Ethics and Writing — Are You on The Right Path?
Posted: March 19, 2011 Filed under: Articles, Writers Helping Writers, Writers on Writing Leave a comment »Rather than spend time on the Internet over last weekend, I decided to reread passages from some books on my bookshelves. That’s where I came across a section called “Etiquette and Ethics” in Writing for Money, a book by Loriann Hoff Oberlin. I must say I agree with the basic rules she outlines in the book.
Oberlin knew that when you are granted an interview for a publication, it doesn’t mean you can market that interview somewhere else. As an example, she uses her working with Family Communications in Pittsburgh, the production company for TV’s Mr. Rogers series. When she learned that the popular show would be celebrating 25 years on public television, she began producing a series of articles about the show, based on an interview with Fred Rogers, plus faxed questions and telephone followups. Her stories appeared in Hemispheres, The Saturday Evening Post, parenting magazines and other publications — all the result of her good working relationship with the production company.
“They trusted that I would place stories only in reputable publications, and they also knew that I kept in touch with and ran my ideas past their public relations staff,” Oberlin said.
She cautions writers to be careful when people you interview ask to see your article before you turn it in. “Allowing sources to preview your story would be allowing a form of censorship,” she said. “The public expects reporters to work uncensored and free of such constraints. We journalists shouldn’t have to fear that our sources will change their recollections, words or ideas to a more acceptable point of view. Also, by giving this kind of advantage to one source, you would give that person unfair insight into the information your other sources give you.
“Don’t misrepresent your credentials,” Oberlin warns. “Never tell someone you are on assignment for a publication when you are not, and watch that others don’t either.” Months after an interview, she recalled reading in a source’s newsletter that she was “on assignment” for several publications, when in reality she had only answered an intern’s questions about what magazines she wrote for and where she would be pitching the proposed story. “I was not pleased with the way he had misrepresented me,” she said.
She would also not be pleased, I think, with an ad I saw recently that was looking for writers to produce fake testimonials for an ebook going into production. What is equally unpleasant, in my opinion, were the scores of writers lined up, eager to write those fake testimonials. When the ad was reproduced on a freelancer’s post, the comments were very much against writing fake testimonials. Evidently those applying for the job could not see that they were going way beyond acting in a truly ethical manner. In my opinion, this is in the same category as writing papers that high school and college kids can turn in as their own. Those writers all need some ethics classes to set them on the right path.
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Writing Personal Experience Articles
Posted: February 5, 2011 Filed under: Articles, Writers on Writing 1 Comment »Have you every written a personal experience article? Try it. I think you’ll like it. They’re easy to do and they are one of my favorite forms of writing.
These articles don’t have to be earthshaking or catastrophic; they can, in fact, be fairly simple. They do need some tension or drama but the dramatic or the tension level doesn’t need to be high. Just think of a series of events that happened to you that might be worth sharing with others. I remember one piece I wrote that was about a Saturday afternoon ritual at our house every week when I was growing up — about how my father shined his shoes to get ready for church the next day. It was simple, but it was a personal experience piece. And it worked.
Ever spent time with a famous person, either before or after he or she gained fame? Have you lived in or visited an exotic place? Had an accident or illness or attempted a difficult feat? Set up a party for a group of school children? Taken part in a special holiday celebration? Write about it.
The experience doesn’t even have to be your own. If a friend or colleague had a memorable event, you can write about that. Think about the event, put it into action, talk about the characters involved, the outcome, the lesson you or they learned. Limit the statements about how you felt to two or three specific actions.
Let the story build on its own emotion so readers will relate to what’s happened. Keep the piece smooth and tight. If possible, come up with a surprise ending.
Where should you send your piece? Family and women’s publications are good markets for personal experience pieces, as are many local newspapers and magazines. Look for other markets that use these pieces. The magazine section of a bookstore is a good place to see which other publications use personal experience pieces. Just checking through a variety of them will show you how popular personal experiences pieces are.
Also check the library for copies of additional publications and study the style and structure of the personal experience pieces you find in them. The key to getting these pieces published is to keep them in the mail — either U.S. mail or email. And you should know that, In general, publications pay better than average for good personal experiences.
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Taking A Break from Writing
Posted: January 29, 2011 Filed under: Articles, Writers on Writing Leave a comment »You know, I suppose, that I’ve not posted anything here for quite a while. That’s because I needed to take a break from writing. Part of that decision was wanting to take a new look at what I was writing and make some improvements. The other part was because the breaks of life kept happening, including our house becoming flooded.
All that water was such a surprise. It was a bright sunshiny day, no rain, and I was multi-tasking by washing clothes while finishing up a nearly due article manuscript. After I got to the end of the article, proofread it and sent it to my editor, I got up and walked through to the other part of the house — straight into soggy wet carpeting and floors covered with water.
My husband came in from outdoors about the same time after finishing some yard work and he was as startled as I to see all that water. It covered the living room, dining room, kitchen, hall and master bedroom and closet — most of the house, in fact, except for two bedrooms and a bath. Quite an accomplishment for one small washing machine.
Seems that the control for the on/off function failed and did not shut off the water at the end of the washing cycle. And so water poured out for quite some time. We tried to get the water out of the house — with very little success, so I phoned our insurance agent. Their assessment folks and repair people arrived at the house in less than half an hour. They used machines to get rid of the water; they also pulled up our carpeting and our hardwood flooring, since all that was ruined.
Little did we know that it would take five weeks before the carpeting and hardwood would be replaced and the painting finished. If you’ve ever had flooding, you know how inconvenient that was.
It was also the perfect time, I felt, for my break from writing. We had wall-to-wall concrete floors with 7 large (and loud) industrial fans blowing over the wet areas 24 hours a day, and later an almost constant stream of workers coming in to reposition fans, measure, consult, fill out forms, and finally to begin reinstalling carpeting and flooring.
With all that going on, being away from writing seemed strange at first but I got used to it after a while. Now with the house all repaired, I’m turning on the computer again and writing. I hope my break from writing will lead to many more (and better) articles.
It’s good to be back!
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