Tweaks

"Wollte ich sehr übertreiben, aber das muß man oft, um sich Klarheit zu verschaffen."
(I need to really exaggerage, as one must often do, in order to provide clarity.)
-- Franz Kafka, "Der Nachbar" (The Neighbor)

The fundamentals of human nature and of human relationships remain the same: love and devotion and curiosity and creativity and honesty and integrity and courtesy and the willingness to admit that you do not understand something but wish to. These are among the eternal verities which survive the clutter and confusion of everyday activities. These are the elements that give meaning to our existence.
Source: James A. Van Allen, University of Iowa rocket scientist and discoverer of the Van Allen radiation belt, from a 1994 talk to teachers, students and parents

Approaches to writing leads

I might write the first sentence 10 different times. Take a look at it, and it's not quite right. It's the right thought, but it's not the right wording. Or it's the right wording, but it's not the right thought.
Source: Steve Lopez, Los Angeles Times

The way I start writing is always the same. I sit down at my typewriter and start typing. I start to babble, sometimes starting in the middle of the story and usually fairly quickly I see how it's going to start. It just starts shaping itself on the typewriter.
Source: Cynthia Gorney, The Washington Post

The story is not what happens, but to whom it happens.
Source: Peter Rubie, "The Elements of Storytelling"

As a writer, your first discipline is to be alive to everything. And that means that here and now you begin to exercise and sharpen your five senses: Touch, Sight, Hearing, Scent and Taste.
Source: John Fairfax and John Moat, "The Way to Write"

Forward motion in any piece of writing is carried by verbs. Verbs are the action words of the language and the most important. Turn to any passage on any page of a successful novel and notice the high percentage of verbs. Beginning writers always used too many dependent clauses.
Source: William Sloane, "The Craft of Writing"

To my knowledge there is only one unbreakable RULE of English grammar: In any given sentence, the subject and
predicate must agree in number. Everything else that purports to be a rule is usually no more than a suggestion, a guideline, a general proposition, a better usage -- but not a RULE.
-- James J. Kilpatrick

Believe me, if you write only when an editor tells you to write, you will never be a writer.
Source: Roscoe Born, "The Suspended Sentence"

You must realize that writing is, in the final analysis, a form of talk - preserved talk, talk that has been caught in flight and pinned down on paper so that the words can be heard again. Heard, mind you - not merely seen. For clinging to every piece of writing is the sound of the writer's voice, the human sound of one person speaking to others. The sound of that voice registers instantly on a reader's inner ear - registers so strongly, in fact, that it is probably true to say that reading is almost as much of an act of hearing as of seeing.
Source: Lucile Vaughan Payne, "The Lively Art of Writing"

Enjoy your work; it'll show.
Source: Paul Greenberg, Arkansas Democrat

It seems to me that those songs that have been any good, I have nothing much to do with the writing of them. The words have just crawled down my sleeve and come out on the page.
-- Joan Baez

When you're writing, you're trying to find out something which you don't know. The whole language of writing for me is finding out what you don't want to know, what you don't want to find out. But something forces you to anyway.
-- James Baldwin

What is largely missing in American life today is a sense of context, of saying or doing anything that is intended or even expected to live beyond the moment.
-- Ted Koppel

If you can't annoy somebody, there is little point in writing.
-- Kingsley Amis

When I finally slept, I dreamed in headlines and bad news-speak: predawn fires, shark-infested waters, steamy tropical jungles, the solid South, mean streets and densely wooded areas, populated by the ever-present gunman, fiery Cuban, deranged Vietnam veterans, Panamanian strongman,
fugitive financier, bearded dictator, slain civil rights leader, grieving widow, struggling quarterback, cocaine kingpin, drug lord, troubled youth and embattled mayor totally destroyed by Miami-based, bullet-ridden, high-speed chases, uncertain futures, and deepening political crisis sparked by massive blasts, brutal murders, badly de-composed bodies, benign
neglect and blunt trauma. I woke up nursing a dull headache and swallowed two aspirins before brushing my teeth.
-- Edna Buchanan

