When an Editor Wants a Rewrite

"Editors are frantically busy -- single-working-mother-with-eight-kids busy -- they don't have time to make every piece into exactly what they want it to be.  By delivering a rewrite and otherwise leaving the editor alone, you turn your editor's time poverty to your advantage."  (http://www.helpingwriters.com/newsletter-archives/when-an-editor-wants-a-rewrite)

When an editor requests a rewrite of an article, it's usually a minor rewrite, where the bulk of the piece can be saved.  While it's frustrating to have to rewrite your work, keep in mind that an editor is trying to anticipate the needs of the magazine.  It doesn't necessarily mean that your writing is poor; it might just mean that you and the editor are coming at the piece from a different angle.

Keep in mind what Online Health editor Kathleen Donnelly advises:  "Writers who are intractable and fight with us probably won't get another assignment".  Unless you are Pierre Berton, who flew in the face of editors, you have to have at least some respect for the process.

What steps should you take to rewrite your article?  Michelle Ruberg suggests these steps.  First, re-read your query to see what you promised the editor.  Second, re-read your assignment to see what the editor requested of you.  Third, re-read your article and look for the following.  Did you do one of the following?

-overshoot/undershoot your word count?

-write news that already appears elsewhere in the newspaper or magazine?

-cite too few sources?

-conduct garbage in/garbage out interviews?

-write a piece that is too close to what the competition is publishing?

-come at the article from the wrong angle?

-under/overwrite the piece for the target audience?

-use too many qualifiers, digressions or prepositional phrases?

-use too many quotes regarding a point already made?

What happens if you rewrite the piece and the editor still doesn't like it?  Michelle Ruberg recommends asking the editor to rework one of your paragraphs.  You follow the model for the other paragraphs.  Use the three P's:  patience, persistence and adherence to procedure.  Don't focus just on the structure of the writing.  Brian Smith of Indianapolis Monthly warns:  "Some writers worry so much about getting individual facts straight that they don't hear the flow and what it does to the cadence of the story."

Michelle Ruberg says that any extra calls or extra trips on behalf of the magazine should be compensated.  Request to see the galley of your piece before it goes to print.  That way you're not attaching your name to something that you don't agree with.  Stop at three rewrites.  Enough is enough!

Blogger Scott Edelstein recommends that you don't mindlessly follow the editor's suggestions. Make changes that seem reasonable, but at the same time, do what's best for the piece.  "Editors are frantically busy -- single-working-mother-with-eight-kids busy -- they don't have time to make every piece exactly what they want it to be.  By delivering a rewrite and otherwise leaving the editor alone, you turn your editor's time poverty to your advantage." 

Note:  For more information, read Writer's Digest Handbook of Magazine Article Writing (Michelle Ruberg).

https://www.pinterest.com/jilllynneness/writers-quotes-literary-advice-articles-more-to-ke/

Writing Feature Articles: Laying the Groundwork

"Too many students mistake reporting for a journalistic version of a police dragnet.  They pull in everything they can find and then try to figure out what the story is.  Such an approach results in stories riddled with holes and lacking any dominant focus." 

(http://journalistsresource.org/syllabi/syllabus-feature-writing#)

Before you set out to write an article, you have to lay the groundwork.  First, make sure you have the right angle.  Zero in on the story.  Bring the lens in tight.  Don't write about the playground.  Write about the two boys who are jockeying for a spot on the jungle gym.  Don't write about the battle. Write about the soldier who has returned from Afghanistan with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Don't write about the tornado.  Write about the pastor whose church building is as flat as a pancake.  

Second, do your homework.  Read up on what has already been written about the subject.  Find out what areas have not yet been touched upon.  Identify sources for the story.  Who are the authorities who can give you their expert opinion?  Who are the "street level" people who have lived the experience?

Third, establish a strong theme.  According to Larry Brooks in Story Engineering a powerful theme can get your story published (see (http://www.amazon.ca/Story-Engineering-Larry-Brooks/dp/1582979987).  The same is true in the newspaper and magazine world.  Make sure your article's theme is clear and concise.  "Writers who fill stories with exhaustive documentation but fail to establish a clear story line file copy that reads like a government report."  Your aim as a writer is to both inform and entertain your readers. 

William Blundell, in The Art and Craft of Feature Writing (http://www.amazon.ca/The-Art-Craft-Feature-Writing/dp/0452261589), recommends that you write a theme statement before you conduct your research and reporting.  "Entering the reporting process without one is like running through brambles instead of along a clearly marked path."  A theme statement allows you to write with purpose.

Here are some useful questions recommended at journalistsresource.org to help you lay the groundwork for your article:

1.  Is the story's scope too broad?

2.  Do I have time to report and write a story of the scale I'm proposing?

3.  Am I getting down to street level in my reporting?

4.  Can I establish an element of surprise or anticipation at the outset of the story that isn't answered until the end?

5.  Does something happen in the story?  Does something change?  According to Jon Franklin in Writing For Story:  Craft Secrets of Dramatic Non Fiction (http://www.amazon.com/Writing-Story-Dramatic-Nonfiction-Reference/dp/0452272955):  "A story consists of a sequence of actions that occur when a sympathetic character encounters a complicating situation that he confronts and solves."

6.  Does the story's contemporary context or past make it more interesting to tell?

http://www.wikihow.com/Develop-a-Theme-when-Writing