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Before it lands on the editor's desk

Gordon Wells

THERE are always new writers starting up, needing to know how to submit their work to editors. What follows is a set of ten-point checklists -- one on writing style, and one each for the content of features and of short stories. Work through the relevant lists before despatch: they should help improve the likelihood of your achieving publication.

On writing style

* Have you read your finished piece -- article or short story -- through, aloud? Reading aloud helps you identify the hard-to-read and/or pompous phrases that, from time to time, we all indulge in. It will also help you identify subject-object-verb incon sistencies.

* Are all your paragraphs roughly the same length? Make some of them shorter -- the occasional single-sentence paragraph often lightens up your writing. Maybe join one or two `same-subject' paragraphs together too -- to achieve an overall variation.

* How long are your sentences? If too many of your sentences are over about 25 words, then your writing is probably not the desirable `easy read'. An average sentence-length of about 15 words is a good target. But do vary the lengths within that average.

* Have you used too many `difficult' words -- ones whose meaning you had to check in the dictionary? (If you needed to check the meaning, so will your reader -- who won't bother.) Remember: we are in the entertainment business; there is no captive market .

* Have you used many `qualifying clauses' -- such as added explanation, like this -- in your writing? The sentence containing the explanatory clause is often better rewritten. Keep it simple.

* Have you `murdered your darlings'? By that, in this instance, I mean those sentences and paragraphs of which you are particularly proud; the phrases you have written so well. Rewrite them -- more simply. Do not try to impress the reader with the qualit y of your writing. Just `communicate'.

* Does your writing still `flow'? Shorter sentences and paragraphs, while easy to read, can lead to a rather `bitty', jumpy style. Provide linking words and phrases between paragraphs. These links may only need to be an occasional `and', `also' or `furth ermore'.

* Do the first sentences in most paragraphs -- particularly in articles -- `signal' the subject of the rest of the paragraph? The rest of each paragraph should expand on that initial thought. (And, of course, each paragraph should deal with just one topi c. You can write several paragraphs on one topic; you should never deal with two topics in one paragraph.)

* Have you qualified the unqualifiable? Too often, one reads phrases such as `very unique' -- which is rather like being `slightly pregnant'. Avoid this ... like the plague. And watch out for such cliches. If you must use a cliche, invent your own.

* Have you gone through your near-final draft and pruned it? Most drafts can be much improved by a 10 per cent cut. The end result is always `tighter' -- and usually more readable.

Articles

* You did write the article with a market in mind, didn't you? Different magazines will have -- maybe slight, but significant -- different requirements and styles. You must write for a specific market. So there is no question now, about where you are goi ng to submit it to, is there?

* Knowing the market, is the article the right length? It is no good submitting a 1,500-word article to a magazine that never uses anything longer than 800-word single-page articles. No, the editor will not cancel that advertisement to fit your article i n.

* Is the article as a whole an easy read -- or does the reader have to work at understanding what you are getting at? To ensure an easy read, keep your writing style simple and straightforward -- short sentences, short paragraphs and no `hard' words for which a reader might need to consult a dictionary. They won't.

* Have you a good title for your article? Keep it as punchy as possible; it is the first thing the editor (and hopefully, later, the reader) notices. And does it give some indication of what the article is about? (A punning title may not initially be cle ar, but it will become clear after the article has been read; this is fine.)

* Have you a good `hook' -- a good opening paragraph? If you have not seized the reader's attention in the first four or five lines, you are never going to get it.

* Does the end of the article round it all off neatly, tying up any loose ends -- and perhaps reflecting the `attention grabber' used in the hook?

* Does the content of the article conform to a realistic and understandable sequence; do the comments follow logically, one after the other ... or does it jump about like a flea on a mattress? Fleas are irritating.

* Does the content of the article live up to the promise of the title and, most important, stick to the point? There are few worse faults in an article than starting off on one subject and ending on a totally different one. Stick to one subject; use the other for another article.

* Have you gone back over your article and polished it -- trimming off the waffle and the repetitions, shortening the over-long sentences, clarifying the meanings? Good articles are never just written -- they are rewritten.

* By the time he/she reaches the end of your article will the reader feel satisfied ... or merely sigh and say, `So what?' Your article must entertain or -- in an acceptable manner, because you cannot force anyone to read it -- instruct the reader. Would you want to read your article if it were by someone else?

Short stories

* Are the characters in your story compatible with the magazine's readership? It is no good offering a teenage magazine a story about granny -- even one of today's swinging grannies -- or vice versa. Your main characters should be around the same age as the target readership; readers like to be able to identify with them.

* Is your story the right length? More and more magazines are moving towards the short-short story -- maximum length of about 1,400 words. (Individual magazines have their own specific length requirements: a hundred words over or under may make all the d ifference between rejection and acceptance. Check what they want.)

* How many characters appear in your short story? There is seldom room in a short story for more than a (small) handful of characters. If you need `a cast of thousands' ... write a novel. And, a sub-question, are your characters alive -- or made of cardb oard?

* Have you started the story late enough? Short stories can often be improved by cutting out the first half dozen paragraphs. Start as near to the end of your story as possible -- at, or immediately before the crisis that leads to the essential change.

* Following on: does the main character change -- develop his/her personality, overcome some diversity, learn something, perhaps, as a result of the action in the story? The change need not be anything world-shattering -- but it must be there.

* Still on the same general point: is there a conflict? Conflict between characters, conflict with the elements, conflict with a conscience, conflict with `the way things are'? The shorter stories may have only a single conflict; longer stories perhaps m ore than one. But without conflict, there is no story at all. And the conflict must be linked to the change.

* Have you described your main character sufficiently for the reader to picture -- but without a full biography (for which there is insufficient room in a short story)?

* Have you included some/enough dialogue? A short story which is wholly introspection or description is usually hard to read. Dialogue makes a story come alive; it lightens up the read. (It also makes a story look easier to read.)

* Does your storyline plot spring naturally from the characters -- or is it forced, with the characters made to act out their parts like cardboard cut-outs? Plot should come from character.

* Does your story start with a strong hook -- and end with a satisfying, believable conclusion? Does the opening paragraph really grab you? And does the last paragraph leave a good taste in the mouth -- without going into unnecessary details?

(Edited extracts from The Magazine Writer's Handbook. Book courtesy: The British Council Library, Chennai.)