A writer strives to express a universal truth in the best possible way he can: in the way that rings the most bells in the shortest amount of time.
-- William Faulkner

Read, read, read, read. If a writer pays attention to the commerce of words in the medium of his profession, he will glean a sense of what succeeds, and how he or she wants to succeed, and personal standards will grow out of that.
-- Bob Baker

The theory of a free press is that truth will emerge from free
discussion, not that it will be presented perfectly and instantly in any one account.
-- Walter Lippman

The secret of management is to keep the guys who hate you away from the guys who are undecided.
-- Casey Stengel

Americans have plenty of time to read newspapers. It's just that they have more enjoyable things to do like going to movies, watching television dramas, attending sports events. Newspapers are boring. That's why people don't read them and making stories shorter isn't going to make them any more interesting.
What is it about movies, television and sporting events that make them more interesting than newspapers? The common factor is that they are all essentially narrative stories. Sporting events in particular meet the most important criteria for a good narrative:
They have beginnings, middles and ends with building drama and anticipation leading to the inevitable climax of winning or losing. They have many interesting characters and a lot of dramatic scenes. Will he make the field goal? Will he get a hit or strike out? Will he make the basket? It's the unknown and anticipation that makes a sporting event exciting. The only reason that a replay is less exciting than the real thing, which looks exactly the same, is that the outcome is known.
Source: Kevin McGrath, Wichita Eagle

Your mission as a team leader is to come up with ideas, to find ways of looking at stories that no one's ever come up with before. To make a reader say, "I never thought of it that way."
"I never thought of it that way" is a good guide for framing coverage more broadly.
Source: Jonathan Landman, New York Times

Today's reporters are the best educated there ever was, and they go home at night and they go to the health club and have a glass of wine at home, with their wives and families. Which is the worst thing they could do. And as a result they're going to live long, and they're the most boring goddam people who've ever worked in the news business.
-- Jimmy Breslin

Democracy is the theory that holds that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard.
-- H.L. Mencken

Editors are extremely fallible people. Don't put too much trust in them.
-- Maxwell Perkins

The purpose of writing is to hold a mirror to nature, but too much today is written from small mirrors in vanity cases.
-- John Mason Brown

Ultimately the product that any writer has to sell is not the subject being written about, but who he or she is.
-- William Zinsser

A writer's style should not place obstacles between his ideas and the minds of his readers.
-- Steve Allen

The question is not what you look at, but what you see.
-- Henry David Thoreau

A ship in port is safe, but that is not what ships are for: Sail out to sea and do new things.
-- Grace Hopper

Creativity is not the product of freedom, but the product of the
conflict between freedom and discipline.
-- Don Murray

The obligation of the writer is to maintain the vigor of the language and the vigor of the imagination. It is an awesome thing when you sit down to write, to think of all that is yet unwritten. It's a very tough job. It's a very grave responsibility. It takes a lot of courage.
-- Carlos Fuentes

Revise and revise and revise -- the best thought will come after the printer has snatched away the copy.
-- Michael Morahan

Writing is making sense of life.
-- Nadine Gordimer

I was taught when I first started as a political reporter that there
were three rules. The first was 'Look at the record,' the second was 'Look at the record' and the third was 'Look at the record.' It really all is about the public record,"
-- Molly Ivins

I don't know if they qualify as cliches in your world, but I'm still
waiting to hear about a majority that isn't vast and a fire that isn't a blazing inferno. English has many annoying rules, exceptions and puzzles, but its one redeeming feature is that there's ALWAYS another way to say it.
-- Bob Levey

The crafts of writing and carpentry are deceptively simple. The
carpenter has to begin with a plan; the writer must begin with a thought. There must be at least the germ of an idea. Before the first board is nailed to the second board, or the first word connected to the second word, there has to be some clear notion of where we expect to be when we have finished nailing or writing.
-- James J. Kilpatrick

Great newspaper writers are like great radio talk show guys, who sense the audience's impatience a beat before the audience does. Not a lot of us out there like that.
-- Bob Baker

