fields from which to draw
subjects and material. Ever since the beginning of popular magazines and
of special feature writing for newspapers, women writers have proved
their ability, but at no time have the opportunities for them been
greater than at present.

CHAPTER II

PREPARATION FOR SPECIAL FEATURE WRITING

Qualifications for Feature Writing. To attain success as a writer
of special feature articles a person must possess at least four
qualifications: (1) ability to find subjects that will interest the
average man and woman, and to see the picturesque, romantic, and
significant phases of these subjects; (2) a sympathetic understanding of
the lives and interests of the persons about whom and for whom he
writes; (3) thoroughness and accuracy in gathering material; (4) skill
to portray and to explain clearly, accurately, and attractively.

The much vaunted sense of news values commonly called a “nose for news,”
whether innate or acquired, is a prime requisite. Like the newspaper
reporter, the writer of special articles must be able to recognize what
at a given moment will interest the average reader. Like the reporter,
also, he must know how much it will interest him. An alert, responsive
attitude of mind toward everything that is going on in the world, and
especially in that part of the world immediately around him, will reveal
a host of subjects. By reading newspapers, magazines, and books, as well
as by intercourse with persons of various classes, a writer keeps in
contact with what people are thinking and talking about, in the world at
large and in his own community. In this way he finds subjects and also
learns how to connect his subjects with events and movements of interest
the country over.

Not only should he be quick to recognize a good subject; he must be able
to see the attractive and significant aspects of it. He must understand
which of its phases touch most closely the life and the interests of the
average person for whom he is writing. He must look at things from “the
other fellow’s” point of view. A sympathetic insight into the lives of
his readers is necessary for every writer who hopes to quicken his
subject with vital interest.

The alert mental attitude that constantly focuses the writer’s attention
on the men and women around him has been called “human curiosity,” which
Arnold Bennett says “counts among the highest social virtues (as
indifference counts among the basest defects), because it leads to the
disclosure of the causes of character and temperament and thereby to a
better understanding of the springs of human conduct.” The importance of
curiosity and of a keen sense of wonder has been emphasized as follows
by Mr. John M. Siddall, editor of the American Magazine, who directed
his advice to college students interested in the opportunities afforded
by writing as a profession:

Ability to investigate a subject thoroughly, and to gather material
accurately, is absolutely necessary for any writer who aims to do
acceptable work. Careless, inaccurate writers are the bane of the
magazine editor’s life. Whenever mistakes appear in an article, readers
are sure to write to the editor calling his attention to them. Moreover,
the discovery of incorrect statements impairs the confidence of readers
in the magazine. If there is reason to doubt the correctness of any data
in an article, the editor takes pains to check over the facts carefully
before publication. He is not inclined to accept work a second time from
a writer who has once proved unreliable.

To interpret correctly the essential significance of data is as
important as to record them accurately. Readers want to know the meaning
of facts and figures, and it is the writer’s mission to bring out this
meaning. A sympathetic understanding of the persons who figure in his
article is essential, not only to portray them accurately, but to give
his story the necessary “human interest.” To observe accurately, to feel
keenly, and to interpret sympathetically and correctly whatever he
undertakes to write about, should be a writer’s constant aim.

Ability to write well enough to make the average person see as clearly,
feel as keenly, and understand as well as he does himself the persons
and things that he is portraying and explaining, is obviously the sine
qua non of success. Ease, fluency, and originality of diction, either
natural or acquired, the writer must possess if his work is to have
distinction.

Training for Feature Writing. The ideal preparation for a writer of
special articles would include a four-year college course, at least a
year’s work as a newspaper reporter, and practical experience in some
other occupation or profession in which the writer intends to specialize
in his writing. Although not all persons who desire to do special
feature work will be able to prepare themselves in this way, most of
them can obtain some part of this preliminary training.

A college course, although not absolutely essential for success, is
generally recognized to be of great value as a preparation for writing.
College training aims to develop the student’s ability to observe
accurately, to think logically, and to express his ideas clearly and
effectively—all of which is vital to good special feature writing. In
addition, such a course gives a student a knowledge of many subjects
that he will find useful for his articles. A liberal education furnishes
a background that is invaluable for all kinds of literary work.
Universities also offer excellent opportunities for specialization.
Intensive study in some one field of knowledge, such as agriculture,
banking and finance, home economics, public health, social service,
government and politics, or one of the physical sciences, makes it
possible for a writer to specialize in his articles. In choosing a
department in which to do special work in college, a student may be
guided by his own tastes and interests, or he may select some field in
which there is considerable demand for well trained writers. The man or
woman with a specialty has a superior equipment for writing.

With the development of courses in journalism in many colleges and
universities has come the opportunity to obtain instruction and
practice, not only in the writing of special feature and magazine
articles, but also in newspaper reporting, editing, and short story
writing. To write constantly under guidance and criticism, such as it is
impossible to secure in newspaper and magazine offices, will develop
whatever ability a student possesses.

Experience as a newspaper reporter supplements college training in
journalism and is the best substitute for college work generally
available to persons who cannot go to college. For any one who aspires
to write, reporting has several distinct advantages and some dangers.

The requirement that news be printed at the earliest possible moment
teaches newspaper workers to collect facts and opinions quickly and to
write them up rapidly under pressure. Newspaper work also develops a
writer’s appreciation of what constitutes news and what determines news
values; that is, it helps him to recognize at once, not only what
interests the average reader, but how much it interests him. Then, too,
in the course of his round of news gathering a reporter sees more of
human life under a variety of circumstances than do workers in any other
occupation. Such experience not only supplies him with an abundance of
material, but gives him a better understanding and a more sympathetic
appreciation of the life of all classes.

To get the most out of his reporting, a writer must guard against two
dangers. One is the temptation to be satisfied with superficial work
hastily done. The necessity of writing rapidly under pressure and of
constantly handling similar material, encourages neglect of the niceties
of structure and of style. In the rush of rapid writing, the importance
of care in the choice of words and in the arrangement of phrases and
clauses is easily forgotten. Even though well-edited newspapers insist
on the highest possible degree of accuracy in presenting news, the
exigencies of newspaper publishing often make it impossible to verify
facts or to attain absolute accuracy. Consequently a reporter may drop
into the habit of being satisfied with less thorough methods of
collecting and presenting his material than are demanded by the higher
standards of magazine writing.

The second danger is that he may unconsciously permit a more or less
cynical attitude to replace the healthy, optimistic outlook with which
he began his work. With the seamy side of life constantly before him, he
may find that his faith in human nature is being undermined. If,
however, he loses his idealism, he cannot hope to give his articles that
sincerity, hopefulness, and constructive spirit demanded by the average
reader, who, on the whole, retains his belief that truth and
righteousness prevail.

Of the relation of newspaper reporting to the writing of magazine
articles and to magazine editing, Mr. Howard Wheeler, editor of
Everybody’s Magazine, has said:

Practical experience in the field of his specialty is of advantage in
familiarizing a writer with the actual conditions about which he is
preparing himself to write. To engage for some time in farming,
railroading, household management, or any other occupation, equips a
person to write more intelligently about it. Such practical experience
either supplements college training in a special field, or serves as the
best substitute for such specialized education.

What Editors Want. All the requirements for success in special
feature writing may be reduced to the trite dictum that editors want
what they believe their readers want. Although a commonplace, it
expresses a point of view that aspiring writers are apt to forget. From
a purely commercial standpoint, editors are middlemen who buy from
producers what they believe they can sell to their customers. Unless an
editor satisfies his readers with his articles, they will cease to buy
his publication. If his literary wares are not what his readers want, he
finds on the newsstands unsold piles of his publication, just as a
grocer finds on his shelves faded packages of an unpopular breakfast
food. Both editor and grocer undertake to buy from the producers what
will have a ready sale and will satisfy their customers.

The writer, then, as the producer, must furnish wares that will attract
and satisfy the readers of the periodical to which he desires to sell
his product. It is the ultimate consumer, not merely the editor, that he
must keep in mind in selecting his material and in writing his article.
“Will the reader like this?” is the question that he must ask himself at
every stage of his work. Unless he can convince himself that the average
person who reads the periodical to which he proposes to submit his
article will like what he is writing, he cannot hope to sell it to the
editor.

Understanding the Reader. Instead of thinking of readers as a more
or less indefinite mass, the writer will find it advantageous to picture
to himself real persons who may be taken as typical readers. It is very
easy for an author to think that what interests him and his immediate
circle will appeal equally to people in general. To write successfully,
however, for the Sunday magazine of a newspaper, it is necessary to keep
in mind the butcher, the baker, and—if not the candlestick-maker, at
least the stenographer and the department store clerk—as well as the
doctor, lawyer, merchant, and chief. What is true of the Sunday
newspaper is true of the popular magazine.

The most successful publisher in this country attributes the success of
his periodical to the fact that he kept before his mind’s eye, as a
type, a family of his acquaintance in a Middle-Western town of fifteen
hundred inhabitants, and shaped the policy of his publication to meet
the needs and interests of all its members. An editor who desired to
reach such a family would be immeasurably helped in selecting his
material by trying constantly to judge from their point of view whatever
passed through his hands. It is equally true that a writer desiring to
gain admittance to that magazine, or to others making the same appeal,
would greatly profit by visualizing as vividly as possible a similar
family. Every successful writer, consciously or unconsciously, thus
pictures his readers to himself.

If, for example, an author is preparing an article for an agricultural
journal, he must have in his mind’s eye an average farmer and this
farmer’s family. Not only must he see them in their surroundings; he
must try to see life from their point of view. The attitude of the
typical city man toward the farm and country life is very different from
that of the countryman. Lack of sympathy and insight is a fatal defect
in many an article intended by the writer for farm readers.

Whatever the publication to which an author desires to contribute, he
should consider first, last, and all the time, its readers—their
surroundings, their education, their income, their ambitions, their
amusements, their prejudices—in short, he must see them as they really
are.

The necessity of understanding the reader and his point of view has been
well brought out by Mr. John M. Siddall, editor of the American
Magazine, in the following excerpt from an editorial in that
periodical:

Studying Newspapers and Magazines. Since every successful
publication may be assumed to be satisfying its readers to a
considerable degree, the best way to determine what kind of readers it
has, and what they are interested in, is to study the contents
carefully. No writer should send an article to a publication before he
has examined critically several of its latest issues. In fact, no writer
should prepare an article before deciding to just what periodical he
wishes to submit it. The more familiar he is with the periodical the
better are his chances of having his contribution accepted.

In analyzing a newspaper or magazine in order to determine the type of
reader to which it appeals, the writer should consider the character of
the subjects in its recent issues, and the point of view from which
these subjects are presented. Every successful periodical has a distinct
individuality, which may be regarded as an expression of the editor’s
idea of what his readers expect of his publication. To become a
successful contributor to a periodical, a writer must catch the spirit
that pervades its fiction and its editorials, as well as its special
articles.

In his effort to determine the kind of topics preferred by a given
publication, a writer may at first glance decide that timeliness is the
one element that dominates their choice, but a closer examination of the
articles in one or more issues will reveal a more specific basis of
selection. Thus, one Sunday paper will be found to contain articles on
the latest political, sociological, and literary topics, while another
deals almost exclusively with society leaders, actors and actresses, and
other men and women whose recent experiences or adventures have brought
them into prominence.

It is of even greater value to find out by careful reading of the entire
contents of several numbers of a periodical, the exact point of view
from which the material is treated. Every editor aims to present the
contents of his publication in the way that will make the strongest
appeal to his readers. This point of view it is the writer’s business to
discover and adopt.

Analysis of Special Articles. An inexperienced writer who desires
to submit special feature stories to newspapers should begin by
analyzing thoroughly the stories of this type in the daily papers
published in his own section of the country. Usually in the Saturday or
Sunday issues he will find typical articles on topics connected with the
city and with the state or states in which the paper circulates. The
advantage of beginning his study of newspaper stories with those
published in papers near his home lies in the fact that he is familiar
with the interests of the readers of these papers and can readily
understand their point of view. By noting the subjects, the point of
view, the form, the style, the length, and the illustrations, he will
soon discover what these papers want, or rather, what the readers of
these papers want. The “Outline for the Analysis of Special Articles” in
Part II will indicate the points to keep in mind in studying these
articles.

In order to get a broader knowledge of the scope and character of
special feature stories, a writer may well extend his studies to the
magazine sections of the leading papers of the country. From the work of
the most experienced and original of the feature writers, which is
generally to be found in these metropolitan papers, the novice will
derive no little inspiration as well as a valuable knowledge of
technique.

The methods suggested for analyzing special feature stories in
newspapers are applicable also to the study of magazine articles.
Magazines afford a better opportunity than do newspapers for an analysis
of the different types of articles discussed in Chapter V. Since
magazine articles are usually signed, it is possible to seek out and
study the work of various successful authors in order to determine
wherein lies the effectiveness of their writing. Beginning with the
popular weekly and monthly magazines, a writer may well extend his study
to those periodicals that appeal to particular classes, such as women’s
magazines, agricultural journals, and trade publications.

Ideals in Feature Writing. After thoughtful analysis of special
articles in all kinds of newspapers and magazines, the young writer with
a critical sense developed by reading English literature may come to
feel that much of the writing in periodicals falls far short of the
standards of excellence established by the best authors. Because he
finds that the average uncritical reader not only accepts commonplace
work but is apparently attracted by meretricious devices in writing, he
may conclude that high literary standards are not essential to popular
success. The temptation undoubtedly is great both for editors and
writers to supply articles that are no better than the average reader
demands, especially in such ephemeral publications as newspapers and
popular magazines. Nevertheless, the writer who yields to this
temptation is sure to produce only mediocre work. If he is satisfied to
write articles that will be characterized merely as “acceptable,” he
will never attain distinction.

The special feature writer owes it both to himself and to his readers to
do the best work of which he is capable. It is his privilege not only to
inform and to entertain the public, but to create better taste and a
keener appreciation of good writing. That readers do not demand better
writing in their newspapers and magazines does not mean that they are
unappreciative of good work. Nor do originality and precision in style
necessarily “go over the heads” of the average person. Whenever writers
and editors give the public something no better than it is willing to
accept, they neglect a great opportunity to aid in the development of
better literary taste, particularly on the part of the public whose
reading is largely confined to newspapers and periodicals.

Because of the commericial value of satisfying his readers, an editor
occasionally assumes that he must give all of them whatever some of them
crave. “We are only giving the public what it wants,” is his excuse for
printing fiction and articles that are obviously demoralizing in their
effect. A heterogeneous public inevitably includes a considerable number
of individuals who are attracted by a suggestive treatment of morbid
phases of life. To cater to the low desires of some readers, on the
ground of “giving the public what it wants,” will always be regarded by
self-respecting editors and authors as indefensible.

The writer’s opportunity to influence the mental, moral, and æsthetic
ideals of hundreds of thousands of readers is much greater than he often
realizes. When he considers the extent to which most men and women are
unconsciously guided in their ideas and aspirations by what they read in
newspapers and magazines, he cannot fail to appreciate his
responsibility. Grasping the full significance of his special feature
writing, he will no longer be content to write just well enough to sell
his product, but will determine to devote his effort to producing
articles that are the best of which he is capable.

CHAPTER III

FINDING SUBJECTS AND MATERIAL

Sources of Subjects. “What shall I write about?” is the first
question that inexperienced writers ask their literary advisers. “If you
haven’t anything to write about, why write at all?” might be an easy
answer. Most persons, as a matter of fact, have plenty to write about
but do not realize it. Not lack of subjects, but inability to recognize
the possibilities of what lies at hand, is their real difficulty.

The best method of finding subjects is to look at every person, every
event, every experience—in short, at everything—with a view to seeing
whether or not it has possibilities for a special feature article. Even
in the apparently prosaic round of everyday life will be found a variety
of themes. A circular letter from a business firm announcing a new
policy, a classified advertisement in a newspaper, the complaint of a
scrub-woman, a new variety of fruit in the grocer’s window, an increase
in the price of laundry work, a hurried luncheon at a cafeteria—any of
the hundred and one daily experiences may suggest a “live” topic for an
article.

“Every foot of ground is five feet deep with subjects; all you have to
do is to scratch the surface for one,” declared the editor of a popular
magazine who is also a successful writer of special articles. This
statement may be taken as literally true. Within the narrow confines of
one’s house and yard, for instance, are many topics. A year’s experience
with the family budget, a home-made device, an attempt to solve the
servant problem, a method of making pin-money, a practical means of
economizing in household management, are forms of personal experience
that may be made interesting to newspaper and magazine readers. A garden
on a city lot, a poultry house in a back yard, a novel form of garage,
a new use for a gasoline engine, a labor-saving device on the farm, may
afford equally good topics. One’s own experience, always a rich field,
may be supplemented by experiences of neighbors and friends.

A second source of subjects is the daily newspaper. Local news will give
the writer clues that he can follow up by visiting the places mentioned,
interviewing the persons concerned, and gathering other relevant
material. When news comes from a distance, he can write to the persons
most likely to have the desired information. In neither case can he be
sure, until he has investigated, that an item of news will prove to
contain sufficient available material for an article. Many pieces of
news, however, are worth running down carefully, for the day’s events
are rich in possibilities.

Pieces of news as diverse as the following may suggest excellent
subjects for special articles: the death of an interesting person, the
sale of a building that has historic associations, the meeting of an
uncommon group or organization, the approach of the anniversary of an
event, the election or appointment of a person to a position, an unusual
occupation, an odd accident, an auction, a proposed municipal
improvement, the arrival of a well-known person, an official report, a
legal decision, an epidemic, the arrest of a noted criminal, the passing
of an old custom, the publication of the city directory, a railroad
accident, a marked change in fashion in dress.

A third source of both subjects and material is the report of special
studies in some field, the form of the report ranging from a paper read
at a meeting to a treatise in several volumes. These reports of
experiments, surveys, investigations, and other forms of research, are
to be found in printed bulletins, monographs, proceedings of
organizations, scientific periodicals, and new books. Government
publications—federal, state, and local—giving results of investigative
work done by bureaus, commissions, and committees, are public documents
that may usually be had free of charge. Technical and scientific
periodicals and printed proceedings of important organizations are
generally available at public libraries.

As Mr. Waldemar Kaempffert, editor of Popular Science Monthly, has
said:

“If you want to publish something where it will never be read,” a wit
has observed, “print it in an official document.” Government reports are
filled with valuable information that remains quite unknown to the
average reader unless newspapers and magazines unearth it and present it
in popular form. The popularization of the contents of all kinds of
scientific and technical publications affords great opportunities for
the writer who can present such subjects effectively.

