The Renegade Writer Blog

Elaine Grant worked as a magazine editor for several years, first for Ziff-Davis Publishing and then for Inc. Magazine, and she’s also a successful freelance writer for magazines like Inc., The Boston Globe, the Christian Science Monitor, Business Week, Audubon, New Age Journal, Natural Health, and more than 50 other trade and consumer magazines.

Elaine is teaching our course on Magazine Writing Basics, which will tell you how to work with editors, how to structure articles, how to prepare for interviews and do solid research, and more. We asked Elaine to share her tips on editor/writer collaboration, getting the best quotes, making editors’ jobs easier, and getting organized.

Elaine’s class starts on January 7, so please sign up now! Don’t forget that if you sign up on the week of November 19, your name will be entered into a drawing to win a phone mentoring session with Diana and Linda.

Q. Working on an article is a collaboration with an editor, not a solitary endeavor. How can you make the most of that collaboration?

A. Collaboration begins the instant you have made contact with an editor — regardless of whether you’ve made the pitch or the editor has picked up the phone and given you an assignment. (You may think that there’s no real collaboration in an editor-assigned story, but bear with me — I’ll elaborate on that in a second.)

First, though, collaboration on a story you’ve pitched — it’s very unusual, although not unheard of, for an editor to assign a story that matches your query 100%. Usually, there’s something about your query that looks like a good fit, but the editor will want to tweak it before you begin the assignment. Ideally, the collaboration should be an open one — you should feel as comfortable with the ultimate assignment as the editor does. If you don’t — and we all know that editors sometimes make up the stories they want to see, regardless of whether that story exists — I believe it’s incumbent upon you to discuss your unease — preferably before you get too far!

When it comes to editor-assigned stories, I’ve made the most of collaboration by asking questions straight away. Does the assignment make sense, according to what you already know about the topic? How many sources does the editor want, and does that number of sources make sense for the story’s length? Is it a vague assignment — “write a column on insurance for entrepreneurs,” is one assignment I received — that you’ll have to carve out an angle for?

Finally, the best editors welcome regular updates. How is your research going? Are you on track for the deadline? Is the angle you promised, or the editor asked for, really there?

I worked as a business magazine editor for several years, first for Ziff-Davis Publishing and then for Inc. Magazine. I can tell you from experience that I want to know if a writer’s going to be late! Give me advance warning and I’ll be sympathetic, even helpful. Fail to let me know and my mood turns, well — none too pleasant.

Q. Do you have any tips for organizing your work?

A. I’m not the world’s most naturally organized person, so I work at this a lot. I love a Web-based program called “Backpack,” with which I keep a running list of assignments, deadlines, and finances. I then break down each assignment into a series of steps — call this source, find a source who knows that, write a draft of this story, etc. Checking off each box gives me a feeling of satisfaction that I’m making progress, even on a long, complicated story! And having that running list gives me operating instructions on Monday morning, when I’ve forgotten the last thing I did on Friday.

I also use separate email folders (I use Yahoo) for organizing research — for instance, if I send out a Profnet query, I’m sure to get a lot of responses. I’ll create an email folder with the story slug — say, “Killer Toys,” which I wrote about this week — and funnel all of the emails having to do with that story into that folder, so that I don’t lose them.

Q. Can you give a brief description of how to tell a good expert source from a bad one?

A. Ah…this can be a tough problem, because it’s not always easy to tell. I write about business a lot, and in business, as in politics, everybody has an agenda. Obviously what we as writers seek is as much independence as possible; that means we must know what it is the potential source is “selling.” The easiest sources to stay away from (forgive the obviousness of this example) or at least to treat with care, are vendors. Say, for instance, you’re doing a story on the best dark chocolate. Hershey isn’t a great source, but a consultant who studies the chocolate industry (yes, they exist) is probably pretty independent.

I also learned a lot about finding sources when I worked for a daily National Public Radio talk show. At NPR, you have to be on your game — you must not only be fast, but you have to know whether your source has an axe to grind and what it is.

In my course, I’ll share a lot more tips on finding sources that will really illuminate your articles and ensure that readers believe in your objectivity. When I find a great source, I’m thrilled — and the hunt can be a lot of fun.

Q. What’s your top tip for developing interview questions that get the best quotes?

A. I’m a research nut. I like to know as much about my interview subject and my topic as I can before I do the interview. Sometimes, sure, you can go overboard, and deadlines will determine how much research you can actually do. But knowing the context that your source “lives in” helps tremendously.

For instance, I was interviewing an economic development expert in a rural area the other day about unemployment and plans for job growth. I’d read a clip about a local state wildlife refuge being transferred to the federal government’s domain — which seems unrelated — and I asked him about it. In response, I didn’t just find out how many jobs the deal would create, I found out some really interesting and unexpected information about the culture of the locals in the area and just how resistant to change they are. I never would have expected that answer — and I never would have gotten it if I hadn’t done my research and been willing to ask an “out-of-bounds” question.

Q. What are entry points and why are they important?

A. Entry points are literally the different places on a page that hook a reader into reading a story. They include captions, sidebars, graphics, bulleted lists, headlines, subheads, callouts, charts — you name it. When I was an editor, I welcomed freelancers who suggested entry points (generally not photo captions, of course — typically, sidebars, bulleted lists, and so forth). We almost always needed entry points, because publishers assume that readers are pressed for time and have short attention spans. Freelancers who offered entry points made my job easier.

Q. As an editor, what are the most common mistakes you see writers make?

A. One mistake that I see fairly often is a lack of willingness to spend the time needed to understand the context — the background — of his or her story. Nothing happens in a vacuum, and yet writers sometimes behave as if the story they’re working on has never been researched or written before. I’ll provide examples of this problem — which is one of those subtle but quite problematic things — in my course.

Another issue, which is less common, is that some writers don’t put enough effort into the writing itself. I’ve worked with a handful of writers who always turn in sparkling, energetic prose, clean transitions, great quotes, etc. Not everyone comes up to that level, but editors love the ones who constantly try to improve their writing (by taking classes, for instance) and reading the work of writers they admire. I take classes whenever I can fit it in. [lf]

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