Unless one is a genius, it is best to aim at being intelligible.
-- Anthony Hope Hawkins

I hate quotations. Tell me what you know.
-- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Writing only leads to more writing.
-- Colette

What a lot we lost when we stopped writing letters. You can't reread a phone call.
-- Liz Carpenter

We make a mistake when we're younger. We feel compelled to hit a home run in the very first sentence. So we spend a lot of time staring at the typewriter. I'll settle for a quiet single, or even a long foul, anything that gets me started.
-- Saul Pett

The chief difference between good writing and better writing may be measured by the number of imperceptible hesitations the reader experiences as he goes along.
-- James J. Kilpatrick

One of my colleagues wrote a great story four or five years ago about how "closure" had become America's favorite cliche. And people still beat it to death. I think it is being edged aside by the expression "move on" although that's probably something more appropriately said by someone who has gotten his way and wants you to shut up, ergo it is time to "move on."
-- Bob Baker

Surely 90 percent of all so-called news is old stuff, some of it two or three thousand years old. Public servants serve; felons act feloniously; demagogues croak their froggy tunes; echo answers echo.
-- E.B. White

Some books make me want to go adventuring, others feel that they have saved me the trouble.
-- Ashley Brilliant

Language is a very difficult thing to put into words.
-- Voltaire

That man who governs his passions is master of the world. We must either rule them or be ruled by them. It is better to be the hammer than the anvil.
-- St. Dominic

The right word may be effective, but no word was ever as effective as a rightly timed pause.
-- Mark Twain

Usage is always changing, which is why "The Elements of Style" is such a comfort.
-- Bob Baker

If we journalists are poets at heart (just ask any of us), why can't we hear the non-poetry of a 19-word dependent clause?
-- Bob Levey

If you want something to remain off the record, don't say it.
-- Anita Creamer

To avoid criticism, do nothing, say nothing, be nothing.
-- Elbert Hubbard

Art should simplify so that all that one has suppressed and cut away is there to the reader's consciousness as much as if it were in type on the page.
-- Willa Cather

The role of the writer is not to say what we can all say, but what we are unable to say.
-- Anais Nin

They who lack talent expect things to happen without effort. They ascribe failure to a lack of inspiration or of ability, or to misfortune, rather than to insufficient application. At the core of every true talent there is an awareness of the difficulties inherent in any achievement, and the confidence that by persistence and patience something worthwhile will
be realized. Thus, talent is a species of vigor.
-- Eric Hoffer

It matters what we journalists do. If I didn't think my work made a diference, I'd probably give it up.
-- Veronica Guerin

Unfortunately for novelists, real life is getting way too funny and far-fetched. It's especially true in Miami, where the daily news seems to be scripted by David Lynch. Fact is routinely more fantastic than fiction.
Consider the fellow who was found with an adult alligator in his bed, and numerous tooth-sized wounds on his torso. Over the punctured man's protests, game wardens whisked the befuddled reptile to safety.
Naturally a lawsuit and protracted custody battle followed. After two years an appellate court finally decided in favor of the gator and against his smitten captor. Although I've saved the newspaper clipping ("Court: Gators in bed is bad idea"), I doubt I'll ever use the story in a novel. It cannot be improved upon.
Source: Carl Hiaasen, novelist and Miami Herald columnist

What does the story mean to the reader? A $5 million gas company refund? Or $35 for each customer? Tell it in the reader's terms
Source: Clarke Stallworth, writing coach

Always remember that the requirements of "true" in "true short story" must come before the dramatic needs of "short story." We are documentarians using narrative devices to make our stories more compelling. Nothing can be made up - not a quote or a scene, of course, but also not the sound of thunder in the background, the direction of the wind, the crackle of gravel under-foot, sunlight glinting off the car hood, an odd gesture of the hand.
True means true.
Source: Walt Harrington, author of "Intimate Journalism"

Too often editors absorb themselves in improving the story, not the writer. As a result, the story makes deadline and the reporter ends the day frustrated. Editors wonder why writers don't learn from changes made in stories, but many reporters don't review their work because it is no longer their work.
Source: Foster Davis and Karen Dunlap, "The Effective Editor"