In addressing students of journalism on “Science and Journalism,” Dr.
Edwin E. Slosson, literary editor of the Independent, who was formerly
a professor of chemistry, has said:

The three main sources, therefore, of subjects and material for special
feature and magazine articles are (1) personal observation and
experience, (2) newspapers, (3) scientific and technical publications
and official reports.

Personal Observation. How a writer may discover subjects for
newspaper feature articles in the course of his daily routine by being
alive to the possibilities around him can best be shown by concrete
examples.

A “community sing” in a public park gave a woman writer a good subject
for a special article published in the Philadelphia North American.

In the publication of a city directory was found a timely subject for an
article on the task of getting out the annual directory in a large city;
the story was printed in a Sunday issue of the Boston Herald.

A glimpse of some children dressed like Arctic explorers in an outdoor
school in Kansas City was evidently the origin of a special feature
story on that institution, which was published in the Kansas City
Star.

A woman standing guard one evening over a partially completed school
building in Seattle suggested a special feature in the Seattle Post
Intelligencer on the unusual occupation of night “watchman” for a
woman.

While making a purchase in a drug store, a writer overheard a clerk make
a request for a deposit from a woman who desired to have a prescription
filled, an incident which led him to write a special feature for the
New York Times on this method of discouraging persons from adding to
the drug store’s “morgue” of unclaimed prescriptions.

From a visit to the Children’s Museum in Brooklyn was developed a
feature article for the New York Herald, and from a story-telling hour
at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts was evolved a feature story for the
Boston Herald on the telling of stories as a means of interesting
children in pictures.

Magazine articles also may originate in the writer’s observation of what
is going on about him. The specific instances given below, like those
already mentioned, will indicate to the inexperienced writer where to
look for inspiration.

A newspaper reporter who covered the criminal courts compiled the
various methods of burglars and sneak thieves in gaining entrance to
houses and apartments, as he heard them related in trials, and wrote a
helpful article for Good Housekeeping on how to protect one’s house
against robbery.

The exhibition of a novel type of rack for curing seed corn gave a
writer a subject for an article on this “corn tree,” which was published
in the Illustrated World.

During a short stop at a farm while on an automobile trip, a woman
writer noticed a concrete storage cellar for vegetables, and from an
interview with the farmer obtained enough material for an article, which
she sold to a farm journal.

While a woman writer was making a purchase in a plumber’s shop, the
plumber was called to the telephone. On returning to his customer, he
remarked that the call was from a woman on a farm five miles from town,
who could easily have made the slight repairs herself if she had known a
little about the water-supply system on her farm. From the material
which the writer obtained from the plumber, she wrote an article for an
agricultural paper on how plumber’s bills can be avoided.

A display of canned goods in a grocer’s window, with special prices for
dozen and case lots, suggested an article, afterwards published in the
Merchants Trade Journal, on this grocer’s method of fighting
mail-order competition.

Personal Experience. What we actually do ourselves, as well as what
we see others do, may be turned to good use in writing articles.
Personal experiences not only afford good subjects and plenty of
material but are more easily handled than most other subjects, because,
being very real and vital to the writer, they can the more readily be
made real and vital to the reader. Many inexperienced writers overlook
the possibilities of what they themselves have done and are doing.

To gain experience and impressions for their articles, special writers
on newspapers even assume temporarily the roles of persons whose lives
and experiences they desire to portray. One Chicago paper featured every
Sunday for many weeks articles by a reporter who, in order to get
material, did a variety of things just for one day, from playing in a
strolling street band to impersonating a convict in the state
penitentiary. Thirty years ago, when women first entered the newspaper
field as special feature writers, they were sometimes sent out on
“freak” assignments for special features, such as feigning injury or
insanity in order to gain entrance to hospitals in the guise of
patients. Recently one woman writer posed as an applicant for a position
as moving-picture actress; another applied for a place as housemaid; a
third donned overalls and sorted scrap-iron all day in the yard of a
factory; and still another accompanied a store detective on his rounds
in order to discover the methods of shop-lifting with which department
stores have to contend.

It is not necessary, however, to go so far afield to obtain personal
experiences, as is shown by the following newspaper and magazine
articles based on what the writers found in the course of their everyday
pursuits.

The results obtained from cultivating a quarter-acre lot in the
residence district of a city of 100,000 population were told by a writer
in the Country Gentleman.

A woman’s experience with bees was related in Good Housekeeping under
the title, “What I Did with Bees.”

Experience in screening a large porch on his house furnished a writer
with the necessary information for a practical story in Popular
Mechanics.

Some tests that he made on the power of automobiles gave a young
engineer the suggestion for an article on the term “horse power” as
applied to motor-cars; the article was published in the Illustrated
World.

“Building a Business on Confidence” was the title of a personal
experience article published in System.

The evils of tenant farming, as illustrated by the experiences of a
farmer’s wife in moving during the very early spring, were vividly
depicted in an article in Farm and Fireside.

The diary of an automobile trip from Chicago to Buffalo was embodied in
an article by a woman writer, which she sold to the Woman’s Home
Companion.

Both usual and unusual means employed to earn their college expenses
have served as subjects for many special articles written by
undergraduates and graduates.

Innumerable articles of the “how-to-do-something” type are accepted
every year from inexperienced writers by publications that print such
useful information. Results of experiments in solving various problems
of household management are so constantly in demand by women’s magazines
and women’s departments in newspapers, that housewives who like to
write find a ready market for articles based on their own experience.

Confession Articles. One particular type of personal experience
article that enjoys great popularity is the so-called “confession
story.” Told in the first person, often anonymously, a well-written
confession article is one of the most effective forms in which to
present facts and experiences.

Personal experiences of others, as well as the writer’s own, may be
given in confession form if the writer is able to secure sufficiently
detailed information from some one else to make the story probable.

A few examples will illustrate the kind of subjects that have been
presented successfully in the confession form.

Some criticisms of a typical college and of college life were given
anonymously in the Outlook under the title, “The Confessions of an
Undergraduate.”

“The Story of a Summer Hotel Waitress,” published in the Independent,
and characterized by the editor as “a frank exposure of real life below
stairs in the average summer hotel,” told how a student in a normal
school tried to earn her school expenses by serving as a waitress during
the summer vacation.

In Farm and Fireside was published “The Confession of a Timber Buyer,”
an article exposing the methods employed by some unscrupulous lumber
companies in buying timber from farmers.

“How I Cured Myself of Being Too Sensitive,” with the sub-title, “The
Autobiography of a Young Business Man Who Nearly Went to Smash through
Jealousy,” was the subject of a confession article in the American
Magazine.

An exposure of the impositions practiced by an itinerant quack was made
in a series of three confession articles, in Sunday issues of the
Kansas City Star, written by a young man whom the doctor had employed
to drive him through the country districts.

To secure confession features from readers, magazines have offered
prizes for the best short articles on such topics as, “The Best Thing
Experience has Taught Me,” “How I Overcame My Greatest Fault,” “The Day
of My Great Temptation,” “What Will Power Did for Me.”

Subjects from the Day’s News. In his search for subjects a writer
will find numberless clues in newspapers. Since the first information
concerning all new things is usually given to the world through the
columns of the daily press, these columns are scanned carefully by
writers in search of suggestions. Any part of the paper, from the “want
ads” to the death notices or the real estate transfers, may be the
starting point of a special article. The diversity of topics suggested
by newspapers is shown by the following examples.

The death of a well-known clown in New York was followed by a special
feature story about him in the Sunday magazine section of a Chicago
paper.

A newspaper report of the discovery in Wisconsin of a method of
eliminating printing ink from pulp made from old newspapers, so that
white print paper might be produced from it, led a young writer to send
for information to the discoverer of the process, and with these
additional details he wrote an article that was published in the Boston
Transcript.

A news story about a clever swindler in Boston, who obtained possession
of negotiable securities by means of a forged certified check, was made
the basis of a special feature story in the Providence Journal on the
precautions to be taken against losses from forged checks.

News of the energetic manner in which a New Jersey sheriff handled a
strike suggested a personality sketch of him that appeared in the
American Magazine.

The publication, in a newspaper, of some results of a survey of rural
school conditions in a Middle Western state, led to two articles on why
the little red schoolhouse fails, one of which was published in the
Country Gentleman, and the other in the Independent.

From a brief news item about the success of a farmer’s widow and her
daughter, in taking summer boarders in their old farmhouse, was
developed a practical article telling how to secure and provide for
these boarders on the ordinary farm. The article appeared in Farm and
Fireside.

Official Documents. Bulletins and reports of government officials are a
mine for both subjects and material. For new developments in agriculture
one may consult the bulletins of the United States Department of
Agriculture and those of state agricultural experiment stations. Reports
on new and better methods of preparing food, and other phases of home
economics, are also printed in these bulletins. State industrial
commissions publish reports that furnish valuable material on industrial
accidents, working-men’s insurance, sanitary conditions in factories,
and the health of workers. Child welfare is treated in reports of
federal, state, and city child-welfare boards. The reports of the
Interstate Commerce Commission, like those of state railroad
commissions, contain interesting material on various phases of
transportation. State and federal census reports often furnish good
subjects and material. In short, nearly every official report of any
kind may be a fruitful source of ideas for special articles.

The few examples given below suggest various possibilities for the use
of these sources.

Investigations made by a commission of American medical experts
constituting the Committee on Resuscitation from Mine Gases, under the
direction of the U.S. Bureau of Mines, supplied a writer in the Boston
Transcript with material for a special feature story on the dangers
involved in the use of the pulmotor.

A practical bulletin, prepared by the home economics department of a
state university, on the best arrangement of a kitchen to save needless
steps, was used for articles in a number of farm journals.

From a bulletin of the U.S. Department of Agriculture a writer prepared
an article on “the most successful farmer in the United States” and what
he did with twenty acres, for the department of “Interesting People” in
the American Magazine.

The results of a municipal survey of Springfield, Illinois, as set
forth in official reports, were the basis of an article in the Outlook
on “What is a Survey?” Reports of a similar survey at Lawrence, Kansas,
were used for a special feature story in the Kansas City Star.

“Are You a Good or a Poor Penman?” was the title of an article in
Popular Science Monthly based on a chart prepared by the Russell Sage
Foundation in connection with some of its educational investigations.

The New York Evening Post published an interesting special article on
the “life tables” that had been prepared by the division of vital
statistics of the Bureau of the Census, to show the expectation of life
at all ages in the six states from which vital statistics were obtained.

A special feature story on how Panama hats are woven, as printed in the
Ohio State Journal, was based entirely on a report of the United
States consul general at Guayaquil, Ecuador.

Scientific and Technical Publications. Almost every science and
every art has its own special periodicals, from which can be gleaned a
large number of subjects and much valuable material that needs only to
be popularized to be made attractive to the average reader. The printed
proceedings of scientific and technical societies, including the papers
read at their meetings, as well as monographs and books, are also
valuable. How such publications may be utilized is illustrated by the
articles given below.

The report of a special committee of an association of electrical
engineers, given at its convention in Philadelphia, furnished a writer
with material for an article on “Farming by Electricity,” that was
published in the Sunday edition of the Springfield Republican.

Studies of the cause of hunger, made by Prof. A.J. Carlson of the
University of Chicago and published in a volume entitled “The Control of
Hunger in Health and Disease,” furnished the subject for an article in
the Illustrated World. Earlier results of the same investigation were
given in the Sunday magazine of one of the Chicago papers.

From the Journal of Heredity was gleaned material for an article
entitled “What Chance Has the Poor Child?” It was printed in Every
Week.

“Golfer’s Foot, One of Our Newest Diseases,” was the subject of a
special feature in the New York Times, that was based on an article in
the Medical Record.

That the canals on Mars may be only an optical illusion was demonstrated
in an article in the Sunday magazine of the New York Times, by means
of material obtained from a report of the section for the Observation of
Mars, a division of the British Astronomical Association.

Anticipating Timely Subjects. By looking forward for weeks or even
months, as editors of Sunday newspapers and of magazines are constantly
doing, a writer can select subjects and gather material for articles
that will be particularly appropriate at a given time. Holidays,
seasonal events, and anniversaries may thus be anticipated, and special
articles may be sent to editors some time in advance of the occasion
that makes them timely. Not infrequently it is desirable to begin
collecting material a year before the intended time of publication.

An article on fire prevention, for instance, is appropriate for the
month of October just before the day set aside for calling attention to
fires caused by carelessness. Months in advance, a writer might begin
collecting news stories of dangerous fires resulting from carelessness;
and from the annual report of the state fire marshal issued in July, he
could secure statistics on the causes of fires and the extent of the
losses.

To secure material for an article on the Christmas presents that
children might make at a cost of twenty-five cents or less, a woman
writer jotted down after one Christmas all the information that she
could get from her friends; and from these notes she wrote the article
early in the following summer. It was published in the November number
of a magazine, at a time when children were beginning to think about
making Christmas presents.

Articles on ways and means of earning college expenses are particularly
appropriate for publication in the summer or early fall, when young men
and women are preparing to go to college, but if in such an article a
student writer intends to describe experiences other than his own, he
may well begin gathering material from his fellow students some months
before.

Anniversaries of various events, such as important discoveries and
inventions, the death or birth of a personage, and significant
historical occasions, may also be anticipated. The fiftieth anniversary
of the arrival of the first railroad train in Kansas City was
commemorated in a special feature story in the Kansas City Star,
published the day before the anniversary. The day following the
fifty-sixth anniversary of the discovery of petroleum in Pennsylvania,
the New York Times printed in its Sunday magazine section a special
article on the man who first found oil there. The centenary of the
launching of the first steam-propelled ship to cross the Atlantic, was
commemorated by an article in the Sunday edition of the Providence
Journal. Munsey’s Magazine printed an article on the semi-centennial
of the discovery of the process of making paper from wood pulp.

By looking over tables giving dates of significant events, writers will
find what anniversaries are approaching; or they may glean such
information from news stories describing preparations made for
celebrating these anniversaries.

Keeping Lists of Subjects. Every writer who is on the lookout for
subjects and sources of material should keep a notebook constantly at
hand. Subjects suggested by everyday experiences, by newspaper and
magazine reading, and by a careful study of special articles in all
kinds of publications, are likely to be forgotten unless they are
recorded at once. A small notebook that can be carried in the pocket or
in a woman’s hand-bag is most convenient. Besides topics for articles,
the titles of books, reports, bulletins, and other publications
mentioned in conversation or in newspapers, should be jotted down as
possible sources of material. Facts and figures from publications may
be copied for future use. Good titles and interesting methods of
treatment that a writer observes in the work of others may prove helpful
in suggesting titles and methods for his own articles. Separate sections
of even a small notebook may conveniently be set aside for all of these
various points.

Filing Material. The writer who makes methodical preparation for his
work generally has some system of filing good material so that it will
be at hand when he wants it. One excellent filing device that is both
inexpensive and capable of indefinite expansion consists of a number of
stout manilla envelopes, large enough to hold newspaper clippings,
printed reports, magazine articles, and photographs. In each envelope is
kept the material pertaining to one subject in which the writer is
interested, the character of the subject-matter being indicated on one
side of the envelope, so that, as the envelopes stand on end, their
contents can readily be determined. If a writer has many of these
envelopes, a one-drawer filing case will serve to keep them in good
order. By constantly gathering material from newspapers, magazines, and
printed reports, he will soon find that he has collected a considerable
amount of information on which to base his articles.

CHAPTER IV

APPEAL AND PURPOSE

Analyzing the Subject. When from many available subjects a writer
is about to choose one, he should pause to consider its possibilities
before beginning to write. It is not enough to say, “This is a good
subject; I believe that I can write an article on it.” He needs to look
at the topic from every angle. He ought to ask himself, “How widespread
is the interest in my subject? How much will it appeal to the average
individual? What phases of it are likely to have the greatest interest
for the greatest number of persons?” To answer these questions he must
review the basic sources of pleasure and satisfaction.

What Interests Readers. To interest readers is obviously the prime
object in all popular writing. The basis of interest in the news story,
the special feature article, and the short story is essentially the
same. Whatever the average person likes to hear and see, whatever gives
him pleasure and satisfaction, is what he wants to read about. In order
to test all phases of a given subject from this point of view, a writer
needs to keep in mind the fundamental sources of satisfaction.

Subjects and phases of subjects that attract readers may, for
convenience, be divided into the following classes, which, however, are
not mutually exclusive: (1) timely topics, (2) unique, novel, and
extraordinary persons, things, and events, (3) mysteries, (4) romance,
(5) adventure, (6) contests for supremacy, (7) children, (8) animals,
(9) hobbies and amusements, (10) familiar persons, places, and objects,
(11) prominent persons, places, and objects, (12) matters involving the
life, property, and welfare of others, (13) matters that affect the
reader’s own success and well-being.

Timeliness. Though not absolutely essential, timeliness is a valuable
attribute of any subject. Readers like to feel that they are getting the
latest facts and the newest ideas, in special feature articles as well
as in the news. A subject need not be discarded, however, because it
does not make a timely appeal. It may have interest in other respects
sufficiently great to compensate for its lack of timeliness.

Many topics that at first glance seem quite unrelated to current
activities are found on closer examination to have some aspects that may
be brought into connection with timely interests. To a writer keenly
alive to everything that is going on in the world, most subjects will be
found to have some bearing on what is uppermost in men’s minds. Emphasis
on that point of contact with current ideas will give to the article the
desired timeliness.

Novelty. When a person, object, or circumstance is unique, it
arouses an unusual degree of interest. The first person to accomplish
something out of the ordinary, the first event of its kind, the first of
anything, arrests attention.

Closely associated with the unique is the extraordinary, the curious. If
not absolutely the only one of its kind, a thing may still be
sufficiently unusual to excite an uncommon degree of interest. Novelty
has a perennial charm. Careful study of a subject is often necessary to
reveal the novel and extraordinary phase of it that can best be
emphasized.

Mysteries. The fascination for the human mind of whatever baffles
it is so well known that it scarcely needs elaboration. Mysteries,
whether real or fictitious, pique curiosity. Even the scholar and the
practical man of affairs find relaxation in the mystery of the detective
story. Real life often furnishes events sufficiently mysterious to make
a special feature story that rivals fiction. Unexplained crimes and
accidents; strange psychical phenomena, such as ghosts, presentiments,
spiritism, and telepathy; baffling problems of the scientist and the
inventor—all have elements of mystery that fascinate the average
reader.

Romance. The romance of real life is quite as interesting as that
of fiction. As all the world loves a lover, almost all the world loves a
love story. The course of true love may run smooth or it may not; in
either case there is the romantic appeal. To find the romantic element
in a topic is to discover a perennial source of attraction for all
classes of readers.

