Research the people youll be interviewing, write down your list of questions and take notes. Here is an example of an engaging lead from Adam Miller's The Horatio Street Murder published in Mountain Spirit in 1992: 'In the driving rain, 67-year-old Lucille Chasin left her first-floor rear apartment at 76 Horatio St. in the West Village. If appropriate, try including more than one idea in the letter. Most editors will be clear about the required word count of the article and will expect you not to go over the word count, for example, 500 words for smaller articles and 2,000-3,000 words for a feature article. Make sure you have a good variety. To be sure, there is no formula for getting published, but reading stories of what other writers have been through will help you glean things that may be relevant for your own writing. To learn more, visit our Earning Credit Page. You should be open to editor feedback and work with your editor to improve the draft of the article. Be wary of websites online that contain lots of advertisements or who are not affiliated with a professionally recognized association or field of study. If you can explain it in just a few sentences, it's too narrow. Every week, I share new tips on creative work. For example, rather than asking, "Did you witness the test trials of this drug?" Choose the topic that youd like about and think of an interesting angle to tackle it from. Enter your email below and I'll send you a free book. By. Select a subject to preview related courses: Once the introduction and middle of your magazine article are written, you need to leave the readers with something to think about. Once you prove yourself to a publication and have a relationship with an editor, its much easier to come back the second and third time to get published. When in doubt, ask permission to follow up. Next, explain the points youll cover and the facts youll include. You must support your article with credible facts and reliable sources. Writing a magazine article requires a solid idea and research to craft a solid piece of writing that includes a beginning, middle, and end. Good details to include with your how-to are: What are important qualities of a magazine article writer? Follow up the query with a quick note if you don't receive a response after a couple of weeks. Next, create an outline of the main points you want to cover so you dont go off topic. Transforming your trip into a feature that demands to be read? She has a Bachelor of Science in chemical engineering from the University of Tennessee. courses that prepare you to earn Build relationships with magazines. Be sure to include 'where to go' bits in your article so the reader will think about that. ", Try a provocative quotation: This could be from a source from your research that raises interesting questions or introduces your angle on the topic. Dont forget: you need to read the submission guidelines for every magazine before you start writing. Now, its time to review the style and grammar in your article. There is no short and quick way to transcribe, unless you decide to use a transcription service, which will charge you a fee for transcribing your interviews. Finding a unique and angle is often the deciding factor in making your pitch will stand out to editors. You want to hook in the reader into wanting to find out more about the subject of the article. You need time to practice. Depending on the magazine you wish to submit to, you should look inside the front cover, or near the beginning, and locate the information about the magazine's editor and staff. The body provides important details that readers need and usually includes at least several paragraphs. The quotations should support the main angle of your article and back up any claims being made in the article. Before you can start writing a magazine article, you have to come up with an idea. % of people told us that this article helped them. If the names on the bylines do not match the masthead names, this may be an indication that the publication hires freelance writers to contribute to its issues. On that note, check to make sure the venue to which youre pitching the article doesnt already have a very similar story. In this lesson, you will learn about the main components of a magazine article including finding the idea, the introduction, the middle, and the end. Create an account to start this course today. in English and Nutrition. Yes, you do (unless you're using public images that do not require citations). Article formats vary by publication, but basic parts include a compelling lead paragraph, the body and the conclusion. To write a good magazine article, you should focus on generating strong article ideas and crafting and revising the article with a good attention to detail. As well, if you have any controversial or possibly offensive questions to ask the subject, save them for last. A service piece teaches your readers how to do something or handle something, or it gives them information on where to find something. Ending the article on a quote may also give the article more credibility, as you are allowing your sources to provide context for the reader. Start thinking about a great spin on a topic or an unusual personal experience that you'd like to write about in class! Also get publications' writers' guidelines and media kits. {{courseNav.course.mDynamicIntFields.lessonCount}} lessons Copyright 2020 Leaf Group Ltd. / Leaf Group Education, How to Submit Articles for Magazine Publication, How to Write a Newspaper Article Proposal, DePaul University Center for Writing-based Learning: Writing a Magazine Article, Writing for College.org: Chapter 51 - Magazine or Newsletter Article, Stanford University: The Future of Freelancing - The Science (Not Art) of the Magazine Pitch, Dave & Les Jacobs/Blend Images/Getty Images. Before pitching an article to an editor, youll need to identify potential sources that bring credibility to your story. If you need a legal source, you may ask other freelance writers who they use or ask for a contact at a police station or in the legal system. Where do I put my name and other information on an article? If you can't succinctly address the topic in one article, it's too broad. Be ready to mine your life for ideas. Learning how to write a magazine article from start to finish can help you land a magazine writing job, get an 'A' in journalism class, and teach you the proper format for nonfiction writing. The lead is the 'hook' of your article. flashcard sets, {{courseNav.course.topics.length}} chapters | ', On the other hand, a magazine article can end with a question. Services. An idea can be generated from anything that you are interested in, and it should be relevant to the audience being written for. Prepare a list of questions before the interview. Next, arrange the details to build the structure of the story. Now, what should you do to write the article in a magazine format? These are just a few ways that a magazine article can end. A nut graph is straightforward, providing the 'who', 'what', 'when', 'where', 'why', and 'how' of the article. Here are some great ways to come up with article ideas: After you've settled on an idea, begin by drafting an outline and performing basic research before writing the article. There are a multitude of different types of articles, including news stories, features, profiles, instructional articles, and so on. Heres Why You Should Become a Virtual Expat, Want to Become a Top-Earning Freelancer? study Happy writing! Types of magazine articles include service pieces, profiles, investigative articles, and personal essays. This is important: Give the magazine adequate time to respond. I am the best-selling author of five books, including the national bestsellers The Art of Work and Real Artists Dont Starve. For example, you may write about getting food poisoning at the county's annual fair and bring in information about food safety in order to make it important to the reader as well. Summer has taught creative writing and sciences at the college level. Use an interesting or surprising example: This could be a personal experience that relates to the article topic or a key moment in an interview with a source that relates to the article topic. How to Write Articles. Writing a good introduction is easy as easy as 1-2-3, if you know exactly how to go about doing it. You can learn how to write a magazine article by adopting the tricks of the trade that journalists use, even if youre new to writing. The middle of a magazine article varies from one article to the next depending on the type of article that it is. Assure you have a good diversity in magazines to boost your possibilities of getting published. You may want to lean on a strong quote from a source that feels like it points to future developments relating to the topic or the ongoing nature of the topic. Writing a magazine article is a delicate balance between news and story. Try to present a well rounded approach to your research so you do not appear biased or slanted in you research. When you land an assignment to write an article, the editor will specify a certain word count, say 1,000 words. Realize that rejections are part of the process. Create an outline. {"smallUrl":"https:\/\/www.wikihow.com\/images\/thumb\/d\/df\/Write-a-Magazine-Article-Step-1-Version-4.jpg\/v4-460px-Write-a-Magazine-Article-Step-1-Version-4.jpg","bigUrl":"\/images\/thumb\/d\/df\/Write-a-Magazine-Article-Step-1-Version-4.jpg\/aid1095387-v4-728px-Write-a-Magazine-Article-Step-1-Version-4.jpg","smallWidth":460,"smallHeight":345,"bigWidth":"728","bigHeight":"546","licensing":"