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Do
you dream of doing the job of a freelance writer? Do you visualise yourself mailing brilliant articles and witty ‘middles’ that’ll adorn the pages of national dailies and magazines? Do you often ‘see’ your byline and pat yourself on the back for it? That’s natural. Every aspiring writer does. There is nothing wrong in it except that this is the glamourous side of writing. There is another side — the one that involves grind. “The way to hell is paved with good intentions,” says the literary dictator of the 18th century, Dr Samuel Johnson. So, if you think that you will get a spell of divine inspiration and pour your thoughts into inspiring articles, count yourself out. Journalistic writing is not inspiration, it is ‘perspiration’. You have to slog for hours before ideas
take shape. Shed the myths you have picked from heresay or self-styled writers whose only published work is two letters to the editor! Instead, read a standard book or consult an expert in the area of your interest. Do contacts in a publication help? No. ‘Sifarish’ is your undoing. Editors are hard-boiled professionals. They recognise good work at one glance. If your writing has merit, you are in. Else, out you go. Can you hit the bull’s eye at random? Forget it. You have to study the personality of the publication you want to write for. Watch the kind of stuff it carries, the treatment, the length and other technical details. Watch the slant or the angle the articles have. The write-first-and-then-look-for-the-market approach has spelt the doom of many talented young prospects. Choose the market first, then write for it. You have to tailor-make your articles for the publication, as also for the column you are aiming at. Then, you will become the editor’s delight. What kind of language should you write? Literary? Dripping with adjectives? No. If you do, your article will go into the yawning waste paper basket. That kind of language fetches good marks in college/university examinations, but not a byline (read cheques) from professional publications. The reason is simple — college and university teachers are not professional writers. Write to express, not to impress. Go by three words: “Simplify. Simplify. Simplify,” the magic mantra enunciated by the great American editor Joseph Pulitzer. Simplification means brevity and clarity of concept as well as expression, ‘Muddy’ thinking will produce ‘muddy’ writing. A newspaper or magazine is not a parade ground for the exhibition of your vocabulary. Padding is unforgivable. Space is more precious here than a glittering galaxy of words. It is better to be a ‘miser’ than a spendthrift. Abstract thinking leads to abstract writing. This is divorced from practical life and fails to win the editor’s nod. Correlate your writing to real life, cut out poetic outpourings. Keep your feet firmly planted on the ground. Poetic stuff is fit for literary, or college and university house journals. Be either topical or choose themes with a strong human interest angle. The former fast-sell. The latter have a long life. They do not go out of date. Editors like to file such readable matter. Style, which means the art of presentation, matters. A good theme wastes away in the hands of a show-off. A weak one sparkles in the hands of a master of style. H.L. Menken has said, “There are no dull subjects; only dull writers.” Good journalistic writing is a craft, not an art. Practise it daily for an hour or two or more. You have to be a good ‘wordsmith’ to make your mark. Editors look for fresh talent and encourage it. Your skill in effective expression, to communicate clearly in writing, is one of the many skills which take you up the job ladder. It helps you to put your ideas across effectively and give you an edge over the bambler. In writing, the one who knows the craft, gets the prize. It helps you to get the results you want in your personal and professional life. There are no mysteries to it. It is a skill you can acquire. A writer does not need fits of inspiration. What a writer needs most is writing!
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