Adventure. Few in number are the persons who will not gladly escape
from humdrum routine by losing themselves in an exciting tale of
adventure. The thrilling exploits in real life of the engineer, the
explorer, the soldier of fortune, the pioneer in any field, hold us
spellbound. Even more commonplace experiences are not without an element
of the adventurous, for life itself is a great adventure. Many special
feature stories in narrative form have much the same interest that is
created by the fictitious tale of adventure.

Contests for Supremacy. Man has never lost his primitive love of a
good fight. Civilization may change the form of the contest, but
fighting to win, whether in love or politics, business or sport, still
has a strong hold on all of us. Strikes, attempted monopolies, political
revolutions, elections, championship games, diplomacy, poverty, are but
a few of the struggles that give zest to life. To portray dramatically
in a special article the clash and conflict in everyday affairs is to
make a well-nigh universal appeal.

Children. Because we live in and for our children, everything that
concerns them comes close to our hearts. A child in a photo-drama or in
a news story is sure to win sympathy and admiration. The special feature
writer cannot afford to neglect so vital a source of interest. Practical
articles on the care and the education of children also have especial
value for women readers.

Animals. Wild or tame, at large or in captivity, animals attract us
either for their almost human intelligence or for their distinctively
animal traits. There are few persons who do not like horses, dogs, cats,
and other pets, and fewer still who can pass by the animal cages at the
circus or the “zoo.” Hunting, trapping, and fishing are vocations for
some men, and sport for many more. The business of breeding horses and
cattle, and the care of live stock and poultry on the farm, must not be
overlooked in the search for subjects. The technical aspects of these
topics will interest readers of farm journals; the more popular phases
of them make a wide general appeal.

Hobbies and Amusements. Pastimes and avocations may be counted good
subjects. Moving pictures, theaters, music, baseball, golf, automobiles,
amateur photography, and a host of hobbies and recreations have enough
enthusiastic devotees to insure wide reading for special feature stories
about them.

The Familiar. Persons whom we know, places that we constantly see,
experiences that we have had again and again, often seem commonplace
enough, even when familiarity has not bred contempt; but when they
appear unexpectedly on the stage or in print, we greet them with the
cordiality bestowed on the proverbial long-lost friend. Local news
interests readers because it concerns people and places immediately
around them. Every newspaper man understands the desirability of
increasing the attractiveness of a news event that happens elsewhere by
rinding “local ends,” or by giving it “a local turn.” For special
feature stories in newspapers, local phases are no less important. But
whether the article is to be published in a newspaper or a magazine,
familiar persons and things should be “played up” prominently.

The Prominent. Many persons, places, and objects that we have never
seen are frequently as real to us as are those that we see daily. This
is because their names and their pictures have greeted us again and
again in print. It is thus that prominent men and women become familiar
to us. Because of their importance we like to read about them. If a
special feature article in any of its phases concerns what is prominent,
greater attractiveness can be given to it by “playing up” this point, be
it the President of the United States or a well-known circus clown,
Fifth Avenue or the Bowery, the Capitol at Washington or Coney Island,
the Twentieth Century Limited or a Ford.

Life and Welfare of Others. Sympathy with our fellow beings and an
instinctive recognition of our common humanity are inherent in most men
and women. Nowhere is this more strikingly shown than in the quick and
generous response that comes in answer to every call for aid for those
in distress. So, too, we like to know how others feel and think. We like
to get behind the veil with which every one attempts to conceal his
innermost thoughts and feelings. Our interest in the lives and the
welfare of others finds expression in various ways, ranging from social
service and self-sacrificing devotion to gossip and secret confidences.
These extremes and all that lies between them abound in that “human
interest” upon which all editors insist.

This widespread interest in others affords to the writer of special
articles one of his greatest opportunities, not only for preparing
interesting stories, but for arousing readers to support many a good
cause. To create sympathy for the unfortunate, to encourage active
social service, to point the way to political reform, to show the
advantages of better industrial conditions, to explain better business
methods—all these are but a few of the helpful, constructive appeals
that he may make effectively.

He may create this interest and stir his readers to action by either one
of two methods: by exposing existing evils, or by showing what has been
done to improve bad conditions. The exposure of evils in politics,
business, and society constituted the “muck-raking” to which several of
the popular monthly magazines owe their rise. This crusading,
“searchlight” type of journalism has been largely superseded by the
constructive, “sunlight” type. To explain how reforms have been
accomplished, or are being brought about, is construed by the best of
the present-day journals to be their special mission.

Personal Success and Happiness. Every one is vitally concerned
about his own prosperity and happiness. To make a success of life, no
matter by what criterion we may measure that success, is our one
all-powerful motive. Happiness, as the goal that we hope to reach by our
success, and health, as a prime requisite for its attainment, are also
of great importance to every one of us. How to make or save more money,
how to do our work more easily, how to maintain our physical well-being,
how to improve ourselves mentally and morally, how to enjoy life more
fully—that is what we all want to know. To the writer who will show us
how to be “healthy, wealthy, and wise,” we will give our undivided
attention.

Business and professional interests naturally occupy the larger part of
men’s thoughts, while home-making is the chief work of most women.
Although women are entering many fields hitherto monopolized by men, the
home remains woman’s peculiar sphere. The purchase and preparation of
food, the buying and making of clothing, the management of servants, the
care of children—these are the vital concerns of most women. They
realize, however, that conditions outside the home have a direct bearing
on home-making; and each year they are taking a more active part in
civic affairs. Matters of public health, pure food legislation, the milk
and the water supply, the garbage collection, the character of places of
amusement, the public schools, determine, in no small degree, the
success and happiness of the home-maker.

Since the dominant interests of men and women alike are their business
and their home, the special writer should undertake to connect his
subject as closely as possible with these interests. To show, for
example, how the tariff, taxes, public utility rates, price-fixing,
legislation, and similar matters affect the business and home affairs of
the average reader, is to give to these political and economic problems
an interest for both men and women far in excess of that resulting from
a more general treatment of them. The surest way to get the reader’s
attention is to bring the subject home to him personally.

Of the importance of presenting a subject in such a manner that the
reader is led to see its application to himself and his own affairs, Mr.
John M. Siddall, editor of the American Magazine, has said:

Combining Appeals. When the analysis of a topic shows that it
possesses more than one of these appeals, the writer may heighten the
attractiveness of his story by developing several of the possibilities,
simultaneously or successively. The chance discovery by a prominent
physician of a simple preventive of infantile paralysis, for instance,
would combine at least four of the elements of interest enumerated
above. If such a combination of appeals can be made at the very
beginning of the article, it is sure to command attention.

Definiteness of Purpose. In view of the multiplicity of possible
appeals, a writer may be misled into undertaking to do too many diverse
things in a single article. A subject often has so many different
aspects of great interest that it is difficult to resist the temptation
to use all of them. If a writer yields to this temptation, the result
may be a diffuse, aimless article that, however interesting in many
details, fails to make a definite impression.

To avoid this danger, the writer must decide just what his purpose is
to be. He must ask himself, “What is my aim in writing this article?”
and, “What do I expect to accomplish?” Only in this way will he clarify
in his mind his reason for writing on the proposed topic and the object
to be attained.

With a definitely formulated aim before him, he can decide just what
material he needs. An objective point to be reached will give his
article direction and will help him to stick to his subject.
Furthermore, by getting his aim clearly in mind, he will have the means
of determining, when the story is completed, whether or not he has
accomplished what he set out to do.

In selecting material, in developing the article, and in testing the
completed product, therefore, it is important to have a definitely
formulated purpose.

Three General Aims. Every special article should accomplish one of
three general aims: it should (1) entertain, or (2) inform, or (3) give
practical guidance.

The same subject and the same material may sometimes be so treated as to
accomplish any one of these three purposes. If the writer’s aim is
merely to help readers pass a leisure hour pleasantly, he will “play up”
those aspects of a topic that will afford entertainment and little or
nothing else. If he desires to supply information that will add to the
reader’s stock of knowledge, he will present his facts in a manner
calculated to make his readers remember what he has told them. If he
proposes to give information that can be applied by readers to their own
activities, he must include those details that are necessary to any one
who desires to make practical use of the information.

When, for example, a writer is about to prepare an article, based on
experience, about keeping bees on a small suburban place, he will find
that he may write his story in any one of three ways. The difficulties
experienced by the amateur bee-keeper in trying to handle bees in a
small garden could be treated humorously with no other purpose ihan to
amuse. Or the keeping of bees under such circumstances might be
described as an interesting example of enterprise on the part of a city
man living in the suburbs. Or, in order to show other men and women
similarly situated just how to keep bees, the writer might explain
exactly what any person would need to know to attain success in such a
venture. Just as the purpose of these articles would vary, so the
material and the point of view would differ.

Entertaining Articles. To furnish wholesome entertainment is a
perfectly legitimate end in special feature writing. There is no reason
why the humor, the pathos, the romance, the adventure, and mystery in
life should not be presented in special feature stories for our
entertainment and amusement, just as they are presented for the same
purpose in the short story, the drama, and the photo-play. Many readers
find special feature stories with real persons, real places, and real
circumstances, more entertaining than fiction. A writer with the ability
to see the comedies and the tragedies in the events constantly happening
about him, or frequently reported in the press, will never lack for
subjects and material.

Wholesome Entertainment. The effect of entertaining stories on the
ideas and ideals of readers ought not to be overlooked. According to the
best journalistic standards, nothing should be printed that will exert a
demoralizing or unwholesome influence. Constructive journalism goes a
step further when it insists that everything shall tend to be helpful
and constructive. This practice applies alike to news stories and to
special articles.

These standards do not necessarily exclude news and special feature
stories that deal with crime, scandal, and similar topics; but they do
demand that the treatment of such subjects shall not be suggestive or
offensive. To portray violators of the criminal or moral codes as heroes
worthy of emulation; to gratify some readers’ taste for the morbid; to
satisfy other readers by exploiting sex—all are alike foreign to the
purpose of respectable journalism. No self-respecting writer will lend
the aid of his pen to such work, and no self-respecting editor will
publish it.

To deter persons from committing similar crimes and follies should be
the only purpose in writing on such topics. The thoughtful writer,
therefore, must guard against the temptation to surround wrong-doers
with the glamour of heroic or romantic adventure, and, by sentimental
treatment, to create sympathy for the undeserving culprit. Violations of
law and of the conventions of society ought to be shown to be wrong,
even when the wrong-doer is deserving of some sympathy. This need not be
done by moralizing and editorializing. A much better way is to
emphasize, as the results of wrong-doing, not only legal punishment and
social ostracism, but the pangs of a guilty conscience, and the disgrace
to the culprit and his family.

A cynical or flippant treatment of serious subjects gives many readers a
false and distorted view of life. Humor does not depend on ridicule or
satire. The fads and foibles of humanity can be good-naturedly exposed
in humorous articles that have no sting. Although many topics may very
properly be treated lightly, others demand a serious, dignified style.

The men and women whom a writer puts into his articles are not puppets,
but real persons, with feelings not unlike his own. To drag them and
their personal affairs from the privacy to which they are entitled, and
to give them undesired and needless publicity, for the sake of affording
entertainment to others, often subjects them to great humiliation and
suffering. The fact that a man, woman, or child has figured in the day’s
news does not necessarily mean that a writer is entitled to exploit such
a person’s private affairs. He must discriminate between what the public
is entitled to know and what an individual has a right to keep private.
Innocent wives, sweethearts, or children are not necessarily legitimate
material for his article because their husband, lover, or father has
appeared in the news. The golden rule is the best guide for a writer in
such cases. Lack of consideration for the rights of others is the mark
neither of a good writer nor of a true gentleman. Clean, wholesome
special feature stories that present interesting phases of life
accurately, and that show due consideration for the rights of the
persons portrayed, are quite as entertaining as are any others.

Informative Articles. Since many persons confine their reading
largely to newspapers and magazines, they derive most of their
information and ideas from these sources. Even persons who read new
books rely to some extent on special articles for the latest information
about current topics. Although most readers look to periodicals
primarily for new, timely facts, they are also interested to find there
biographical and historical material that is not directly connected with
current events. Every special feature writer has a great opportunity to
furnish a large circle of readers with interesting and significant
information.

In analyzing subjects it is necessary to discriminate between
significant and trivial facts. Some topics when studied will be found to
contain little of real consequence, even though a readable article might
be developed from the material. Other themes will reveal aspects that
are both trivial and significant. When a writer undertakes to choose
between the two, he should ask himself, “Are the facts worth
remembering?” and, “Will they furnish food for thought?” In clarifying
his purpose by such tests, he will decide not only what kind of
information he desires to impart, but what material he must select, and
from what point of view he should present it.

Articles of Practical Guidance. The third general purpose that a
writer may have is to give his readers sufficiently explicit information
to enable them to do for themselves what has been done by others.
Because all persons want to know how to be more successful, they read
these “how-to-do-something” articles with avidity. All of us welcome
practical suggestions, tactfully given, that can be applied to our own
activities. Whatever any one has done successfully may be so presented
that others can learn how to do it with equal success. Special feature
articles furnish the best means of giving this practical guidance.

In preparing a “how-to-do-something” article, a writer needs to consider
the class of readers for which it is intended. A special feature story,
for example, on how to reduce the cost of milk might be presented from
any one of three points of view: that of the producer, that of the
distributor, or that of the consumer. To be practical for dairy farmers,
as producers of milk, the article would have to point out possible
economies in keeping cows and handling milk on the farm. To be helpful
to milk-dealers, as distributors, it would concern itself with methods
of lowering the cost of selling and delivering milk in the city. To
assist housewives, as consumers, the article would have to show how to
economize in using milk in the home. An informative article for the
general reader might take up all these phases of the subject, but an
article intended to give practical guidance should consider the needs of
only one of these three classes of persons.

In many constructive articles of practical guidance, the writer’s
purpose is so successfully concealed that it may at first escape the
notice of the average reader. By relating in detail, for example, how an
actual enterprise was carried out, a writer may be able to give his
readers, without their realizing it, all the information they need to
accomplish a similar undertaking. When he analyzes such articles, the
student should not be misled into thinking that the writer did not have
the definite purpose of imparting practical information. If the same
material can be developed into an article of interesting information or
into one of practical guidance, it is desirable to do the latter and, if
necessary, to disguise the purpose.

Statement of Purpose. In order to define his purpose clearly and to
keep it constantly before him, a writer will do well to put down on
paper his exact aim in a single sentence. If, for example, he desired to
write a constructive article about an Americanization pageant held in
his home city on the Fourth of July, he might write out the statement
of his aim thus: “I desire to show how the Americanization of aliens
may be encouraged in small industrial centers of from 3000 to 20,000
inhabitants, by describing how the last Fourth of July Americanization
pageant was organized and carried out in a typical Pennsylvania
industrial town of 5000.”

Such a statement will assist a writer in selecting his material, in
sticking to his subject, and in keeping to one point of view. Without
this clearly formulated aim before him, it is easy for him to dwell too
long on some phase of the subject in which he is particularly interested
or on which he has the most material, to the neglect of other phases
that are essential to the accomplishment of his purpose. Or, failing to
get his aim clearly in mind, he may jump from one aspect of the subject
to another, without accomplishing anything in particular. Many a
newspaper and magazine article leaves a confused, hazy impression on the
minds of readers because the writer failed to have a definite objective.

CHAPTER V

TYPES OF ARTICLES

Methods of Treatment. After choosing a subject and formulating his
purpose, a writer is ready to consider methods of treatment. Again it is
desirable to survey all the possibilities in order to choose the one
method best adapted to his subject and his purpose. His chief
consideration should be the class of readers that he desires to reach.
Some topics, he will find, may be treated with about equal success in
any one of several ways, while others lend themselves to only one or two
forms of presentation. By thinking through the various possible ways of
working out his subject, he will be able to decide which meets his needs
most satisfactorily.

Exposition by Narration and Description. The commonest method of
developing a special feature article is that which combines narration
and description with exposition. The reason for this combination is not
far to seek. The average person is not attracted by pure exposition. He
is attracted by fiction. Hence the narrative and descriptive devices of
fiction are employed advantageously to supplement expository methods.
Narratives and descriptions also have the advantage of being concrete
and vivid. The rapid reader can grasp a concrete story or a word
picture. He cannot so readily comprehend a more general explanation
unaccompanied by specific examples and graphic pictures of persons,
places, and objects.

Narration and description are used effectively for the concrete examples
and the specific instances by which we illustrate general ideas. The
best way, for example, to make clear the operation of a state system of
health insurance is to relate how it has operated in the case of one or
more persons affected. In explaining a new piece of machinery the writer
may well describe it in operation, to enable readers to visualize it
and follow its motions. Since the reader’s interest will be roused the
more quickly if he is given tangible, concrete details that he can
grasp, the examples are usually put first, to be followed by the more
general explanation. Sometimes several examples are given before the
explanatory matter is offered. Whole articles are often made up of
specific examples and generalizations presented alternately.

To explain the effects of a new anæsthetic, for example, Mr. Burton J.
Hendrick in an article in McClure’s Magazine, pictured the scene in
the operating-room of a hospital where it was being given to a patient,
showed just how it was administered, and presented the results as a
spectator saw them. The beginning of the article on stovaine, the new
anæsthetic, illustrating this method of exposition, follows:

Some types of articles, although expository in purpose, are entirely
narrative and descriptive in form. By relating his own experiences in a
confession story, for example, a writer may be able to show very clearly
and interestingly the dangers of speculations in stocks with but small
capital. Personality sketches are almost always narrative and
descriptive.

Many of the devices of the short story will be found useful in articles.
Not only is truth stranger than fiction, but facts may be so presented
as to be even more interesting than fiction. Conversation,
character-drawing, suspense, and other methods familiar to the writer of
short stories may be used effectively in special articles. Their
application to particular types of articles is shown in the following
pages.

Special Types of Articles. Although there is no generally
recognized classification of special feature articles, several distinct
types may be noted, such as (1) the interview, (2) the personal
experience story, (3) the confession article, (4) the
“how-to-do-something” article, (5) the personality sketch, (6) the
narrative in the third person. These classes, it is evident, are not
mutually exclusive, but may for convenience be treated separately.