Style springs from voice and tone.
Voice is the authorial personality you assume. To find the right voice for a particular assignment, think about who you are as you're writing and about your imagined relationship to your audience.
Tone encompasses word choice, sentence structure, even grammatical and punctuation issues. The tone must match your voice and your imagined audience.
Try to settle on a tone that fits you best. You might vary it according to the assignment at hand, but only in degree.
Source: David A. Fryxell, author of "Structure & Flow"

Think of an anecdotal lead as if you're a tourist guide choosing between two pathways for readers. The correct one allows readers to walk through your story and its theme easily and with few obstacles. The wrong one provides an immediate obstacle for readers, excites them before they fall off a cliff into a valley of boredom or leaves them wondering what happened to the person who was introduced at the beginning of the pathway.
Source: Joe Hight, The Oklahoman

Until someone invents android reporters, incidents of human error, weakness, and sometimes venality will continue to happen. The question is not whether we are too reckless or aggressive, but whether we are willing to examine ourselves in an ongoing, systemic way, as professionals should.
Source: Sydney H. Schanberg, The Village Voice

When you write, you make a sound in the reader's head. It can be a dull mumble -- that's why so much government prose makes you sleepy -- or it can be a joyful noise, a sly whisper, a throb of passion.
Russell Baker, The New York Times

Take advantage of narrative opportunities. Figure out when you're writing a story, as opposed to an article. Think of action, complication, motivation, setting, chronology, and dialogue.
Roy Peter Clark, The Poynter Institute

Use verbs in their strongest form, the simple present or past.
Strong verbs create action, save words, and reveal the players.
Roy Peter Clark, The Poynter Institute

Actively listen to sources, new acquaintances, ordinary people, and even colleagues. Treat conversation with respect and awareness. Bottom line: If it's worth talking about, it's likely worth writing about.
Source: Don Fernandez, Atlanta Journal-Constitution

There are only two kinds of journalists: bad ones, and those who are improving.
Source: Bob Baker, author of "Newsthinking"

Readers come equipped with arguments and theories of their own. They bring with them a background mixed with blends of information both accurate and inaccurate, commonsensical and utterly preposterous. They constantly fight boredom and other distractions. Or, if the writer failed, they give up and move on to the next headline. Consider the way you read. Some writers make it hard on you, showing no consideration for your time or interest. Others, however, make it easier for you. They show their appreciation for your time and your effort. If you and I read that way, why do we think the readers "out there" read any differently?
Source: John Sweeney, "The Journalist's Craft"

During revision, always question your use of "essentially," "basically," "ultimately," and "inevitably." We all use these words too frequently because we use them too loosely. These words should be reserved for more important matter than, say: "Babe Ruth was essentially a hitter"; "Basically, Merv Griffin was one of the best"; "Basically, I'm in love"; "Inevitably, she wore that same old hat." These should not be deleted for being too idle; they should be deleted for doing more than is called for.
Source: Theodore A. Rees Cheney, "Getting the Words Right"

Any discipline can help your writing: logic, mathematics, theology, and of course and particularly drawing. Anything that helps you to see, anything that makes you look. The writer should never be ashamed of staring. There is nothing that doesn't require his attention.
Source: Flannery O'Connor, "Mystery and Manners"

Quotes are among the most powerful weapons in the writer's arsenal, and among the most abused. Only when a character speaks is there no intermediary between subject and reader, which makes quotation a remarkably effective (and efficient) way of conveying character and texture. But be judicious; use quotes that actually say something. Nine out of 10 newspaper quotes are functioning like Hamburger Helper - stretching
too little meat -- or are included in the story simply to prove the writer actually talked to someone.
Source: Thomas Kunkel, American Journalism Review

"Gutzman is a neo-Confederate who resents the course our history has taken since the first day of the Philadelphia Convention ... His attachment to state sovereignty causes him to misread every signal event of our early history."
—Matthew J. Franck reviewing Kevin Gutzman's Politically Incorrect Guide to the Constitution.