WRITING
MARY-KATE MACKEY
Copying from others: a shortcut to structure
THINKSTOCK. COM / ARTQU
Years ago, an editor at Sunset gave me my first big writing break. I was terrified. I felt like the dog that had chased the car and actually caught it. Now what would I do? My writing chops were woefully inadequate. So, to figure out how I would write the assigned piece, I copied.
In our culture, copying gets a bad rap. From the moment a first grader hollers,“ Teacher, he’ s copying me!” everyone knows it’ s a terrible thing to do. Our society values unique ideas and puts down anything derivative.
And yet, it all depends on how and what you copy. I’ m not talking about stealing answers to test questions or plagiarizing someone else’ s writing. Like art students in a museum copying a painting, if you look at how the writing is constructed, you’ ll find the quickest way to teach yourself what you need to know.
Back then I scrambled through many issues of Sunset, desperately hunting for clues from the writers and editors. How were the titles and subtitles set up? Sunset, I noticed, had a way with commas in titles—“ Dreamy Plants for Poolside, Patios.” All right, I’ d think about that particular comma use. The text was explained in the subheads,“ Five Winners Turn Your Backyard into a Tropical Retreat.” Ok, so they address the reader— second person— I could do that. I looked at how they captioned the photos. I marked verbs and other words.“ Dreamy” came up more than once. It wasn’ t a word I would have used, but what the heck— I was copying.
Finally, I had a template I could follow. Even though my subject differed, I’ d figured out the pattern. I soon absorbed the Sunset style and wrote many articles over the years without thinking about it. But when I wanted to pitch to other publications, I relied on the same copying techniques to figure out their formats.
To an outsider, all garden magazines and blogs look alike. But we garden writers know they’ re distinctive. Birds and Blooms is not the same as Country Gardens, Gar-
den Rant, Garden Design or Horticulture. Exactly how they differ becomes apparent with deconstruction. So, if you’ re in the position of pursuing a new venue or simply want to figure out how a writer you admire does it— and I have studied many great garden writers over the years— here are the copying tips that will give you your marching orders.
# 1. THE OPENING
The best start tells the reader something about what is to follow. Is it a quote, an anecdote or a description? Obviously, in the same publication or website, you’ ll find a variety, but keep track of how many of each kind. Mark the ones that appeal to you. Then open yours that way.
# 2. WORD COUNT
This is so basic it’ s often overlooked. If you already have a contract, you’ ll know your count. But if you’ re auditioning in a new arena, it’ s good to replicate the number of words. Knowing the word count also brings order to your thinking. An overall garden profile will not fit into 400 words. Find one area to focus on. On the other hand, if you’ re lucky enough to hit the long form, you’ ll know exactly how many words you’ ll have to play with.
With digital copy, you can easily get a word count. But here’ s a trick for any print paper copy. Assume, give or take, that the top joint on your thumb is an approximate inch. Count the words in a thumb’ s inch of copy where the margin widths don’ t change. Then, measure down the rest of the copy, one thumb length at a time and multiply that number by the number of words in the first inch. That gives you an approximation of how many words are in the copy. Obviously, if the margins change— say, around a photo— you’ ll have to recount another inch in that new place and then measure on for the new size.
# 3. TITLES, SUBTITLES AND SUBHEADS All of these allow readers to skim over material without having to read every word. They also work as the alluring hook that pulls readers in. Check whether your piece uses subtitles— the words after the main title— or subheads— those short phrases or sentences that break up articles into sections. Look at how all three— if you have them— are conveying information. How many words are included in each? How frequently do they appear?
Even if an editor ends up changing them, creating your own titles, subtitles and subheads can help you organize your material.
# 4. PARAGRAPHS
Notice how the writing you’ re copying handles paragraphs. Are they short or long? Are there any single-sentence paragraphs? Blog posts lean toward shorter paragraphs for readability on devices. Other writing allows for more sentences in each paragraph, perhaps as many as six or eight.
Recognizing paragraph length tells you how to build your own. It also shows you how much information is packed into each one, which becomes a roadmap for your own thinking.
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