The Interview. Since the material for many articles is obtained by
means of an interview, it is often convenient to put the major part, if
not the whole, of the story in interview form. Such an article may
consist entirely of direct quotation with a limited amount of
explanatory material concerning the person interviewed; or it may be
made up partly of direct quotation and partly of indirect quotation,
combined with the necessary explanation. For greater variety it is
advisable to alternate direct and indirect quotations. A description of
the person interviewed and of his surroundings, by way of introduction,
gives the reader a distinct impression of the individual under
characteristic conditions. Or some striking utterance of his may be
“played up” at the beginning, to be followed by a picture of him and his
surroundings. Interviews on the same topic with two or more persons may
be combined in a single article.

The interview has several obvious advantages. First, the spoken word,
quoted verbatim, gives life to the story. The person interviewed seems
to be talking to each reader individually. The description of him in his
surroundings helps the reader to see him as he talks. Second, events,
explanations, and opinions given in the words of one who speaks with
authority, have greater weight than do the assertions of an unknown
writer. Third, the interview is equally effective whether the writer’s
purpose is to inform, to entertain, or to furnish practical guidance.
Romance and adventure, humor and pathos, may well be handled in
interview form. Discoveries, inventions, new processes, unusual methods,
new projects, and marked success of any kind may be explained to
advantage in the words of those responsible for these undertakings.

In obtaining material for an interview story, a writer should bear in
mind a number of points regarding interviewing in general. First, in
advance of meeting the person to be interviewed, he should plan the
series of questions by which he hopes to elicit the desired information.
“What would my readers ask this person if they had a chance to talk to
him about this subject?” he must ask himself. That is, his questions
should be those that readers would like to have answered. Since it is
the answers, however, and not the questions, that will interest readers,
the questions in the completed article should be subordinated as much as
possible. Sometimes they may be skillfully embodied in the replies;
again they may be implied merely, or entirely omitted. In studying an
interview article, one can generally infer what questions the
interviewer used. Second, he must cultivate his memory so that he can
recall a person’s exact words without taking notes. Most men talk more
freely and easily when they are not reminded of the fact that what they
are saying is to be printed. In interviewing, therefore, it is desirable
to keep pencil and paper out of sight. Third, immediately after leaving
the person whom he has interviewed, the writer should jot down facts,
figures, striking statements, and anything else that he might forget.

Examples of the Interview Article. As a timely special feature
story for Arbor Day, a Washington correspondent used the following
interview with an expert as a means of giving readers practical advice
on tree-planting:

How an interview combined with a description of a person may serve to
create sympathy for her and for the cause that she represents is shown
in the following article, which was published anonymously in the Sunday
magazine section of the Ohio State Journal. It was illustrated with
two half-tone portraits, one of the young woman in Indian costume, the
other showing her in street dress.

The Personal Experience Article. A writer’s own experiences, given
under his name, under a pseudonym, or in anonymous form, can easily be
made interesting to others. Told in the first person, such stories are
realistic and convincing. The pronoun “I” liberally sprinkled through
the story, as it must be, gives to it a personal, intimate character
that most readers like. Conversation and description of persons, places,
and objects may be included to advantage in these personal narratives.

The possibilities of the personal experience story are as great as are
those of the interview. Besides serving as a vehicle for the writer’s
own experiences, it may be employed to give experiences of others. If,
for example, a person interviewed objects to having his name used, it is
possible to present the material obtained by the interview in the form
of a personal experience story. In that case the article would have to
be published without the writer’s name, since the personal experiences
that it records are not his own. Permission to present material in a
personal experience story should always be obtained from the individual
whose experiences the writer intends to use.

Articles designed to give practical guidance, to show readers how to do
something, are particularly effective when written in the first person.
If these “how-to-do-something” articles are to be most useful to
readers, the conditions under which the personal experience was
obtained must be fairly typical. Personal experience articles of this
type are very popular in women’s magazines, agricultural journals, and
publications that appeal to business men.

Examples of the Personal Experience Story. The opportunities for
service offered to women by small daily newspapers are set forth in the
story below, by means of the personal experiences of one woman. The
article was published in the Woman’s Home Companion, and was
illustrated by a half-tone reproduction of a wash drawing of a young
woman seated at her desk in a newspaper office.

That a personal experience story may be utilized to show readers how to
do something is demonstrated in the following article taken from The
Designer. It was illustrated by a half-tone made from a wash drawing of
one corner of the burlap room.

The Confession Story. Closely akin to the personal experience
article is the so-called “confession story.” Usually published
anonymously, confession stories may reveal more personal and intimate
experiences than a writer would ordinarily care to give in a signed
article. Needless to say, most readers are keenly interested in such
revelations, even though they are made anonymously. Like personal
experience stories, they are told in the first person with a liberal use
of the pronoun “I.”

A writer need not confine himself to his own experiences for confession
stories; he may obtain valuable material for them from others. Not
infrequently his name is attached to these articles accompanied by the
statement that the confession was “transcribed,” “taken down,” or
“recorded” by the writer.

Conditions of life in classes of society with which the reader is not
familiar may be brought home to him through the medium of the confession
story. It may be made the means of arousing interest in questions about
which the average reader cares little. The average man or woman, for
example, is probably little concerned with the problem of the poorly
paid college professor, but hundreds of thousands doubtless read with
interest the leading article in an issue of the Saturday Evening Post
entitled, “The Pressure on the Professor.” This was a confession story,
which did not give the author’s own experiences but appeared as
“Transcribed by Walter E. Weyl.” This article was obviously written with
the purpose, skillfully concealed, of calling attention to the hard lot
of the underpaid professor.

Constructive criticism of existing conditions may be successfully
embodied in the form of a confession article that describes the evils as
they have been experienced by one individual. If the article is to be
entirely effective and just, the experience of the one person described
must be fairly typical of that of others in the same situation. In order
to show that these experiences are characteristic, the writer may find
it advantageous to introduce facts and figures tending to prove that his
own case is not an isolated example. In the confession article mentioned
above, “The Pressure on the Professor,” the assistant professor who
makes the confession, in order to demonstrate that his own case is
typical, cites statistics collected by a colleague at Stanford
University giving the financial status of 112 assistant professors in
various American universities.

Confessions that show how faults and personal difficulties have been
overcome prove helpful to readers laboring under similar troubles. Here
again, what is related should be typical rather than exceptional.

Examples of the Confession Story. That an intimate account of the
financial difficulties of a young couple as told by the wife, may not
only make an interesting story but may serve as a warning to others, is
shown in the confession story below. Signed “F.B.,” and illustrated with
a pen and ink sketch of the couple at work over their accounts, it was
printed in Every Week, a popular illustrated periodical formerly
published by the Crowell Publishing Company, New York.

The following short confession, signed “Mrs. M.F.E.,”
was awarded the first prize by the American Magazine in
a contest for articles on “The Best Thing Experience Has
Taught Me”:

The “How-to-do-Something” Article. Articles the primary purpose of
which is to give directions for doing something in a particular way, are
always in demand. The simplest type is the recipe or formula containing
a few directions for combining ingredients. More elaborate processes
naturally demand more complex directions and require longer articles. In
the simpler types the directions are given in the imperative form; that
is, the reader is told to “take” this thing and that, and to “mix” it
with something else. Although such recipe directions are clear, they are
not particularly interesting. Many readers, especially those of
agricultural journals, are tired of being told to do this and that in
order to get better results. They are inclined to suspect the writer of
giving directions on the basis of untried theory rather than on that of
successful practice. There is an advantage, therefore, in getting away
from formal advice and directions and in describing actual processes as
they have been carried on successfully.

Articles intended to give practical guidance are most interesting when
cast in the form of an interview, a personal experience, or a narrative.
In an interview article, a person may indirectly give directions to
others by describing in his own words the methods that he has used to
accomplish the desired results. Or the writer, by telling his own
experiences in doing something, may give readers directions in an
interesting form.

Whatever method he adopts, the writer must keep in mind the questions
that his readers would be likely to ask if he were explaining the method
or process to them in person. To one who is thoroughly familiar with a
method the whole process is so clear that he forgets how necessary it is
to describe every step to readers unfamiliar with it. The omission of a
single point may make it impossible for the reader to understand or to
follow the directions. Although a writer need not insult the
intelligence of his readers by telling them what they already know, he
may well assume that they need to be reminded tactfully of many things
that they may have known but have possibly forgotten.

Two Practical Guidance Articles. A method of filing office records,
as explained apparently by the man who devised it, is well set forth in
the following combination of the personal experience and the
“how-to-do-something” types of articles. It appeared in System with a
half-tone reproduction of a photograph showing a man looking over
records in a drawer of the desk at which he is seated.

From the following article, printed in Farm and Fireside city and
country readers alike may glean much practical information concerning
ways and means of making a comfortable living from a small farm. It was
illustrated by four half-tone reproductions of photographs showing (1)
the house, (2) the woman at her desk with a typewriter before her, (3)
the woman in her dining-room about to serve a meal from a labor-saving
service wagon, and (4) the woman in the poultry yard with a basket of
eggs.

The Personality Sketch. We all like to read about prominent and
successful people. We want to know more about the men and women who
figure in the day’s news, and even about interesting persons whose
success has not been great enough to be heralded in the press. What
appeals to us most about these individuals is, not mere biographical
facts such as appear in Who’s Who, but the more intimate details of
character and personality that give us the key to their success. We want
to see them as living men and women. It is the writer’s problem to
present them so vividly that we shall feel as if we had actually met
them face to face.

The purpose of the personality sketch may be (1) to give interesting
information concerning either prominent or little known persons, (2) to
furnish readers inspiration that may bear fruit in their own lives, (3)
to give practical guidance by showing how one individual has
accomplished a certain thing. Whether the aim is to afford food for
thought, inspiration to action, or guidance in practical matters, the
treatment is essentially the same.

The recognized methods of describing characters in fiction may be used
to advantage in portraying real persons. These are (1) using general
descriptive terms, (2) describing personal appearance, (3) telling of
characteristic actions, (4) quoting their words, (5) giving biographical
facts, (6) citing opinions of others about them, (7) showing how others
react to them. By a judicious combination of several of these methods, a
writer can make his readers visualize the person, hear him speak, watch
him in characteristic actions, and understand his past life, as well as
realize what others think of him and how they act toward him.

Material for a personality sketch may be obtained in one of three ways:
(1) from a more or less intimate acquaintance with the person to be
described; (2) from an interview with the person, supplemented by
conversation with others about him; (3) from printed sketches of him
combined with information secured from others. It is easier to write
personality sketches about men and women whom we know well than it is
about those whom we have never met, or with whom we have had only a
short interview. Inexperienced writers should not attempt to prepare
sketches of persons whom they know but slightly. In a single interview a
writer who is observant, and who is a keen judge of human nature, may be
able to get an impression sufficiently strong to serve as the basis of a
satisfactory article, especially if the material obtained in the
interview is supplemented by printed sketches and by conversations with
others. Personality sketches sometimes include long interviews giving
the person’s opinions on the subject on which he is an authority. In
such articles the sketch usually precedes the interview.

Examples of the Personality Sketch. The first of the following
sketches appeared, with a half-tone portrait, in the department of
“Interesting People” in the American Magazine; the second was sent out
by the Newspaper Enterprise Association, Cleveland, Ohio, which supplies
several hundred daily newspapers with special features.

(1)

(2)

The Narrative in the Third Person. Although the interview,
the personal experience article, and the confession
story are largely narrative, they are always told in the
first person, whereas the term “narrative article” as used in
this classification is applied only to a narrative in the third
person. In this respect it is more like the short story. As
in the short story so in the narrative article, description of
persons, places, and objects involved serves to heighten the
effect.

Narrative methods may be employed to present any
group of facts that can be arranged in chronological order.
A process, for example, may be explained by showing a man
or a number of men engaged in the work involved, and by
giving each step in the process as though it were an incident
in a story. The story of an invention or a discovery may
be told from the inception of the idea to its realization. A
political situation may be explained by relating the events
that led up to it. The workings of some institution, such
as an employment office or a juvenile court, may be made
clear by telling just what takes place in it on a typical
occasion. Historical and biographical material can best be
presented in narrative form.

Suspense, rapid action, exciting adventure, vivid description,
conversation, and all the other devices of the short
story may be introduced into narrative articles to increase
the interest and strengthen the impression. Whenever,
therefore, material can be given a narrative form it is very
desirable to do so. A writer, however, must guard against
exaggeration and the use of fictitious details.

Examples of the Narrative Article. How narration with
descriptive touches and conversation may be effectively
used to explain a new institution like the community
kitchen, or the methods of recruiting employed in the
army, is shown in the two articles below. The first was
taken from the New York World, and the second from the
Outlook.

(1)

(2)

CHAPTER VI

WRITING THE ARTICLE

Value of a Plan. Just as a builder would hesitate to erect a house
without a carefully worked-out plan, so a writer should be loath to
begin an article before he has outlined it fully. In planning a
building, an architect considers how large a house his client desires,
how many rooms he must provide, how the space available may best be
apportioned among the rooms, and what relation the rooms are to bear to
one another. In outlining an article, likewise, a writer needs to
determine how long it must be, what material it should include, how much
space should be devoted to each part, and how the parts should be
arranged. Time spent in thus planning an article is time well spent.

Outlining the subject fully involves thinking out the article from
beginning to end. The value of each item of the material gathered must
be carefully weighed; its relation to the whole subject and to every
part must be considered. The arrangement of the parts is of even greater
importance, because much of the effectiveness of the presentation will
depend upon a logical development of the thought. In the last analysis,
good writing means clear thinking, and at no stage in the preparation of
an article is clear thinking more necessary than in the planning of it.

Amateurs sometimes insist that it is easier to write without an outline
than with one. It undoubtedly does take less time to dash off a special
feature story than it does to think out all of the details and then
write it. In nine cases out of ten, however, when a writer attempts to
work out an article as he goes along, trusting that his ideas will
arrange themselves, the result is far from a clear, logical,
well-organized presentation of his subject. The common disinclination to
make an outline is usually based on the difficulty that most persons
experience in deliberately thinking about a subject in all its various
aspects, and in getting down in logical order the results of such
thought. Unwillingness to outline a subject generally means
unwillingness to think.

The Length of an Article. The length of an article is determined by
two considerations: the scope of the subject, and the policy of the
publication for which it is intended. A large subject cannot be
adequately treated in a brief space, nor can an important theme be
disposed of satisfactorily in a few hundred words. The length of an
article, in general, should be proportionate to the size and the
importance of the subject.

The deciding factor, however, in fixing the length of an article is the
policy of the periodical for which it is designed. One popular
publication may print articles from 4000 to 6000 words, while another
fixes the limit at 1000 words. It would be quite as bad judgment to
prepare a 1000-word article for the former, as it would be to send one
of 5000 words to the latter. Periodicals also fix certain limits for
articles to be printed in particular departments. One monthly magazine,
for instance, has a department of personality sketches which range from
800 to 1200 words in length, while the other articles in this periodical
contain from 2000 to 4000 words.

The practice of printing a column or two of reading matter on most of
the advertising pages influences the length of articles in many
magazines. To obtain an attractive make-up, the editors allow only a
page or two of each special article, short story, or serial to appear in
the first part of the magazine, relegating the remainder to the
advertising pages. Articles must, therefore, be long enough to fill a
page or two in the first part of the periodical and several columns on
the pages of advertising. Some magazines use short articles, or
“fillers,” to furnish the necessary reading matter on these advertising
pages.

Newspapers of the usual size, with from 1000 to 1200 words in a column,
have greater flexibility than magazines in the matter of make-up, and
can, therefore, use special feature stories of various lengths. The
arrangement of advertisements, even in the magazine sections, does not
affect the length of articles. The only way to determine exactly the
requirements of different newspapers and magazines is to count the words
in typical articles in various departments.

Selection and Proportion. After deciding on the length of his
article, the writer should consider what main points he will be able to
develop in the allotted space. His choice will be guided by his purpose
in writing the article. “Is this point essential to the accomplishment
of my aim?” is the test he should apply. Whatever is non-essential must
be abandoned, no matter how attractive it may be. Having determined upon
the essential topics, he next proceeds to estimate their relative value
for the development of his theme, so that he may give to each one the
space and the prominence that are proportionate to its importance.

Arrangement of Material. The order in which to present the main
topics requires thoughtful study. A logical development of a subject by
which the reader is led, step by step, from the first sentence to the
last in the easiest and most natural way, is the ideal arrangement. An
article should march right along from beginning to end, without
digressing or marking time. The straight line, in writing as in drawing,
is the shortest distance between two points.

In narration the natural order is chronological. To arouse immediate
interest, however, a writer may at times deviate from this order by
beginning with a striking incident and then going back to relate the
events that led up to it. This method of beginning in medias res is a
device well recognized in fiction. In exposition the normal order is to
proceed from the known to the unknown, to dovetail the new facts into
those already familiar to the reader.

When a writer desires by his article to create certain convictions in
the minds of his readers, he should consider the arrangement best
calculated to lead them to form such conclusions. The most telling
effects are produced, not by stating his own conclusions as strongly as
possible, but rather by skillfully inducing his readers to reach those
conclusions by what they regard as their own mental processes. That is,
if readers think that the convictions which they have reached are their
own, and were not forced upon them, their interest in these ideas is
likely to be much deeper and more lasting. It is best, therefore, to
understate conclusions or to omit them entirely. In all such cases the
writer’s aim in arranging his material should be to direct his readers’
train of thought so that, after they have finished the last sentence,
they will inevitably form the desired conclusion.

With the main topics arranged in the best possible order, the writer
selects from his available material such details as he needs to amplify
each point. Examples, incidents, statistics, and other particulars he
jots down under each of the chief heads. The arrangement of these
details, in relation both to the central purpose and to each other,
requires some consideration, for each detail must have its logical place
in the series. Having thus ordered his material according to a
systematic plan, he has before him a good working outline to guide him
in writing.

Planning a Typical Article. The process of gathering, evaluating,
and organizing material may best be shown by a concrete example. The
publication in a New York paper of a news story to the effect that the
first commencement exercises were about to be held in the only factory
school ever conducted in the city, suggested to a special feature writer
the possibility of preparing an article on the work of the school. To
obtain the necessary material, he decided to attend the exercises and to
interview both the principal of the school and the head of the factory.
In thinking over the subject beforehand, he jotted down these points
upon which to secure data: (1) the origin and the purpose of the school;
(2) its relation to the work of the factory; (3) the methods of
instruction; (4) the kind of pupils and the results accomplished for
them; (5) the cost of the school; (6) its relation to the public school
system. At the close of the graduation exercises, he secured the
desired interviews with the teacher in charge and with the head of the
firm, copied typical examples from the exhibition of the pupils’ written
work, and jotted down notes on the decoration and furnishing of the
schoolroom. Since the commencement exercises had been reported in the
newspapers, he decided to refer to them only incidentally in his story.

