How to Finish Off Your Article with a Bang

"When you've found your concordant ending, you'll know." (Michelle Ruberg)

How do you finish off your article with a big bang?  Michelle Ruberg, author of Writer's Digest Handbook of Magazine Article Writing, recommends that you end with a quote.  Do you have a statement that sums up the issue while adding a touch of pathos?

Despite resistance from the city's gaming commission, Dr. Ellen Parker and other ecologists continue to search for a safe home for the endangered birds because they believe each creature plays a vital role in our ecosystem.  'If this creature were to disappear, it would cause an explosion in the insect population and that could have a disastrous effect on local agriculture,' Parker said.  'Then it's not just about the birds.  The problem will affect all of us.'"

In order to pack an emotional punch, respond briefly to the end quote, ideally including the reader in the story.

Another way to end your article is to bring it full circle:  revisit a word, phrase or idea that you included in the introduction, often in a different or humorous way.  Lauren Mosko in the Louisville Eccentric Observer does this effectively.

Lead:
The Rudyard Kipling.  It's a restaurant, it's a bar, it's a playhouse, it's a musical venue...it's a garage. You're out of luck if you're looking for an oil change, but if it's garage rock you're seeking, you've come to the right place.

End:
Three bands, three chords, one night.  It may sound like a garage, but if you're not there by nine, don't expect to find a decent parking space.

Michelle Ruberg suggests reaching a higher ground by introducing a provocative statement or unexplored question at the end of your piece.  "Plant a seed of curiosity in the reader's mind."

Today, The New Yorker featured Sarah Larson's article "East Village Fire:  Love Saves the Day".  She ended it with this paragraph:

"The East Village has long intermingled love and loss:  signs of bygone eras and heroes are everywhere.  The loss of these buildings;  the places we loved, the relocation of the people who lived and worked there, the memories of what used to be, as of yesterday -- is painful.  Not knowing what happened to Nicholas Figueroa and Moises Locon is unimaginably so."

Speak a common language.  Break one of the rules of writing by including a cliche at the end of your article, part of your reader's collective knowledge bank.  During the Gulf War, there was a national press blackout.  An article about the issue could have ended like this, according to Michelle Ruberg:

And so, for twenty four hours, the country received absolutely no news on the conflict.  Whoever said that's good news couldn't have been a journalist.  Or the parent of a soldier."

The reference, of course, is to the maxim "No news is good news".

Lastly, trust your gut; end your article at a logical place.  You've said what needed to be said; now it's time to end it.  As Michelle Ruberg says:  "When you've found your concordant ending, you'll know."

For more information, read Writer's Digest Handbook of Magazine Article Writing (Michelle Ruberg) at http://www.amazon.ca/Writers-Handbook-Magazine-Article-Writing/dp/1582973342.

gnovisjournal.org

Don't Judge an Article by its Headline

We've all heard the saying "Don't judge a book by its cover".  And yet we all do it.  An attractive cover immediately catches our eye and pulls us in; an unattractive one turns us off.  The same is true of headlines. We are attracted to captions that are humorous, witty or sensational; we tend to ignore captions that are boring or run of the mill.

The headline is one of the most important parts of a feature article:  it is the first thing the reader sees, it's what the reader recalls, it gives the reader an idea of the article's content, and it gives the writer the best opportunity to market the article.

According to David Aston, here are some ways to write a headline:

1.  Use a how to headline

ex. "How to Tie a Tie in 5 Easy Steps", Esquire (http://www.esquire.com/style/advice/a25665/how-to-tie-a-tie-easy/)

2.  Identify and Solve a Problem

ex.  "To Fall in Love with Anybody, Do This", New York Times
(http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/11/fashion/modern-love-to-fall-in-love-with-anyone-do-this.html?_r=0)

3.  Make a Statement

ex. "Ambush of Policemen Triggers Manhunt in Racially Tense Ferguson", Reuters (http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/03/12/us-usa-missouri-shooting-protest-idUSKBN0M80CJ20150312)

4.  Strike a Note of Controversy

ex. "Map of Shame;  Do Canadians have access to world class cancer treatments?  Only if you live in the right province", Reader's Digest (http://www.readersdigest.ca/health/healthy-living/map-shame/#GDMdvGCWAxkk1Yfs.97)

5.  Pose a Question

ex. "What's Wrong with the Blurred Lines Copyright Ruling?", New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/12/arts/music/whats-wrong-with-the-blurred-lines-copyright-ruling.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20150312

6.  Offer an Explanation

ex. "Help from the Hit Man:  Music producer David Foster does more than make gold records; he fosters a charitable organization dear to many Canadians' hearts", Reader's Digest

7.  Use intrigue

ex. "Merchant of Murder:  Civil Servant Rick Mofina Kills people -- in his mind, as a crime fiction writer", Reader's Digest

8.  Finality (ultimate, best, only)

ex. The 25 Best Diet Tips of All Time, Prevention (http://www.prevention.com/weight-loss/diets/25-best-weight-loss-tips-ever)

9.  make it unusual

ex. "Wall Street Lays Egg", Variety, Black Monday, 1929
(http://fineartamerica.com/featured/wall-street-lays-an-egg-famous-everett.html)

10.  make it sensationalistic

ex. "Headless Body in Topless Bar", New York Post (http://nypost.com/2010/02/22/83-killer-in-denial/)

