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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