After considering the significance of the work of the school and what
there was about it that would appeal to different classes of readers, he
decided to write his story for the magazine section of the New York
newspaper that he believed was most generally read by business men who
operated factories similar to the one described. His purpose he
formulated thus: “I intend to show how illiterate immigrant girls can be
transformed quickly into intelligent, efficient American citizens by
means of instruction in a factory school; this I wish to do by
explaining what has been accomplished in this direction by one New York
factory.” He hoped that his article would lead readers to encourage the
establishment of similar schools as a means of Americanizing alien
girls. The expository type of article containing concrete examples,
description, and interviews he concluded to adopt as the form best
suited to his subject.

The average length of the special feature stories, in the magazine
section of the paper to which he intended to submit the article, proved
to be about 2000 words. In order to accomplish his purpose in an article
of this length, he selected five main topics to develop: (1) the reasons
that led the firm to establish the school; (2) the results obtained; (3)
the methods of instruction; (4) the cost of the school; (5) the
schoolroom and its equipment.

“What part of my material will make the strongest appeal to the readers
of this newspaper?” was the question he asked himself, in order to
select the best point with which to begin his article. The feature that
would attract the most attention, he believed, was the striking results
obtained by the school in a comparatively short time.

In reviewing the several types of beginnings to determine which would
best suit the presentation of these remarkable results, he found two
possibilities: first, the summary lead with a striking statement for the
first sentence; and second, a concrete example of the results as shown
by one of the pupils. He found, however, that he did not have sufficient
data concerning any one girl to enable him to tell the story of her
transformation as an effective concrete case. He determined, therefore,
to use a striking statement as the feature of a summary lead.

From his interview with the head of the firm, and from a formal
statement of the purpose of the school printed on the commencement
program, he obtained the reasons why the school had been established.
These he decided to give verbatim in direct quotation form.

To show most interestingly the results of the teaching, he picked out
four of the six written exercises that he had copied from those
exhibited on the walls of the schoolroom. The first of these dealt with
American history, the second with thrift and business methods, and the
third with personal hygiene. For the fourth he selected the work of a
woman of forty whose struggles to get into the school and to learn to
write the teacher had described to him.

Figures on the cost of the school he had secured from the head of the
firm according to his preliminary plan. These covered the expense both
to the employers and to the city.

His description of the schoolroom he could base on his own observation,
supplemented by the teacher’s explanations.

For his conclusion he determined to summarize the results of this
experiment in education as the firm stated them on the commencement
program, and to give his own impression of the success of the school.
Thus he sought to give final reinforcement to the favorable impression
of the school that he wished his article to create, with the aim of
leading readers to reach the conclusion that such schools should be
encouraged as invaluable aids to the Americanization of alien girls.

Outlining the Article. Having selected the main topics and having
decided in a general way how he intended to develop each one, he then
fixed upon the best order in which to present them.

After his introduction giving the striking results of the school in a
summary lead, it seemed logical to explain the firm’s purpose in
undertaking this unusual enterprise. He accordingly jotted down for his
second topic, “Purpose in establishing the school,” with the two
sub-topics, “Firm’s statement on program” and “Head of firm’s statement
in interview.”

The methods of-instruction by which the remarkable success was attained,
impressed him as the next important point. His readers, having learned
the results and the purpose of the school, would naturally want to know
by what methods these girls had been transformed in so short a time. As
his third topic, therefore, he put down, “Methods of instruction.”

For his fourth division he had to choose between (1) the results as
shown by the pupils’ written work, (2) the cost of the school, and (3)
the schoolroom and its equipment. From the point of view of logical
order either the results or the schoolroom might have been taken up
next, but, as all the explanations of the methods of instruction were
quoted directly in the words of the teacher, and as the pupils’
exercises were to be given verbatim, he thought it best to place his
own description of the schoolroom between these two quoted parts.
Greater variety, he foresaw, would result from such an arrangement. “The
schoolroom,” then, became the fourth topic.

Since the pupils’ work which he planned to reproduce had been exhibited
on the walls of the schoolroom, the transition from the description of
the room to the exhibits on the walls was an easy and logical one.

By this process of elimination, the cost of the school became the sixth
division, to be followed by the summary conclusion.

He then proceeded to fill in the details needed to develop each of
these main topics, always keeping his general purpose in mind. The
result of this organization of material was the following outline:

I. Summary lead
1. Striking results—time required
2. Commencement—when and where held
3. Graduates—number, nationality, certificates
4. School—when and where established
5. Example to other firms

II. Purpose of school
1. Firm’s statement on commencement program
2. Head of firm’s statement in interview

III. Methods of instruction
1. Practical education
2. Letter writing—geography, postal regulations, correspondence
3. Arithmetic—money, expense accounts, reports of work
4. Civics—history, biography, holidays, citizenship, patriotism
5. Personal hygiene—cleanliness, physical culture, first aid, food
6. Cotton goods—growing cotton, spinning, shipping
7. Means of communication—telephone, directory, map of city, routes of travel, telephone book
8. Study outside of classroom

IV. The schoolroom
1. Location—floor space, windows
2. Decorations—flowers, motto, photograph of Miss Jessie Wilson
3. Furnishings—piano, phonograph
4. Library—reading to the girls, The Promised Land, Mary Antin, library cards

V. Results shown by pupils’ work
1. Italian’s theme and her remarkable progress
2. Russian’s essay on saving
3. Polish girl’s exercise about picture
4. Woman of forty and her work

VI. Cost of school

1. Expense to firm
2. Cost to Board of Education—salaries and supplies
3. Entire cost per pupil
4. Returns to firm outweigh cost, says employer

VII. Summary conclusion
1. Results quoted from program
2. Impression made by girls receiving diplomas

The Completed Article. Since the establishment of a school in a
factory was the novel feature of the enterprise, he worked out a title
based on this idea, with a sub-title presenting the striking results
accomplished by the school. The completed article follows, with a brief
analysis of the methods used in developing the outline.

TAKING THE SCHOOL TO THE FACTORY

Another Article on the Same Subject. This commencement at the
factory school furnished another writer, Nixola Greeley Smith, with
material for a special feature story which was sent out by a syndicate,
the Newspaper Enterprise Association, for publication in several hundred
newspapers. Her story contains only 375 words and is thus less than one
fifth the length of the other article. The author centers the interest
in one of the pupils, and shows the value of the school in terms of this
girl’s experience. The girl’s own account of what the school has meant
to her makes a strong “human interest” appeal. By thus developing one
concrete example effectively, the author is able to arouse more interest
in the results of the school than she would have done if in the same
space she had attempted to give a greater number of facts about it.
Unlike the longer article, her story probably would not suggest to the
reader the possibility of undertaking a similar enterprise, because it
does not give enough details about the organization and methods of the
school to show how the idea could be applied elsewhere.

The beginning of the shorter story was doubtless suggested by the
presence at the exercises of Mary Antin, the author of “The Promised
Land,” who addressed the girls. The first sentence of it piques our
curiosity to know how “the promised land” has kept its promise, and the
story proceeds to tell us. The article, with an analysis of its main
points, follows:

WONDERFUL AMERICA!
THINKS LITTLE AUSTRIAN
WHO GRADUATES FROM FACTORY SCHOOL

Articles Composed of Units. The study of the two special feature
stories on the factory school shows how articles of this type are built
up out of a number of units, such as examples, incidents, and
statistics. A similar study of the other types of articles exemplified
in Chapter V will show that they also are made up of various kinds of
units. Again, if we turn to the types of beginnings illustrated in
Chapter VII, we shall find that they, too, are units, which in some
cases might have been used in the body of the article instead of as an
introduction. Since, then, every division of a subject may be regarded
as a unit that is complete in itself whatever its position in the
article, each of the several kinds of units may be studied separately.
For this purpose we may discuss five common types of units: (1)
examples, (2) incidents, (3) statistics, (4) scientific and technical
processes, and (5) recipes and directions.

Methods of Developing Units. In order to present these units most
effectively, and to vary the form of presentation when occasion demands,
a writer needs to be familiar with the different methods of developing
each one of these types. Four common methods of handling material
within these units are: (1) exposition, narration, or description in
the writer’s own words; (2) dialogue; (3) the interview; (4) direct or
indirect quotation. Statistics and recipes may also be given in tabular
form.

When a unit may be developed with equal effectiveness by any one of
several methods, a writer should choose the one that gives variety to
his article. If, for example, the units just before and after the one
under consideration are to be in direct quotation, he should avoid any
form that involves quoted matter.

Examples. In all types of articles the concrete example is the
commonest and most natural means of explaining a general idea. To
most readers, for instance, the legal provisions of an old age
pension law would be neither comprehensible nor interesting, but a
story showing how a particular old man had been benefited by the law
would appeal to practically every one. That is, to explain the
operation and advantages of such a law, we give, as one unit, the
concrete example of this old man. Actual examples are preferable to
hypothetical ones, but the latter may occasionally be used when real
cases are not available. Imaginary instances may be introduced by
such phrases as, “If, for example,” or “Suppose, for instance,
that.”

The benefits of a newly established clinic for animals
were demonstrated in a special feature article in the New
York Times by the selection of several animal patients as
typical cases. Probably the one given below did not seem
to the writer to be sufficiently striking if only the bare facts
were given, and so he undertook to create sympathy by
describing the poor, whimpering little dog and the distress
of the two young women. By arousing the sympathies of
the readers, he was better able to impress them with the
benefits of the clinic.

In a special feature story designed to show how much more intelligently
the first woman judge in this country could deal with cases of
delinquent girls in the juvenile court than could the ordinary police
court judge, a writer selected several cases that she had disposed of in
her characteristic way. The first case, which follows, he decided could
best be reported verbatim, as by that method he could show most
clearly the kindly attitude of the judge in dealing with even the least
appreciative of girls.

To explain to readers of the Kansas City Star how a bloodhound runs
down a criminal, a special feature writer asked them to imagine that a
crime had been committed at a particular corner in that city and that a
bloodhound had been brought to track the criminal; then he told them
what would happen if the crime were committed, first, when the streets
were deserted, or second, when they were crowded. In other words, he
gave two imaginary instances to illustrate the manner in which
bloodhounds are able to follow a trail. Obviously these two hypothetical
cases are sufficiently plausible and typical to explain the idea.

Incidents. Narrative articles, such as personal experience stories,
confessions, and narratives in the third person, consist almost entirely
of incidents. Dialogue and description are very frequently employed in
relating incidents, even when the greater part of the incident is told
in the writer’s own words. The incidents given as examples of narrative
beginnings on pages 135-37 are sufficient to illustrate the various
methods of developing incidents as units.

Statistics. To make statistical facts comprehensible and
interesting is usually a difficult problem for the inexperienced writer.
Masses of figures generally mean very little to the average reader.
Unless the significance of statistics can be quickly grasped, they are
almost valueless as a means of explanation. One method of simplifying
them is to translate them into terms with which the average reader is
familiar. This may often be done by reducing large figures to smaller
ones. Instead of saying, for example, that a press prints 36,000
newspapers an hour, we may say that it prints 10 papers a second, or 600
a minute. To most persons 36,000 papers an hour means little more than a
large number, but 10 papers and one second are figures sufficiently
small to be understood at a glance. Statistics sometimes appear less
formidable if they are incorporated in an interview or in a
conversation.

In undertaking to explain the advantages of a coöperative community
store, a writer was confronted with the problem of handling a
considerable number of figures. The first excerpt below shows how he
managed to distribute them through several paragraphs, thus avoiding any
awkward massing of figures. In order to present a number of comparative
prices, he used the concrete case, given below, of an investigator
making a series of purchases at the store.

(1)

(2)

Since to the average newspaper reader it would not mean much to say that
the cost of the public schools amounted to several hundred thousand
dollars a year, a special feature writer calculated the relation of the
school appropriation to the total municipal expenditure and then
presented the results as fractions of a dollar, thus:

How statistics may be effectively embodied in an interview is
demonstrated by the following excerpt from a special feature story on a
workmen’s compensation law administered by a state industrial board:

Processes. To make scientific and technical processes sufficiently
simple to appeal to the layman, is another problem for the writer of
popular articles. A narrative-descriptive presentation that enables the
reader to visualize and follow the process, step by step, as though it
were taking place before his eyes, is usually the best means of making
it both understandable and interesting.

In a special feature story on methods of exterminating mosquitoes, a
writer in the Detroit News undertook to trace the life history of a
mosquito. In order to popularize these scientific details, he describes
a “baby mosquito” in a concrete, informal manner, and, as he tells the
story of its life, suggests or points out specifically its likeness to a
human being.

A mechanical process, that of handling milk at a model dairy farm, was
effectively presented by Constance D. Leupp in an article entitled, “The
Fight for Clean Milk,” printed in the Outlook. By leading “you,” the
reader, to the spot, as it were, by picturing in detail what “you” would
see there, and then by following in story form the course of the milk
from one place to another, she succeeded in making the process clear and
interesting.

Practical Guidance Units. To give in an attractive form complete
and accurate directions for doing something in a certain way, is another
difficult problem for the inexperienced writer. For interest and
variety, conversation, interviews and other forms of direct quotation,
as well as informal narrative, may be employed.

Various practical methods of saving fuel in cooking were given by a
writer in Successful Farming, in what purported to be an account of a
meeting of a farm woman’s club at which the problem was discussed. By
the device of allowing the members of the club to relate their
experiences, she was able to offer a large number of suggestions. Two
units selected from different portions of the article illustrate this
method:

By using a conversation between a hostess and her guest, another writer
in the same farm journal succeeded in giving in a novel way some
directions for preparing celery.

A number of new uses for adhesive plaster were suggested by a writer in
the New York Tribune, who, in the excerpt below, employs effectively
the device of the direct appeal to the reader.

In an article in the Philadelphia Ledger on “What Can I Do to Earn
Money?” Mary Hamilton Talbot gave several examples of methods of earning
money, in one of which she incorporated practical directions, thus:

CHAPTER VII

HOW TO BEGIN

Importance of the Beginning. The value of a good beginning for a
news story, a special feature article, or a short story results from the
way in which most persons read newspapers and magazines. In glancing
through current publications, the average reader is attracted chiefly by
headlines or titles, illustrations, and authors’ names. If any one of
these interests him, he pauses a moment or two over the beginning “to
see what it is all about.” The first paragraphs usually determine
whether or not he goes any further. A single copy of a newspaper or
magazine offers so much reading matter that the casual reader, if
disappointed in the introduction to one article or short story, has
plenty of others to choose from. But if the opening sentences hold his
attention, he reads on. “Well begun is half done” is a saying that
applies with peculiar fitness to special feature articles.

Structure of the Beginning. To accomplish its purpose an
introduction must be both a unit in itself and an integral part of the
article. The beginning, whether a single paragraph in form, or a single
paragraph in essence, although actually broken up into two or more short
paragraphs, should produce on the mind of the reader a unified
impression. The conversation, the incident, the example, or the summary
of which it consists, should be complete in itself. Unless, on the other
hand, the introduction is an organic part of the article, it fails of
its purpose. The beginning must present some vital phase of the subject;
it should not be merely something attractive attached to the article to
catch the reader’s notice. In his effort to make the beginning
attractive, an inexperienced writer is inclined to linger over it until
it becomes disproportionately long. Its length, however, should be
proportionate to the importance of that phase of the subject which it
presents. As a vital part of the article, the introduction must be so
skillfully connected with what follows that a reader is not conscious of
the transition. Close coherence between the beginning and the body of
the article is essential.

The four faults, therefore, to be guarded against in writing the
beginning are: (1) the inclusion of diverse details not carefully
coordinated to produce a single unified impression; (2) the development
of the introduction to a disproportionate length; (3) failure to make
the beginning a vital part of the article itself; (4) lack of close
connection or of skillful transition between the introduction and the
body of the article.

Types of Beginnings. Because of the importance of the introduction,
the writer should familiarize himself with the different kinds of
beginnings, and should study them from the point of view of their
suitability for various types of articles. The seven distinct types of
beginnings are: (1) summary; (2) narrative; (3) description; (4)
striking statement; (5) quotation; (6) question; (7) direct address.
Combinations of two or more of these methods are not infrequent.

Summary Beginnings. The general adoption by newspapers of the
summary beginning, or “lead,” for news stories has accustomed the
average reader to finding most of the essential facts of a piece of news
grouped together in the first paragraph. The lead, by telling the reader
the nature of the event, the persons and things concerned, the time, the
place, the cause, and the result, answers his questions, What? Who?
When? Where? Why? How? Not only are the important facts summarized in
such a beginning, but the most striking detail is usually “played up” in
the first group of words of the initial sentence where it catches the
eye at once. Thus the reader is given both the main facts and the most
significant feature of the subject. Unquestionably this news story lead,
when skillfully worked out, has distinct advantages alike for the news
report and for the special article.

Summary Beginnings

(1)

(2)

(3)

Narrative Beginnings. To begin a special feature article in the
narrative form is to give it a story-like character that at once arouses
interest. It is impossible in many instances to know from the
introduction whether what follows is to be a short story or a special
article. An element of suspense may even be injected into the narrative
introduction to stimulate the reader’s curiosity, and descriptive
touches may be added to heighten the vividness.

If the whole article is in narrative form, as is the case in a personal
experience or confession story, the introduction is only the first part
of a continuous story, and as such gives the necessary information about
the person involved.

Narrative beginnings that consist of concrete examples and specific
instances are popular for expository articles. Sometimes several
instances are related in the introduction before the writer proceeds to
generalize from them. The advantage of this inductive method of
explanation grows out of the fact that, after a general idea has been
illustrated by an example or two, most persons can grasp it with much
less effort and with much greater interest than when such
exemplification follows the generalization.

Other narrative introductions consist of an anecdote, an incident, or an
important event connected with the subject of the article.

Since conversation is an excellent means of enlivening a narrative,
dialogue is often used in the introduction to special articles, whether
for relating an incident, giving a specific instance, or beginning a
personal experience story.

Narrative Beginnings

(1)

(2)

(3)

(4)

(5)

Descriptive Beginnings. Just as description of characters or of
scene and setting is one method of beginning short stories and novels,
so also it constitutes a form of introduction for an article. In both
cases the aim is to create immediate interest by vivid portrayal of
definite persons and places. The concrete word picture, like the
concrete instance in a narrative beginning, makes a quick and strong
appeal. An element of suspense or mystery may be introduced into the
description, if a person, a place, or an object is described without
being identified by name until the end of the portrayal.

