In my “other” career, I’m an editor. Actually, I’m the entire staff of a monthly trade newsletter. Because most of my articles come in the form of contributed articles (written by industry executives), I’ve seen quite a range of knowledge and writing ability come across my desk.
What has become a standard “problem” for some of these execs-turned-journalists is length. When I work with a new executive, I set out the parameters at the beginning–no more than 1,000 words. In more than a few cases, I receive back tomes of 2,500 words or more. For an eight-page newsletter, that’s just not going to work. Also, it’s a sign that either A) the subject matter was too broad, or B) the author went off topic and down another path.
If you as a writer find yourself with too much information, consider carefully what I just said. If your editor wants 750 words and you’re trying to whittle down your 2,000-word piece to fit, something’s wrong. And please – in this case, more is not better. Don’t you dare deliver three times more than your editor asked for! That’s merely passing the headache on to her.
If your article is much longer than needed and you can’t figure out how to shorten it, it’s time for you to revisit your original query or assignment. What exactly was agreed upon? Reread your story for areas where you may have strayed from that topic.
Now would be a good time for me to mention an outline (actually, the time to mention that is at the start of your assignment but since I wasn’t around then, I digress). If you find that you just can’t see any flaws, take out a fresh piece of paper. Forget your completed story for a minute and concentrate only on the assignment details. Write down the main point you want to make. Under that, make “subheads” of what you need to cover in this article. Again, don’t look at your current article. Think like a reader; if you were reading this story, what questions would you want to see answered? Jot those points down. Stop at three points for a short piece, five for a longer piece.
Go back to your story. Going over those subheads, try to locate those ideas in your original story. Once you’ve found those sections, paste them into a new document. If you’ve done it right, there will be a good bit of information left. Don’t trash it just yet–save it. You never know when it will come in handy. Maybe even the start of a new article?
If you’ve done your outline and you still have too much information, your topic is too broad. Narrow the focus. For instance, if you’re writing about the crisis in healthcare, you could easily narrow that down to how medical malpractice claims have caused healthcare costs to skyrocket. If you’re writing about the Fall 2006 fashion trends, you could narrow the focus to a particular cut of clothing or the evolution of the little black dress. In any case, make sure your editor knows what you’re doing. Have a conversation with her, and let her know that the larger story is too much for the word count, but that this drilled-down view has many interesting points to cover.
More often than not, a too-lengthy article can be fixed just by revisiting your original assignment details. While editors do appreciate about 50 to 100 extra words sometimes, more than that is just too much to edit, and it may cost you future assignments.
Lori, I love that your info-packed article is a trim 597 words. Way to practice what you preach. ;] You’re an inspiration, dear! Keep up the good work.
Kristen
Fortunately, I enjoy taking a machete to my work.
I have to admit, though, there have been assignments where the editor was vague about specifics and asked me to “send everything” and that picked out bits.
The result, needless to say, was AWFUL. 485 words out of 1600, with no transitions.
Paid for only 485.
Learned from that one. Won’t make that mistake again! 😉
good technique… another approach is to write a 10 word purpose… no more than 10 words, as in “the purpose of this article is (ten words)” This often gets me back on track.
Anne Wayman
http://www.thegoldenpencil.com
LOL Kristen! You counted–if anyone would, it would be you! :))
lori, i’m really glad you posted this link in the forum. great article!
Lola! How are you? We miss you!