11.  use a simile or metaphor

ex. "Coffee So Fresh You'll Want to Slap It", Reader's Digest

12.  refer to an historic event

ex. "Gold Rush:  Can Canadian Olympic Athletes Hope to Score Some Heavy Metal?", Reader's Digest (http://www.readersdigest.ca/travel/world/10-greatest-summer-olympic-games#5hPQ00BD17SjgZLx.97)

https://welovegarbage.wordpress.com/2010/03/17/men-walk-on-the-moon-newspaper-found-in-new-york-city-house-clean-out/

You Had Me at the Hook

Remember the movie Jerry McGuire starring Tom Cruise and Renee Zellwegger?  They had dated for a few months, but broke up.  Afterwards, Tom's character experienced success as a football player's agent, but realized it was empty if he had no one to share it with.  So he went back to Renee's character with a humble heart, begging her to come back to him.  Tom's character delivered a long drawn out speech to which Renee's character responded:  "You had me at hello."  When you write, try to have the same effect on your readers.  Give them a hook that is powerful enough to reel them in.

While your hook is found at the beginning of your newspaper article, Dawn Copeman recommends that you write it at the end.  After your first draft, you will have a better idea of the focus of your piece.  Dawn Copeman recommends that your write both a hook and a lead for your article.  The lead introduces the story.

"When my daughter Eleanor was eight months old, I gave her some scrambled eggs to eat.  Within minutes she was screaming, her eyes and nose were running, she had a rash all over and was having difficulty breathing.  This was my introduction to food allergy."

The hook, on the other hand, answers the reader's question:  "Why should I keep reading?"   Here is Dawn Copeman's hook for her food allergy article:

"What neither of us knew then was that egg is the most common form of food allergy in babies...It is considered so dangerous that doctors recommend that you don't give eggs to babies until they are one year old.  While you might think this is an over reaction, the fact is that food allergies are on the increase.  Approximately 8% of all children under five have a food allergy; twenty five years ago, it was only 4%."

Dawn Copeman recommends that at the end of your article, you either answer the question posed or resolve the issue presented in the hook.

ex.  "Yes, food allergies are on the rise.  Statistics show that they have doubled in the past ten years and scientists fear that this increase shows no signs of abating.  But now you know how to reduce the risk of your child developping a food allergy; hopefully your child will not be one of the statistics."

Below are some strategies to hook the reader.

1.  Use the news

ex.  "The Star's Wednesday editorial by Juliet Guichon and Dr. Rupert Kaul calls the Gardasil story troubling and disappointing, and the editorial's headline 'Science shows HPV vaccine has no dark side' challenges the original article's suggestion that Gardasil is linked to complications in young women." Visit http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/the-gardasil-girls-how-toronto-star-story-on-young-women-hurt-public-trust-in-vaccine-1.2957524 for the full article.

2.  Tell a dramatic anecdote

"The first sign of trouble was powder in the baby's urine.  Then there was blood.  By the time the parents took their son to the hospital, he had no urine at all."  For the article in its entirety, visit http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/17/world/asia/17milk.html?em.

3.  Reference popular culture

ex.  "My 14 year old niece Jennie just got her first smart phone in December...But you'll never see Jennie and her BFFs on Facebook.  They don't even have accounts.  They'd rather swap silly pictures and texts using smart phone apps like Instagram and Snapchat." Read the remainder of the article here http://michellerafter.com/2014/07/14/writing-basics-the-lead/.

4.  Paint a picture

ex. "They young Egyptian professional could pass for any New York bachelor.  Dressed in a crisp polo shirt and swathed in cologne, he races his Nissan Maxima through the rain slicked streets of Manhattan, late for a date with a tall brunette." For the rest of the Pulitzer prize winning article, see
http://www.pulitzer.org/archives/7140.

5.  Use wit and irony to point out a contradiction

"Environmentalists Drive Gas Guzzler from Protest Site" (http://www.freedomworks.org/content/environmentalists-drive-gas-guzzler-protest-site).

6.  Commemorate an anniversary

ex. "On the 50th anniversary of the Bloody Sunday march that erupted in police violence on Selma's Edmund Pettus Bridge, President Barack Obama praised the figures of a civil rights era he was too young to know." See the full article at http://www.thestar.com/news/world/2015/03/07/obama-to-join-in-50th-anniversary-of-bloody-sunday-in-selma.html.

7.  Cite a major new study

ex. New evidence puts into doubt the long standing belief that a deficiency in seratonin -- a chemical messenger in the brain -- plays a central role in depression.  For the entire article, visit http://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/pressroom/presspacs/2014/acs-presspac-august-27-2014/new-study-throws-into-question-long-held-belief-about-depression.html.

8.  Use a personal example

ex. "The day had come.  I'd lasted as long as I could in my marriage.  Once my husband, Bill, left for work, I packed a bag for myself and my fourteen month old son and left our home." For more, read
http://www.todayschristianwoman.com/articles/2008/september/list-that-saved-my-marriage.html.

9.  Include a famous quote

ex. "In a coffee shop not long ago I saw a mug with an inspiration from Henry David Thoreau:  'Go confidently in the direction of your dreams!  Live the life you've imagined.'" See
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/30/opinion/falser-words-were-never-spoken.html.

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