The possibilities of description are not limited to sights alone;
sounds, odors and other sense impressions, as well as emotions, may be
described. Frequently several different impressions are combined. To
stir the reader’s feelings by a strong emotional description is
obviously a good method of beginning.

A descriptive beginning, to be clear to the rapid reader, should be
suggestive rather than detailed. The average person can easily visualize
a picture that is sketched in a few suggestive words, whereas he is
likely to be confused by a mass of details. Picture-making words and
those imitative of sounds, as well as figures of speech, may be used to
advantage in descriptive beginnings. For the description of feelings,
words with a rich emotional connotation are important.

Descriptive Beginnings

(1)

(2)

(3)

(4)

(5)

(6)

Beginning with a Striking Statement. When the thought expressed in
the first sentence of an article is sufficiently unusual, or is
presented in a sufficiently striking form, it at once commands
attention. By stimulating interest and curiosity, it leads the average
person to read on until he is satisfied.

A striking statement of this sort may serve as the first sentence of one
of the other types of beginning, such as the narrative or the
descriptive introduction, the quotation, the question, or the direct
address. But it may also be used entirely alone.

Since great size is impressive, a statement of the magnitude of
something is usually striking. Numerical figures are often used in the
opening sentences to produce the impression of enormous size. If these
figures are so large that the mind cannot grasp them, it is well, by
means of comparisons, to translate them into terms of the reader’s own
experience. There is always danger of overwhelming and confusing a
person with statistics that in the mass mean little or nothing to him.

To declare in the first sentence that something is the first or the only
one of its kind immediately arrests attention, because of the universal
interest in the unique.

An unusual prediction is another form of striking statement. To be told
at the beginning of an article of some remarkable thing that the future
holds in store for him or for his descendants, fascinates the average
person as much as does the fortune-teller’s prophecy. There is danger of
exaggeration, however, in making predictions. When writers magnify the
importance of their subject by assuring us that what they are explaining
will “revolutionize” our ideas and practices, we are inclined to
discount these exaggerated and trite forms of prophecy.

A striking figure of speech—an unusual metaphor, for example—may often
be used in the beginning of an article to arouse curiosity. As the
comparison in a metaphor is implied rather than expressed, the points of
likeness may not immediately be evident to the reader and thus the
figurative statement piques his curiosity. A comparison in the form of a
simile, or in that of a parable or allegory, may serve as a striking
introduction.

A paradox, as a self-contradictory statement, arrests the attention in
the initial sentence of an article. Although not always easy to frame,
and hence not so often employed as it might be, a paradoxical expression
is an excellent device for a writer to keep in mind when some phase of
his theme lends itself to such a striking beginning.

Besides these readily classified forms of unusual statements, any novel,
extraordinary expression that is not too bizarre may be employed. The
chief danger to guard against is that of making sensational,
exaggerated, or false statements, merely to catch the reader’s notice.

Striking Statement Beginnings

(1)

(2)

(3)

(4)

(5)

(6)

(7)

(8)

(9)

(10)

(11)

(12)

Beginning with a Quotation. Words enclosed in quotation marks or
set off in some distinctive form such as verse, an advertisement, a
letter, a menu, or a sign, immediately catch the eye at the beginning of
an article. Every conceivable source may be drawn on for quotations,
provided, of course, that what is quoted has close connection with the
subject. If the quotation expresses an extraordinary idea, it possesses
an additional source of interest.

Verse quotations may be taken from a well-known poem, a popular song, a
nursery rhyme, or even doggerel verse. Sometimes a whole poem or song
prefaces an article. When the verse is printed in smaller type than the
article, it need not be enclosed in quotation marks. In his typewritten
manuscript a writer may indicate this difference in size of type by
single-spacing the lines of the quotation.

Prose quotations may be taken from a speech or an interview, or from
printed material such as a book, report, or bulletin. The more
significant the quoted statement, the more effective will be the
introduction. When the quotation consists of several sentences or of one
long sentence, it may comprise the first paragraph, to be followed in
the second paragraph by the necessary explanation.

Popular sayings, slogans, or current phrases are not always enclosed in
quotation marks, but are often set off in a separate paragraph as a
striking form of beginning.

The most conspicuous quotation beginnings are reproductions of newspaper
clippings, advertisements, price lists, menus, telegrams, invitations,
or parts of legal documents. These are not infrequently reproduced as
nearly as possible in the original form and may be enclosed in a frame,
or “box.”

Quotation Beginnings

(1)

(2)

(3)

(4)

(5)

(6)

(7)

Beginning with a Question. Every question is like a riddle; we are
never satisfied until we know the answer. So a question put to us at the
beginning of an article piques our curiosity, and we are not content
until we find out how the writer answers it.

Instead of a single question, several may be asked in succession. These
questions may deal with different phases of the subject or may repeat
the first question in other words. It is frequently desirable to break
up a long question into a number of short ones to enable the rapid
reader to grasp the idea more easily. Greater prominence may be gained
for each question by giving it a separate paragraph.

Rhetorical questions, although the equivalent of affirmative or negative
statements, nevertheless retain enough of their interrogative effect to
be used advantageously for the beginning of an article.

That the appeal may be brought home to each reader personally, the
pronoun “you,” or “yours,” is often embodied in the question, and
sometimes readers are addressed by some designation such as “Mr. Average
Reader,” “Mrs. Voter,” “you, high school boys and girls.”

The indirect question naturally lacks the force of the direct one, but
it may be employed when a less striking form of beginning is desired.
The direct question, “Do you know why the sky is blue?” loses much of
its force when changed into the indirect form, “Few people know why the
sky is blue”; still it possesses enough of the riddle element to
stimulate thought. Several indirect questions may be included in the
initial sentence of an article.

Question Beginnings

(1)

(2)

(3)

(4)

(5)

(6)

(7)

(8)

(9)

Addressing the Reader Directly. A direct personal appeal
makes a good opening for an article. The writer
seems to be talking to each reader individually instead of
merely writing for thousands. This form of address may
seem to hark back to the days of the “gentle reader,” but
its appeal is perennial. To the pronoun “you” may be
added the designation of the particular class of readers
addressed, such as “You, mothers,” or “You, Mr. Salaried
Man.” The imperative verb is perhaps the strongest form
of direct address. There is danger of overdoing the “do-this-and-don’t-do-that”
style, particularly in articles of
practical guidance, but that need not deter a writer from
using the imperative beginning occasionally.

Direct Address Beginnings

(1)

(2)

(3)

(4)

CHAPTER VIII

STYLE

Style Defined. Style, or the manner in which ideas and
emotions are expressed, is as important in special feature
writing as it is in any other kind of literary work. A
writer may select an excellent subject, may formulate a
definite purpose, and may choose the type of article best
suited to his needs, but if he is unable to express his
thoughts effectively, his article will be a failure. Style is
not to be regarded as mere ornament added to ordinary
forms of expression. It is not an incidental element, but
rather the fundamental part of all literary composition,
the means by which a writer transfers what is in his own
mind to the minds of his readers. It is a vehicle for conveying
ideas and emotions. The more easily, accurately,
and completely the reader gets the author’s thoughts and
feelings, the better is the style.

The style of an article needs to be adapted both to the
readers and to the subject. An article for a boys’ magazine
would be written in a style different from that of a
story on the same subject intended for a Sunday newspaper.
The style appropriate to an entertaining story on
odd superstitions of business men would be unsuitable for a
popular exposition of wireless telephony. In a word, the
style of a special article demands as careful consideration
as does its subject, purpose, and structure.

Since it may be assumed that any one who aspires to
write for newspapers and magazines has a general knowledge
of the principles of composition and of the elements
and qualities of style, only such points of style as are important
in special feature writing will be discussed in this
chapter.

The elements of style are: (1) words, (2) figures of
speech, (3) sentences, and (4) paragraphs. The kinds of
words, figures, sentences, and paragraphs used, and the
way in which they are combined, determine the style.

Words. In the choice of words for popular articles,
three points are important: (1) only such words may be
used as are familiar to the average person, (2) concrete
terms make a much more definite impression than general
ones, and (3) words that carry with them associated ideas
and feelings are more effective than words that lack such
intellectual and emotional connotation.

The rapid reader cannot stop to refer to the dictionary
for words that he does not know. Although the special
feature writer is limited to terms familiar to the average
reader, he need not confine himself to commonplace, colloquial
diction; most readers know the meaning of many
more words than they themselves use in everyday conversation.
In treating technical topics, it is often necessary
to employ some unfamiliar terms, but these may readily
be explained the first time they appear. Whenever the
writer is in doubt as to whether or not his readers will understand
a certain term, the safest course is to explain it or
to substitute one that is sure to be understood.

Since most persons grasp concrete ideas more quickly
than abstract ones, specific words should be given the
preference in popular articles. To create concrete images
must be the writer’s constant aim. Instead of a general
term like “walk,” for example, he should select a specific,
picture-making word such as hurry, dash, run, race, amble,
stroll, stride, shuffle, shamble, limp, strut, stalk. For the
word “horse” he may substitute a definite term like sorrel,
bay, percheron, nag, charger, steed, broncho, or pony.
In narrative and descriptive writing particularly, it is
necessary to use words that make pictures and that reproduce
sounds and other sense impressions. In the effort to
make his diction specific, however, the writer must guard
against bizarre effects and an excessive use of adjectives
and adverbs. Verbs, quite as much as nouns, adjectives, and
adverbs, produce clear, vivid images when skillfully handled.

Some words carry with them associated ideas and emotions,
while others do not. The feelings and ideas thus
associated with words constitute their emotional and intellectual
connotation, as distinct from their logical meaning,
or denotation. The word “home,” for example, denotes
simply one’s place of residence, but it connotes all
the thoughts and feelings associated with one’s own house
and family circle. Such a word is said to have a rich emotional
connotation because it arouses strong feeling. It
also has a rich intellectual connotation since it calls up
many associated images. Words and phrases that are peculiar
to the Bible or to the church service carry with them
mental images and emotions connected with religious worship.
In a personality sketch of a spiritual leader, for example,
such words and phrases would be particularly effective
to create the atmosphere with which such a man might
very appropriately be invested. Since homely, colloquial
expressions have entirely different associations, they would
be entirely out of keeping with the tone of such a sketch,
unless the religious leader were an unconventional revivalist.
A single word with the wrong connotation may seriously
affect the tone of a paragraph. On the other hand,
words and phrases rich in appropriate suggestion heighten
immeasurably the effectiveness of an article.

The value of concrete words is shown in the following
paragraphs taken from a newspaper article describing a
gas attack:

Faults in Diction. Since newspaper reporters and correspondents
are called upon day after day to write on similar
events and to write at top speed, they are prone to use
the same words over and over again, without making much
of an effort to “find the one noun that best expresses the
idea, the one verb needed to give it life, and the one adjective
to qualify it.” This tendency to use trite, general,
“woolly” words instead of fresh, concrete ones is not infrequently
seen in special feature stories written by newspaper
workers. Every writer who aims to give to his articles
some distinction in style should guard against the danger
of writing what has aptly been termed “jargon.” “To
write jargon,” says Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch in his book,
“On the Art of Writing,” “is to be perpetually shuffling
around in the fog and cotton-wool of abstract terms. So
long as you prefer abstract words, which express other
men’s summarized concepts of things, to concrete ones
which lie as near as can be reached to things themselves
and are the first-hand material for your thoughts, you will
remain, at the best, writers at second-hand. If your language
be jargon, your intellect, if not your whole character,
will almost certainly correspond. Where your mind
should go straight, it will dodge; the difficulties it should
approach with a fair front and grip with a firm hand it will
be seeking to evade or circumvent. For the style is the
man, and where a man’s treasure is there his heart, and his
brain, and his writing, will be also.”

Figures of Speech. To most persons the term “figure
of speech” suggests such figures as metonymy and synecdoche,
which they once learned to define, but never
thought of using voluntarily in their own writing. Figures
of speech are too often regarded as ornaments suited only
to poetry or poetical prose. With these popular notions in
mind, a writer for newspapers and magazines may quite
naturally conclude that figurative expressions have little
or no practical value in his work. Figures of speech, however,
are great aids, not only to clearness and conciseness,
but to the vividness of an article. They assist the reader
to grasp ideas quickly and they stimulate his imagination
and his emotions.

Association of ideas is the principle underlying figurative
expressions. By a figure of speech a writer shows his readers
the relation between a new idea and one already familiar
to them. An unfamiliar object, for example, is likened
to a familiar one, directly, as in the simile, or by implication,
as in the metaphor. As the object brought into relation
with the new idea is more familiar and more concrete,
the effect of the figure is to simplify the subject that is being
explained, and to make it more easy of comprehension.

A figure of speech makes both for conciseness and for
economy of mental effort on the part of the reader. To
say in a personality sketch, for example, that the person
looks “like Lincoln” is the simplest, most concise way of
creating a mental picture. Or to describe a smoothly running
electric motor as “purring,” instantly makes the
reader hear the sound. Scores of words may be saved, and
clearer, more vivid impressions may be given, by the judicious
use of figures of speech.

As the familiar, concrete objects introduced in figures
frequently have associated emotions, figurative expressions
often make an emotional appeal. Again, to say that
a person looks “like Lincoln” not only creates a mental
picture but awakes the feelings generally associated with
Lincoln. The result is that readers are inclined to feel
toward the person so described as they feel toward Lincoln.

Even in practical articles, figurative diction may not be
amiss. In explaining a method of splitting old kitchen
boilers in order to make watering troughs, a writer in a
farm journal happily described a cold chisel as “turning
out a narrow shaving of steel and rolling it away much as
the mold-board of a plow turns the furrow.”

The stimulating effect of a paragraph abounding in figurative
expressions is well illustrated by the following passage
taken from a newspaper personality sketch of a popular
pulpit orator:

Sentences. For rapid reading the prime requisite of a
good sentence is that its grammatical structure shall be
evident; in other words, that the reader shall be able at a
glance to see the relation of its parts. Involved sentences
that require a second perusal before they yield their meaning,
are clearly not adapted to the newspaper or magazine.
Short sentences and those of medium length are, as a rule,
more easily grasped than long ones, but for rapid reading
the structure of the sentence, rather than its length, is the
chief consideration. Absolute clearness is of paramount
importance.

In hurried reading the eye is caught by the first group of
words at the beginning of a sentence. These words make
more of an impression on the reader’s mind than do those
in the middle or at the end of the sentence. In all journalistic
writing, therefore, the position of greatest emphasis is
the beginning. It is there that the most significant idea
should be placed. Such an arrangement does not mean
that the sentence need trail off loosely in a series of phrases
and clauses. Firmness of structure can and should be
maintained even though the strongest emphasis is at the
beginning. In revising his article a writer often finds
that he may greatly increase the effectiveness of his sentences
by so rearranging the parts as to bring the important
ideas close to the beginning.

Length of the Sentence. Sentences may be classified
according to length as (1) short, containing 15 words or
less; (2) medium, from 15 to 30 words; and (3) long, 30
words or more. Each of these types of sentence has its
own peculiar advantages.

The short sentence, because it is easily apprehended, is
more emphatic than a longer one. Used in combination
with medium and long sentences it gains prominence by
contrast. It makes an emphatic beginning and a strong
conclusion for a paragraph. As the last sentence of an
article it is a good “snapper.” In contrast with longer statements,
it also serves as a convenient transition sentence.

The sentence of medium length lends itself readily to the
expression of the average thought; but when used continuously
it gives to the style a monotony of rhythm that soon
becomes tiresome.

The long sentence is convenient for grouping details that
are closely connected. In contrast with the rapid, emphatic
short sentence, it moves slowly and deliberately,
and so is well adapted to the expression of dignified and
impressive thoughts.

To prevent monotony, variety of sentence length is desirable.
Writers who unconsciously tend to use sentences
of about the same length and of the same construction,
need to beware of this uniformity.

The skillful use of single short sentences, of series of
short sentences, of medium, and of long sentences, to give
variety, to express thoughts effectively, and to produce
harmony between the movement of the style and the ideas
advanced, is well illustrated in the selection below. It is
the beginning of a personality sketch of William II, the
former German emperor, published in the London Daily
News before the world war, and written by Mr. A.G.
Gardiner, the editor of that paper.

By the three short sentences in the first paragraph beginning
“Officers gallop,” the author depicts the rapid
movement of the soldiers. By the next three short sentences
in the same paragraph beginning, “There is a sudden
stillness,” he produces an impression of suspense. To
picture the Kaiser coming up “slowly,” he uses a long,
leisurely sentence. The salutations “ring out” in short,
crisp sentences. The more serious, impressive thought of
the possibility of war finds fitting expression in the long,
64-word sentence, ending with the sonorous—”ring of
doom,” “Te morituri salutamus.”

The transition between the introduction and the body of
the sketch is accomplished by the last paragraph consisting
of three short sentences, in marked contrast with the climactic
effect with which the description closed.

Paragraphs. The paragraph is a device that aids a
writer to convey to readers his thoughts combined in the
same groups in which they are arranged in his own mind.
Since a small group of thoughts is more easily grasped than
a large one, paragraphs in journalistic writing are usually
considerably shorter than those of ordinary English prose.
In the narrow newspaper column, there is room for only
five or six words to a line. A paragraph of 250 words,
which is the average length of the literary paragraph, fills
between forty and fifty lines of a newspaper column. Such
paragraphs seem heavy and uninviting. Moreover, the
casual reader cannot readily comprehend and combine the
various thoughts in so large a group of sentences. Although
there is no standard column width for magazines,
the number of words in a line does not usually exceed eight.
A paragraph of 250 words that occupies 30 eight-word lines
seems less attractive than one of half that length. The
normal paragraph in journalistic writing seldom exceeds 100
words and not infrequently is much shorter. As such a paragraph
contains not more than four or five sentences, the general
reading public has little difficulty in comprehending it.

The beginning of the paragraph, like the beginning of
the sentence, is the part that catches the eye. Significant
ideas that need to be impressed upon the mind of the reader
belong at the beginning. If his attention is arrested and
held by the first group of words, he is likely to read on. If
the beginning does not attract him, he skips down the column
to the next paragraph, glancing merely at enough
words in the paragraph that he skips to “get the drift of
it.” An emphatic beginning for a paragraph will insure
attention for its contents.

Revision. It is seldom that the first draft of an article
cannot be improved by a careful revision. In going over
his work, word by word and sentence by sentence, the
writer will generally find many opportunities to increase
the effectiveness of the structure and the style. Such revision,
moreover, need not destroy the ease and naturalness
of expression.

