AlesiaJo
Apprentice
Global user
Registered: 01-2005
Location: North Dakota
Posts: 75
|
|
Reply | Quote
|
|
I need a walk through
Okay, my question would be.....if I have an idea for a story to submit to a magazine, do I write then query or query then write?
---
Reading: On Writing (again)
Rewriting: Dream Journal
|
|
2/27/2005, 10:36 pm
|
Send Email to AlesiaJo
Send PM to AlesiaJo
|
SFGirl
Scribus Administratus
Global user
Registered: 01-2004
Location: Nova Scotia, Canada
Posts: 939
|
|
Reply | Quote
|
|
Re: I need a walk through
Do you mean for a non-fiction article?
If so, the accepted wisdom seems to be get an idea, query, then write when an editor says they're interested. Anyone who writes more non-fiction than I, please feel free to contradict me! But that's the kind of advice I always seem to read. The logic is that there's no sense wasting precious time writing an article that there's no market for.
Personally, I'd have to have a pretty good idea about the article before I pitched it--I'd want to have an outline, a good idea of the word count, and maybe a little bit of work done on it. That would just be for my own confidence.
But you should probably see what others have to say on the matter, too--it's not my field of expertise. The one major article I sold, I wrote first, because I really had no idea how long it would be until I did. Maybe that's a skill that gets better the more you write.
How's that for a non-answer?
Sherry
---
Reading: Something Rotten by Jasper Fforde
Writing: short story: Of Snow-Jewelled Hills and Ice
|
|
2/27/2005, 11:02 pm
|
Send Email to SFGirl
Send PM to SFGirl
|
AlesiaJo
Apprentice
Global user
Registered: 01-2005
Location: North Dakota
Posts: 75
|
|
Reply | Quote
|
|
Re: I need a walk through
I like your non-answer. Informative. I've never done this before and it's time I tried non-fiction.
I also have been thinking about my interviews. Do I give them the article to check over before sending it in, to make sure everything is right?
AlesiaJo
---
Reading: On Writing (again)
Rewriting: Dream Journal
|
|
2/28/2005, 12:38 am
|
Send Email to AlesiaJo
Send PM to AlesiaJo
|
SFGirl
Scribus Administratus
Global user
Registered: 01-2004
Location: Nova Scotia, Canada
Posts: 939
|
|
Reply | Quote
|
|
Re: I need a walk through
Hmmm...not sure on this one--I'll have to check into it. My initial reaction is "no" because if you're writing non-fiction you're usually on a tight deadline and more than likely you won't have time. Also there wouldn't be so many complaints about being misquoted if interviewees always got to check over the finished product. But I will try to find out what the accepted etiquette is.
Sherry
---
Reading: Something Rotten by Jasper Fforde
Writing: short story: Of Snow-Jewelled Hills and Ice
|
|
2/28/2005, 7:49 am
|
Send Email to SFGirl
Send PM to SFGirl
|
SFGirl
Scribus Administratus
Global user
Registered: 01-2004
Location: Nova Scotia, Canada
Posts: 939
|
|
Reply | Quote
|
|
Re: I need a walk through
Hi AlesiaJo!
Here's the only article I've found about interviewing:
http://www.poewar.com/articles/interviewing.htm
It mentions making arrangements to call for clarification of things if needed, but doesn't mention letting the interviewee see the finished product. It's a good article, and you should take a look. From it I'm concluding that the answer to your question is no.
Hope this helps! All the other articles I could find were about job interviews. 
Sherry
---
Reading: Something Rotten by Jasper Fforde
Writing: short story: Of Snow-Jewelled Hills and Ice
|
|
3/6/2005, 9:58 pm
|
Send Email to SFGirl
Send PM to SFGirl
|
AlesiaJo
Apprentice
Global user
Registered: 01-2005
Location: North Dakota
Posts: 75
|
|
Reply | Quote
|
|
Re: I need a walk through
I just got out of a writers chatroom. I asked my question there. They said no too. It was no use giving anyone else the chance to write my article. It's my article I write it, and then they said also that the magazine would check facts if need be.
Thanks, I will check out the article too. Don't worry, I have more questions in the works.
AlesiaJo
---
Reading: On Writing (again)
Rewriting: Dream Journal
|
|
3/6/2005, 11:23 pm
|
Send Email to AlesiaJo
Send PM to AlesiaJo
|
wanda7
Master Scribe
Global user
Registered: 02-2005
Location: Pacific Northwest
Posts: 312
|
|
Reply | Quote
|
|
Re: I need a walk through
I would just add that if you write the article, or at least a good portion of it, before querying, you can finish it whether *that* publication accepts it or not. Then you can shop it around, if you want.
I'm working on a series of articles about technical writing, my idea being that those that don't fit some other publication, I'll just post on my web site (those that do get published, I'll post on my web site but they'll look cooler).
wanda
---
Reading: On Equilibrium (John Ralston Saul), Saving Fish From Drowning (Amy Tan)
Writing: Three Bags Full and various short stories
Living life large, loving with compassion
|
|
3/10/2005, 3:30 pm
|
Send Email to wanda7
Send PM to wanda7
|
Add a reply
Link to us
- Blogs
- Hall of Honour
- Chat
|
You are not logged in (login)
Board's time is: 11/27/2009, 3:01 pm
|
|
|