To improve the diction of his article, the writer should
eliminate (1) superfluous words, (2) trite phrases, (3) general,
colorless words, (4) terms unfamiliar to the average
reader, unless they are explained, (5) words with a connotation
inappropriate to the context, (6) hackneyed and
mixed metaphors. The effectiveness of the expression
may often be strengthened by the addition of specific, picture-making,
imitative, and connotative words, as well as
of figures of speech that clarify the ideas and stimulate the
imagination.

Sentences may frequently be improved (1) by making
their grammatical structure more evident, (2) by breaking
up long, loose sentences into shorter ones, (3) by using
short sentences for emphasis, (4) by varying the sentence
length, (5) by transferring important ideas to the beginning
of the sentence.

Every paragraph should be tested to determine whether
or not it is a unified, coherent group of thoughts, containing
not more than 100 words, with important ideas effectively
massed at the beginning.

Finally, revision should eliminate all errors in grammar,
spelling, punctuation, and capitalization. Every minute
spent in improving an article adds greatly to its chances of
being accepted.

CHAPTER IX

TITLES AND HEADLINES

Importance of Head and Title. Headlines or titles, illustrations,
and names of authors are the three things that
first catch the eye of the reader as he turns over the pages
of a newspaper or magazine. When the writer’s name is
unknown to him, only the illustrations and the heading
remain to attract his attention.

The “attention-getting” value of the headline is fully
appreciated not only by newspaper and magazine editors
but by writers of advertisements. Just as the striking
heads on the front page of a newspaper increase its sales,
so, also, attractive titles on the cover of a magazine lead
people to buy it, and so, too, a good headline in an advertisement
arouses interest in what the advertiser is trying
to sell.

A good title adds greatly to the attractiveness of an article.
In the first place, the title is the one thing that catches
the eye of the editor or manuscript reader, as he glances
over the copy, and if the title is good, he carries over this
favorable impression to the first page or two of the article
itself. To secure such favorable consideration for a manuscript
among the hundreds that are examined in editorial
offices, is no slight advantage. In the second place, what
is true of the editor and the manuscript is equally true of
the reader and the printed article. No writer can afford to
neglect his titles.

Variety in Form and Style. Because newspapers and
magazines differ in the size and the “make-up” of their
pages, there is considerable variety in the style of headlines
and titles given to special feature articles. Some
magazine sections of newspapers have the full-size page of
the regular edition; others have pages only half as large.
Some newspapers use large eight-column display heads on
their special articles, while others confine their headlines
for feature stories to a column or two. Some papers regularly
employ sub-titles in their magazine sections, corresponding
to the “lines,” “banks,” and “decks” in their
news headlines. This variety in newspapers is matched
by that in magazines. Despite these differences, however,
there are a few general principles that apply to all kinds of
titles and headlines for special feature articles.

Characteristics of a Good Title. To accomplish their
purpose most effectively titles should be (1) attractive,
(2) accurate, (3) concise, and (4) concrete.

The attractiveness of a title is measured by its power to
arrest attention and to lead to a reading of the article. As
a statement of the subject, the title makes essentially the
same appeal that the subject itself does; that is, it may
interest the reader because the idea it expresses has timeliness,
novelty, elements of mystery or romance, human
interest, relation to the reader’s life and success, or connection
with familiar or prominent persons or things. Not
only the idea expressed, but the way in which it is expressed,
may catch the eye. By a figurative, paradoxical,
or interrogative form, the title may pique curiosity. By
alliteration, balance, or rhyme, it may please the ear. It
permits the reader to taste, in order to whet his appetite.
It creates desires that only the article can satisfy.

In an effort to make his titles attractive, a writer must
beware of sensationalism and exaggeration. The lurid
news headline on the front page of sensational papers has
its counterpart in the equally sensational title in the Sunday
magazine section. All that has been said concerning
unwholesome subject-matter for special feature stories applies
to sensational titles. So, too, exaggerated, misleading
headlines on news and advertisements are matched by
exaggerated, misleading titles on special articles. To state
more than the facts warrant, to promise more than can be
given, to arouse expectations that cannot be satisfied—all
are departures from truth and honesty.

Accuracy in titles involves, not merely avoidance of exaggerated
and misleading statement, but complete harmony
in tone and spirit between title and article. When the
story is familiar and colloquial in style, the title should reflect
that informality. When the article makes a serious
appeal, the title should be dignified. A good title, in a
word, is true to the spirit as well as to the letter.

Conciseness in titles is imposed on the writer by the
physical limitations of type and page. Because the width
of the column and of the page is fixed, and because type is
not made of rubber, a headline must be built to fit the
place it is to fill. Although in framing titles for articles it
is not always necessary to conform to the strict requirements
as to letters and spaces that limit the building of
news headlines, it is nevertheless important to keep within
bounds. A study of a large number of titles will show that
they seldom contain more than three or four important
words with the necessary connectives and particles. Short
words, moreover, are preferred to long ones. By analyzing
the titles in the publication to which he plans to send
his article, a writer can frame his title to meet its typographical
requirements.

The reader’s limited power of rapid comprehension is
another reason for brevity. A short title consisting of a
small group of words yields its meaning at a glance. Unless
the reader catches the idea in the title quickly, he is
likely to pass on to something else. Here again short
words have an advantage over long ones.

Concreteness in titles makes for rapid comprehension
and interest. Clean-cut mental images are called up by
specific words; vague ones usually result from general, abstract
terms. Clear mental pictures are more interesting
than vague impressions.

Sub-titles. Sub-titles are often used to supplement and
amplify the titles. They are the counterparts of the
“decks” and “banks” in news headlines. Their purpose
is to give additional information, to arouse greater interest,
and to assist in carrying the reader over, as it were, to
the beginning of the article.

Since sub-titles follow immediately after the title, any
repetition of important words is usually avoided. It is
desirable to maintain the same tone in both title and sub-title.
Occasionally the two together make a continuous
statement. The length of the sub-title is generally about
twice that of the title; that is, the average sub-title consists
of from ten to twelve words, including articles and
connectives. The articles, “a,” “an,” and “the,” are
not as consistently excluded from sub-titles as they are
from newspaper headlines.

Some Types of Titles. Attempts to classify all kinds of
headlines and titles involve difficulties similar to those already
encountered in the effort to classify all types of beginnings.
Nevertheless, a separation of titles into fairly
distinct, if not mutually exclusive, groups may prove helpful
to inexperienced writers. The following are the nine
most distinctive types of titles: (1) label; (2) “how” and
“why” statement; (3) striking statement, including figure
of speech, paradox, and expression of great magnitude;
(4) quotation and paraphrase of quotation; (5) question;
(6) direct address, particularly in imperative form; (7) alliteration;
(8) rhyme; (9) balance.

The label title is a simple, direct statement of the subject.
It has only as much interest and attractiveness as
the subject itself possesses. Such titles are the following:

(1)
RAISING GUINEA PIGS FOR A LIVING
One Missouri Man Finds a Ready Market for All He Can Sell

(2)
HUMAN NATURE AS SEEN BY A PULLMAN PORTER

(3)
THE FINANCIAL SIDE OF FOOTBALL

(4)
CONFESSIONS OF AN UNDERGRADUATE

(5)
BEE-KEEPING ON SHARES

(6)
A COMMUNITY WOOD-CHOPPING DAY

(7)
WHAT A WOMAN ON THE FARM THINKS OF PRICE FIXING

The “how-to-do-something” article may be given a
“how” title that indicates the character of the contents;
for example:

(1)
HOW I FOUND HEALTH IN THE DENTIST’S CHAIR

(2)
HOW TO STORE YOUR CAR IN WINTER

(3)
HOW A FARMER’S WIFE MADE $55 EXTRA

(4)
HOW TO SUCCEED AS A WRITER
Woman Who “Knew She Could Write” Tells How She Began and
Finally Got on the Right Road

The “how” title may also be used for an article that explains
some phenomenon or process. Examples of such
titles are these:

(1)
HOW A NETTLE STINGS

(2)
HOW RIPE OLIVES ARE MADE

(3)
HOW THE FREIGHT CAR GETS HOME

Articles that undertake to give causes and reasons are
appropriately given “why” titles like the following:

(1)
WHY CAVIAR COSTS SO MUCH

(2)
WHY I LIKE A ROUND BARN

(3)
WHY THE COAL SUPPLY IS SHORT

A title may attract attention because of the striking
character of the idea it expresses; for example:

(1)
WANTED: $50,000 MEN

(2)
200 BUSHELS OF CORN PER ACRE

(3)
FIRE WRITES A HEART’S RECORD

(4)
THE PSYCHOLOGY OF SECOND HELPINGS

The paradoxical form of title piques curiosity by seeming
to make a self-contradictory statement, as, for example,
the following:

(1)
SHIPS OF STONE
Seaworthy Concrete Vessels an Accomplished Fact

(2)
CHRISTIAN PAGANS

(3)
A TELESCOPE THAT POINTS DOWNWARD

(4)
SEEING WITH YOUR EARS

(5)
MAKING SAILORS WITHOUT SHIPS

(6)
HOW TO BE AT HOME WHILE TRAVELING

(7)
CANAL-BOATS THAT CLIMB HILLS

A striking figure of speech in a title stimulates the reader’s
imagination and arouses his interest; for example:

(1)
PULLING THE RIVER’S TEETH

(2)
THE OLD HOUSE WITH TWO FACES

(3)
THE HONEY-BEE SAVINGS BANK

(4)
RIDING ON BUBBLES

(5)
THE ROMANCE OF NITROGEN

A familiar quotation may be used for the title and may
stand alone, but often a sub-title is desirable to show the
application of the quotation to the subject, thus:

(1)
THE SHOT HEARD ‘ROUND THE WORLD
America’s First Victory in France

(2)
“ALL WOOL AND A YARD WIDE”
What “All Wool” Really Means and Why Shoddy is Necessary

(3)
THE SERVANT IN THE HOUSE
And Why She Won’t Stay in the House

A well-known quotation or common saying may be paraphrased
in a novel way to attract attention; for example:

(1)
FORWARD! THE TRACTOR BRIGADE

(2)
IT’S LO, THE RICH INDIAN

(3)
LEARNING BY UNDOING

(4)
THE GUILELESS SPIDER AND THE WILY FLY
Entomology Modifies our Ideas of the Famous Parlor

Since every question is like a riddle, a title in question
form naturally leads the reader to seek the answer in the
article itself. The directness of appeal may be heightened
by addressing the question to the reader with “you,”
“your,” or by presenting it from the reader’s point of view
with the use of “I,” “we,” or “ours.” The sub-title may
be another question or an affirmation, but should not attempt
to answer the question. The following are typical
question titles and sub-titles:

(1)
WHAT IS A FAIR PRICE FOR MILK?

(2)
HOW MUCH HEAT IS THERE IN YOUR COAL?

(3)

WHO’S THE BEST BOSS?
Would You Rather Work For a Man or For a Machine?

(4)
“SHE SANK BY THE BOW”—BUT WHY?

(5)
HOW SHALL WE KEEP WARM THIS WINTER?

(6)
DOES DEEP PLOWING PAY?
What Some Recent Tests Have Demonstrated

(7)
SHALL I START A CANNING BUSINESS?

The reader may be addressed in an imperative form of
title, as well as in a question, as the following titles show:

(1)
BLAME THE SUN SPOTS
Solar Upheavals That Make Mischief on the Earth

(2)
EAT SHARKS AND TAN THEIR SKINS

(3)
HOE! HOE! FOR UNCLE SAM

(4)
DON’T JUMP OUT OF BED
Give Your Subconscious Self a Chance to Awake Gradually

(5)
RAISE FISH ON YOUR FARM

(6)
BETTER STOP! LOOK! AND LISTEN!

The attractiveness of titles may be heightened by such
combinations of sounds as alliteration and rhyme, or by
rhythm such as is produced by balanced elements. The
following examples illustrate the use of alliteration, rhyme,
and balance:

(1)
THE LURE OF THE LATCH

(2)
THE DIMINISHING DOLLAR

(3)
TRACING TELEPHONE TROUBLES

(4)
BOY CULTURE AND AGRICULTURE

(5)
A LITTLE BILL AGAINST BILLBOARDS

(6)
EVERY CAMPUS A CAMP

(7)
LABOR-LIGHTENERS AND HOME-BRIGHTENERS

(8)
THE ARTILLERY MILL AT OLD FORT SILL
How Uncle Sam is Training His Field Artillery Officers

(9)
SCHOLARS VS. DOLLARS

(10)
WAR ON PESTS
When the Spray Gun’s Away, Crop Enemies Play

(11)
MORE HEAT AND LESS COAL

(12)
GRAIN ALCOHOL FROM GREEN GARBAGE

How to Frame a Title. The application of the general
principles governing titles may best be shown by means of
an article for which a title is desired. A writer, for example,
has prepared a popular article on soil analysis as a
means of determining what chemical elements different
kinds of farm land need to be most productive. A simple
label title like “The Value of Soil Analysis,” obviously
would not attract the average person, and probably would
interest only the more enterprising of farmers. The analysis
of soil not unnaturally suggests the diagnosis of human
disease; and the remedying of worn-out, run-down farm
land by applying such chemicals as phosphorus and lime,
is analogous to the physician’s prescription of tonics for
a run-down, anæmic person. These ideas may readily be
worked out as the following titles show:

(1)
PRESCRIBING FOR RUN-DOWN LAND
What the Soil Doctor is Doing to Improve Our Farms

(2)
THE SOIL DOCTOR AND HIS TONICS
Prescribing Remedies for Worn-Out Farm Land

(3)
DIAGNOSING ILLS OF THE SOIL
Science Offers Remedies for Depleted Farms

Other figurative titles like the following may be developed
without much effort from the ideas that soil “gets
tired,” “wears out,” and “needs to be fed”:

(1)
WHEN FARM LAND GETS TIRED
Scientists Find Causes of Exhausted Fields

(2)
FIELDS WON’T WEAR OUT
If the Warnings of Soil Experts Are Heeded

(3)
BALANCED RATIONS FOR THE SOIL
Why the Feeding of Farm Land is Necessary for Good Crops

CHAPTER X

PREPARING AND SELLING THE MANUSCRIPT

Importance of Good Manuscript. After an article has
been carefully revised, it is ready to be copied in the form
in which it will be submitted to editors. Because hundreds
of contributions are examined every day in editorial
offices of large publications, manuscripts should be submitted
in such form that their merits can be ascertained as
easily and as quickly as possible. A neatly and carefully
prepared manuscript is likely to receive more favorable
consideration than a badly typed one. The impression
produced by the external appearance of a manuscript as it
comes to an editor’s table is comparable to that made by
the personal appearance of an applicant for a position as
he enters an office seeking employment. In copying his
article, therefore, a writer should keep in mind the impression
that it will make in the editorial office.

Form for Manuscripts. Editors expect all manuscripts
to be submitted in typewritten form. Every person who
aspires to write for publication should learn to use a typewriter.
Until he has learned to type his work accurately,
he must have a good typist copy it for him.

A good typewriter with clean type and a fresh, black,
non-copying ribbon produces the best results. The following
elementary directions apply to the preparation of all
manuscripts: (1) write on only one side of the paper; (2)
allow a margin of about three quarters of an inch on all
sides of the page; (3) double space the lines in order to
leave room for changes, sub-heads, and other editing.

Unruled white bond paper of good quality in standard
letter size, 8½ by 11 inches, is the most satisfactory. A
high grade of paper not only gives the manuscript a good
appearance but stands more handling and saves the recopying
of returned manuscripts. A carbon copy should be
made of every manuscript so that, if the original copy goes
astray in the mail or in an editorial office, the writer’s work
will not have been in vain. The carbon copy can also be
used later for comparison with the printed article. Such a
comparison will show the writer the amount and character
of the editing that was deemed necessary to adapt the
material to the publication in which it appears.

A cover sheet of the same paper is a convenient device.
It not only gives the editorial reader some information
in regard to the article, but it protects the manuscript itself.
Frequently, for purposes of record, manuscripts are
stamped or marked in editorial offices, but if a cover page
is attached, the manuscript itself is not defaced. When
an article is returned, the writer needs to recopy only
the cover page before starting the manuscript on its
next journey. The form for such a cover page is given below

The upper half of the first page of the manuscript should
be left blank, so that the editor may write a new title and
sub-title if he is not satisfied with those supplied by the
author. The title, the sub-title, and the author’s name
should be repeated at the beginning of the article in the
middle of the first page, even though they have been
given on the cover page. At the left-hand side, close to
the top of each page after the first, should be placed the
writer’s last name followed by a dash and the title of the
article, thus:

Milton—Confessions of a Freshman.

The pages should be numbered in the upper right-hand
corner. By these simple means the danger of losing a page
in the editorial offices is reduced to a minimum.

Typographical Style. Every newspaper and magazine
has its own distinct typographical style in capitalization,
abbreviation, punctuation, hyphenation, and the use of
numerical figures. Some newspapers and periodicals have
a style book giving rules for the preparation and editing of
copy. A careful reading of several issues of a publication
will show a writer the salient features of its typographical
style. It is less important, however, to conform to the
typographical peculiarities of any one publication than it is
to follow consistently the commonly accepted rules of capitalization,
punctuation, abbreviation, and “unreformed”
spelling. Printers prefer to have each page end with a
complete sentence. At the close of the article it is well to
put the end mark (#).

When a special feature story for newspaper publication
must be prepared so hastily that there is no time to copy
the first draft, it may be desirable to revise the manuscript
by using the marks commonly employed in editing copy.
These are as follows:

	Three short lines under a letter or a word indicate that it is to be set in capital letters; thus, American.
	Two short lines under a letter or a word indicate that it is to be set in small capital letters; thus, NEW YORK TIMES.
	One line under a word or words indicates that it is to be set in italics; thus, sine qua non.
	An oblique line drawn from right to left through a capital letter indicates that it is to be set in lower case; thus, He is a sophomore.
	A circle around numerical figures or abbreviations indicates that they are to be spelled out; thus, There are ten in a bushel.
	A circle around words or figures spelled out indicates that they are to be abbreviated or that numerical figures are to be used; thus, Prof. A.B. Smith is 60.
	A caret is placed at the point in the line where the letters or words written above the line are to be inserted; thus, It is not complimentary to him.
	A line encircling two or more words like an elongated figure “8” indicates that the words are to be transposed; thus, to study carefully.
	Half circles connecting words or letters indicate that they are to be brought together; thus, tomorrow.
	A vertical line between parts of a word shows that the parts are to be separated; thus, all right.
	A small cross or a period in a circle may be used to show that a period is to be used; thus, U.S. 4 per cent. bonds.
	Quotation marks are often enclosed in half circles to indicate whether they are beginning or end marks.
	The paragraph mark (¶) or the sign _| may be used to call attention to the beginning of a new paragraph.

Mailing Manuscripts. Since manuscripts are written
matter, they must be sent sealed as first-class mail at letter
rates of postage. For the return of rejected articles stamps
may be attached to the cover page by means of a clip, or a
self-addressed envelope with stamps affixed may be enclosed.
The writer’s name and address should always be
given on the envelope in which the manuscript is sent to
the publishers.

The envelope containing the article should be addressed
to the “Editor” of a magazine or to the “Sunday Editor”
of a newspaper, as nothing is gained by addressing him or
her by name. If a writer knows an editor personally or has
had correspondence with him in regard to a particular article,
it may be desirable to send the manuscript to him personally.
An accompanying letter is not necessary, for the
cover page of the manuscript gives the editor and his assistants
all the information that they need.

Articles consisting of only a few pages may be folded
twice and mailed in a long envelope; bulkier manuscripts
should be folded once and sent in a manila manuscript envelope.
Photographs of sizes up to 5 x 7 inches may be
placed in a manuscript that is folded once, with a single
piece of stout cardboard for protection. When larger
photographs, up to 8 x 10 inches, accompany the article,
the manuscript must be sent unfolded, with two pieces of
cardboard to protect the pictures. Manuscripts should
never be rolled.

How Manuscripts are Handled. In order to handle hundreds
of manuscripts as expeditiously as possible, most
large editorial offices have worked out systems that, though
differing slightly, are essentially the same. When a manuscript
is received, a record is made of it on a card or in a
book, with the name and address of the author, the title
and character of the contribution, and the time of its receipt.
The same data are entered on a blank that is attached
to the manuscript by a clip. On this blank are left
spaces for comments by each of the editorial assistants who
read and pass upon the article.

After these records have been made, the manuscript is
given to the first editorial reader. He can determine by
glancing at the first page or two whether or not the article
is worth further consideration. Of the thousands of contributions
of all kinds submitted, a considerable proportion
are not in the least adapted to the periodical to which they
have been sent. The first reader, accordingly, is scarcely
more than a skilled sorter who separates the possible from
the impossible. All manuscripts that are clearly unacceptable
are turned over to a clerk to be returned with a rejection
slip.

When an article appears to have merit, the first reader
looks over it a second time and adds a brief comment,
which he signs with his initials. The manuscript is then
read and commented on by other editorial readers before it
reaches the assistant editor. The best of the contributions
are submitted to the editor for a final decision. By such a
system every meritorious contribution is considered carefully
by several critics before it is finally accepted or rejected.
Moreover, the editor and the assistant editor have
before them the comments of several readers with which to
compare their own impressions.

In newspaper offices manuscripts are usually sorted by
the assistant Sunday editor, or assistant magazine editor,
and are finally accepted or rejected by the Sunday or magazine
editor.

Rejected Manuscripts. In rejecting contributions, editorial
offices follow various methods. The commonest one
is to send the author a printed slip expressing regret that
the manuscript is not acceptable and encouraging him to
submit something else. Some ingenious editors have prepared
a number of form letters to explain to contributors
the various reasons why their manuscripts are unacceptable.
The editorial assistant who rejects an unsuitable article
indicates by number which of these form letters is to be
sent to the author. A few editors send a personal letter to
every contributor. Sometimes an editor in rejecting a contribution
will suggest some publication to which it might be
acceptable. If a manuscript has merit but is not entirely
satisfactory, he may suggest that it be revised and submitted
to him again.

Keeping a Manuscript Record. Every writer who intends
to carry on his work in a systematic manner should
keep a manuscript record, to assist him in marketing his
articles to the best advantage. Either a book or a card index
may be used. The purpose of such a record is to show
(1) the length of time required by various publications to
make a decision on contributions; (2) the rate and the time
of payment of each periodical; (3) the present whereabouts
of his manuscript and the periodicals to which it has already
been submitted.

It is important for a writer to know how soon he may
expect a decision on his contributions. If he has prepared
an article that depends on timeliness for its interest, he cannot
afford to send it to an editor who normally takes three
or four weeks to make a decision. Another publication to
which his article is equally well adapted, he may find from
his manuscript record, accepts or rejects contributions
within a week or ten days. Naturally he will send his
timely article to the publication that makes the quickest
decision. If that publication rejects it, he will still have
time enough to try it elsewhere. His experience with different
editors, as recorded in his manuscript record, often
assists him materially in placing his work to the best advantage.

The rate and the time of payment for contributions are
also worth recording. When an article is equally well
suited to two or more periodicals, a writer will naturally be
inclined to send it first to the publication that pays the
highest price and that pays on acceptance.

A manuscript record also indicates where each one of a
writer’s articles is at a given moment, and by what publications
it has been rejected. For such data he cannot afford
to trust his memory.

A writer may purchase a manuscript record book or may
prepare his own book or card index. At the top of each
page or card is placed the title of the article, followed by
the number of words that it contains, the number of illustrations
that accompany it, and the date on which it was
completed. On the lines under the title are written in turn
the names of the periodicals to which the manuscript is
submitted, with (1) the dates on which it was submitted
and returned or rejected; (2) the rate and the time of payment;
and (3) any remarks that may prove helpful. A
convenient form for such a page or card is shown on the
next page:

Accepted Manuscripts. Contributions accepted for
publication are paid for at the time of their acceptance, at
the time of their publication, or at some fixed date in the
month following their acceptance or publication. Nearly
all well-established periodicals pay for articles when they
are accepted. Some publications do not pay until the
article is printed, a method obviously less satisfactory to a
writer than prompt payment, since he may have to wait a
year or more for his money. Newspapers pay either on
acceptance or before the tenth day of the month following
publication. The latter arrangement grows out of the
practice of paying correspondents between the first and
the tenth of each month for the work of the preceding
month.

After a manuscript has been accepted, a writer usually
has no further responsibility concerning it. Some magazines
submit galley proofs to the author for correction and
for any changes that he cares to make. It is desirable to
make as few alterations as possible to avoid the delay and
expense of resetting the type. Corrected proofs should be
returned promptly.

Unless specific stipulations are made to the contrary by
the author, an article on being accepted by a periodical becomes
its property and cannot be republished without its
consent. Usually an editor will grant an author permission
to reprint an article in book or pamphlet form. By
copyrighting each issue, as most magazines and some
newspapers do, the publishers establish fully their rights to
an author’s work.

Syndicating Articles. By sending copies of his articles
to a number of newspapers for simultaneous publication, a
writer of special feature stories for newspapers may add to
his earnings. This method is known as syndicating. It
is made possible by the fact that the circulation of newspapers
is largely local. Since, for example, Chicago papers
are not read in New York, or Minneapolis papers in St.
Louis, these papers may well publish the same articles on
the same day. Organized newspaper syndicates furnish
many papers with reading matter of all kinds.

The same article must not, however, be sent to more
than one magazine, but a single subject may be used for
two entirely different articles intended for two magazines.
If two articles are written on the same subject, different
pictures should be secured, so that it will not be necessary
to send copies of the same illustrations to two magazines.
Agricultural journals with a distinctly sectional circulation
do not object to using syndicated articles, provided that
the journals to which the article is sent do not circulate in
the same territory.

If a writer desires to syndicate his work, he must conform
to several requirements. First, he must make as
many good copies as he intends to send out and must secure
separate sets of photographs to accompany each one.
Second, he must indicate clearly on each copy the fact that
he is syndicating the article and that he is sending it to
only one paper in a city. A special feature story, for instance,
sent to the Kansas City Star for publication in its
Sunday edition, he would mark, “Exclusive for Kansas
City. Release for Publication, Sunday, January 19.”
Third, he must send out the copies sufficiently far in advance
of the release date to enable all of the papers to arrange
for the publication of the article on that day. For
papers with magazine sections that are made up a week or
more before the day of publication, articles should be in
the office of the editor at least two weeks before the release
date. For papers that make up their Sunday issues only
a few days in advance, articles need be submitted only a
week before the publication day.

Selling Articles to Syndicates. The syndicates that
supply newspapers with various kinds of material, including
special feature stories, are operated on the same principle
that governs the syndicating of articles by the writer
himself. That is, they furnish their features to a number
of different papers for simultaneous publication. Since,
however, they sell the same material to many papers, they
can afford to do so at a comparatively low price and still
make a fair profit. To protect their literary property,
they often copyright their features, and a line of print announcing
this fact is often the only indication in a newspaper
that the matter was furnished by a syndicate.
Among the best-known newspaper syndicates are the
Newspaper Enterprise Association, Cleveland, Ohio; the
McClure Newspaper Syndicate, New York; and the Newspaper
Feature Service, New York. A number of large
newspapers, like the New York Evening Post, the Philadelphia
Ledger, and the New York Tribune, syndicate
their popular features to papers in other cities.

A writer may submit his special feature stories to one of
the newspaper syndicates just as he would send it to a
newspaper or magazine. These organizations usually pay
well for acceptable manuscripts. It is not as easy, however,
to discover the needs and general policy of each syndicate
as it is those of papers and magazines, because frequently
there is no means of identifying their articles when
they are printed in newspapers.

CHAPTER XI

PHOTOGRAPHS AND OTHER ILLUSTRATIONS

Value of Illustrations. The perfecting of photo-engraving
processes for making illustrations has been one of the
most important factors in the development of popular
magazines and of magazine sections of newspapers, for good
pictures have contributed largely to their success. With the
advent of the half-tone process a generation ago, and with
the more recent application of the rotogravure process to
periodical publications, comparatively cheap and rapid
methods of illustration were provided. Newspapers and
magazines have made extensive use of both these processes.

The chief value of illustrations for special articles lies in
the fact that they present graphically what would require
hundreds of words to describe. Ideas expressed in pictures
can be grasped much more readily than ideas expressed in
words. As an aid to rapid reading illustrations are unexcelled.
In fact, so effective are pictures as a means of conveying
facts that whole sections of magazines and Sunday
newspapers are given over to them exclusively.

Illustrations constitute a particularly valuable adjunct
to special articles. Good reproductions of photographs
printed in connection with the articles assist readers to
visualize and to understand what a writer is undertaking to
explain. So fully do editors realize the great attractiveness
of illustrations, that they will buy articles accompanied
by satisfactory photographs more readily than they
will those without illustrations. Excellent photographs
will sometimes sell mediocre articles, and meritorious articles
may even be rejected because they lack good illustrations.
In preparing his special feature stories, a writer will
do well to consider carefully the number and character of
the illustrations necessary to give his work the strongest
possible appeal.

Securing Photographs. Inexperienced writers are often
at a loss to know how to secure good photographs. Professional
photographers will, as a rule, produce the best
results, but amateur writers often hesitate to incur the expense
involved, especially when they feel uncertain about
selling their articles. If prints can be obtained from negatives
that photographers have taken for other purposes,
the cost is so small that a writer can afford to risk the expenditure.
Money spent for good photographs is usually
money well spent.

Every writer of special articles should become adept in
the use of a camera. With a little study and practice, any
one can take photographs that will reproduce well for illustrations.
One advantage to a writer of operating his own
camera is that he can take pictures on the spur of the moment
when he happens to see just what he needs. Unconventional
pictures caught at the right instant often make
the best illustrations.

The charges for developing films and for making prints
and enlargements are now so reasonable that a writer need
not master these technicalities in order to use a camera of
his own. If he has time and interest, however, he may secure
the desired results more nearly by developing and
printing his own pictures.

Satisfactory pictures can be obtained with almost any
camera, but one with a high-grade lens and shutter is the
best for all kinds of work. A pocket camera so equipped is
very convenient. If a writer can afford to make a somewhat
larger initial investment, he will do well to buy a
camera of the so-called “reflex” type. Despite its greater
weight and bulk, as compared with pocket cameras, it has
the advantage of showing the picture full size, right side
up, on the top of the camera, until the very moment that
the button is pressed. These reflex cameras are equipped
with the fastest types of lens and shutter, and thus are
particularly well adapted to poorly lighted and rapidly
moving objects.

A tripod should be used whenever possible. A hastily
taken snap shot often proves unsatisfactory, whereas, if
the camera had rested on a tripod, and if a slightly longer
exposure had been given, a good negative would doubtless
have resulted.

Requirements for Photographs. All photographs intended
for reproduction by the half-tone or the rotogravure
process should conform to certain requirements.

First: The standard size of photographic prints to be
used for illustrations is 5 x 7 inches, but two smaller sizes,
4 x 5 and 3½ x 5½, as well as larger sizes such as 6½ x 8½
and 8 x 10, are also acceptable. Professional photographers
generally make their negatives for illustrations in the
sizes, 5 x 7, 6½ x 8½, and 8 x 10. If a writer uses a pocket
camera taking pictures smaller than post-card size (3½ x 5½),
he must have his negatives enlarged to one of the above
standard sizes.

Second: Photographic prints for illustrations should
have a glossy surface; that is, they should be what is known
as “gloss prints.” Prints on rough paper seldom reproduce
satisfactorily; they usually result in “muddy” illustrations.
Prints may be mounted or unmounted; unmounted
ones cost less and require less postage, but are
more easily broken in handling.

Third: Objects in the photograph should be clear and
well defined; this requires a sharp negative. For newspaper
illustrations it is desirable to have prints with a
stronger contrast between the dark and the light parts of
the picture than is necessary for the finer half-tones and
rotogravures used in magazines.

Fourth: Photographs must have life and action. Pictures
of inanimate objects in which neither persons nor animals
appear, seem “dead” and unattractive to the average
reader. It is necessary, therefore, to have at least one
person in every photograph. Informal, unconventional
pictures in which the subjects seem to have been “caught”
unawares, are far better than those that appear to have
been posed. Good snap-shots of persons in characteristic
surroundings are always preferable to cabinet photographs.
“Action pictures” are what all editors and all
readers want.

Fifth: Pictures must “tell the story”; that is, they
should illustrate the phase of the subject that they are designed
to make clear. Unless a photograph has illustrative
value it fails to accomplish the purpose for which it is
intended.

Captions for Illustrations. On the back of a photograph
intended for reproduction the author should write or type
a brief explanation of what it represents. If he is skillful
in phrasing this explanation, or “caption,” as it is called,
the editor will probably use all or part of it just as it
stands. If his caption is unsatisfactory, the editor will
have to write one based on the writer’s explanation. A
clever caption adds much to the attractiveness of an illustration.

A caption should not be a mere label, but, like a photograph,
should have life and action. It either should contain
a verb of action or should imply one. In this and
other respects, it is not unlike the newspaper headline.
Instead, for example, of the label title, “A Large Gold
Dredge in Alaska,” a photograph was given the caption,
“Digs Out a Fortune Daily.” A picture of a young
woman feeding chickens in a backyard poultry run that
accompanied an article entitled “Did You Ever Think of a
Meat Garden?” was given the caption “Fresh Eggs and
Chicken Dinners Reward Her Labor.” To illustrate an
article on the danger of the pet cat as a carrier of disease
germs, a photograph of a child playing with a cat was used
with the caption, “How Epidemics Start.” A portrait of
a housewife who uses a number of labor-saving devices in
her home bore the legend, “She is Reducing Housekeeping
to a Science.” “A Smoking Chimney is a Bad Sign”
was the caption under a photograph of a chimney pouring
out smoke, which was used to illustrate an article on how
to save coal.

Longer captions describing in detail the subject illustrated
by the photograph, are not uncommon; in fact, as
more and more pictures are being used, there is a growing
tendency to place a short statement, or “overline,” above
the illustration and to add to the amount of descriptive
matter in the caption below it. This is doubtless due to
two causes: the increasing use of illustrations unaccompanied
by any text except the caption, and the effort to attract
the casual reader by giving him a taste, as it were, of what
the article contains.

Drawings for Illustrations. Diagrams, working drawings,
floor plans, maps, or pen-and-ink sketches are necessary
to illustrate some articles. Articles of practical guidance
often need diagrams. Trade papers like to have their
articles illustrated with reproductions of record sheets and
blanks designed to develop greater efficiency in office or
store management. If a writer has a little skill in drawing,
he may prepare in rough form the material that he
considers desirable for illustration, leaving to the artists
employed by the publication the work of making drawings
suitable for reproduction. A writer who has had training
in pen-and-ink drawing may prepare his own illustrations.
Such drawings should be made on bristol board with black
drawing ink, and should be drawn two or three times as
large as they are intended to appear when printed. If record
sheets are to be used for illustration, the ruling should
be done with black drawing ink, and the figures and other
data should be written in with the same kind of ink. Typewriting
on blanks intended for reproduction should be
done with a fresh record black ribbon. Captions are necessary
on the back of drawings as well as on photographs.

Mailing Photographs and Drawings. It is best to mail
flat all photographs and drawings up to 8 x 10 in size, in
the envelope with the manuscript, protecting them with
pieces of stout cardboard. Only very large photographs
or long, narrow panoramic ones should be rolled and mailed
in a heavy cardboard tube, separate from the manuscript.
The writer’s name and address, as well as the title of the
article to be illustrated, should be written on the back of
every photograph and drawing.

As photographs and drawings are not ordinarily returned
when they are used with an article that is accepted,
writers should not promise to return such material to the
persons from whom they secure it. Copies can almost always
be made from the originals when persons furnishing
writers with photographs and drawings desire to have the
originals kept in good condition.

PART II

AN OUTLINE FOR THE ANALYSIS OF SPECIAL FEATURE ARTICLES

• I. SOURCES OF MATERIAL
• • 1. What appears to have suggested the subject to the writer?
  • 2. How much of the article was based on his personal experience?
  • 3. How much of it was based on his personal observations?
  • 4. Was any of the material obtained from newspapers or periodicals?
  • 5. What portions of the article were evidently obtained by interviews?
  • 6. What reports, documents, technical periodicals, and books of
    reference were used as sources in preparing the article?
  • 7. Does the article suggest to you some sources from which you might
    obtain material for your own articles?

• II. INTEREST AND APPEAL
• • 1. Is there any evidence that the article was timely when it was
    published?
  • 2. Is the article of general or of local interest?
  • 3. Does it seem to be particularly well adapted to the readers of
    the publication in which it was printed? Why?
  • 4. What, for the average reader, is the source of interest in the
    article?
  • 5. Does it have more than one appeal?
  • 6. Is the subject so presented that the average reader is led to
    see its application to himself and to his own affairs?
  • 7. Could an article on the same subject, or on a similar one, be
    written for a newspaper in your section of the country?
  • 8. What possible subjects does the article suggest to you?