Article, Project, or Book?

Before you begin writing, you must have a clear understanding of what type of writing you are setting out to accomplish. This is far more important in nonfiction writing than in fiction or creative writing. Creative writing, for example, is often accomplished using what is known as free form or stream of consciousness. When you set out to write a nonfiction work, it is best that you not attempt to write it in a creative format unless you are planning failure and rejection.

Article

Generally speaking, there are two types of articles: short articles and long articles. You will need to decide which you are going to write unless you have already contracted a purchase in which case you will need to know what your editor wants from you.

When you don't know your buyer, write long articles. When you don't know your subject very well, write short articles. The reason for each is, when you don't know your buyer, you write enough to endure a strong edit. And when you don't know your subject very well, you write short enough to well research your material and produce it succinctly as if you are an expert.

Short Articles

Short articles are normally 500 to 700 words in length and are written in a manner similar to blogs. For the most part, short articles are extremely focused on only one point or subject and contain paragraphs with three to five sentences. A seven or ten sentence paragraph does not belong in a short article.

Another characteristic of short articles is the simplicity of language and content. Short articles are not normally written in medical journals or other professional writings which demand a good amount of detail or specialty information. The language used in short articles is most often dictated by the journalism mantra, "the average reader reads at a fourth-grade level." This is the level of complexity that you will target. When writing a short article, imagine that you are explaining something complex to your nine year old child. If you can successfully explain your subject matter to a nine year old, then you have found the language for your article.

Remember, part of the point in writing a short article is to keep the subject matter focused and simplified. You are likely explaining something in bite sized articles. Stick to your point and keep your language simple. Don't attempt to write a one paragraph sentence like Proust or a complex one like Bellow. Short, nonfiction articles do not require the art of writing, they require articulation.

Long Articles

Long articles average from 700 to 3,000 words in length and are written in a manner similar to books. Long articles can handle complex subjects and a higher level of language than short articles, more along the eighth grade or tenth grade reading level. Having a modern structure in your article is very important. A modern structure is one that will hold the attention of today's reader.



Hemingway, Proust, and Bellow wrote in more literary times, and in many ways, more educated times. We live in a time of lower literacy levels and higher exposure to technology. Even among highly literate people, the information we digest is overwhelming. So simplicity and ease of our mental digestion has become more important in how we read. For the long article, nonfiction writer this means that we must adjust to the reader's needs in order to be successful and communicate to them effectively.

In high-brow circles what I am talking about is referred to as post-modern, that is to say, basically a style without rules. But the last thing this editor will ever tell you is to toss out style or writing rules. For those who think you can become a successful writer by throwing down text that reads like your cell phone's text messages, you are in for a rude awakening.

The modern structure for long articles, and basically everything over 700 words, is to title and subtitle your article or book throughout. In other words, if your nonfiction article is slated to be 3,000 words, then somewhere between 500 and 700 words you will cut to the next subtitle. To do this successfully, you will need to structure your long article in a similar manner as you would a book. This will put a front end requirement on you, but you will do better in your writing efforts if you rise to the requirement.

As a nonfiction writer, the risk to you not attending to the front end requirement of planning and structure is that you will see your article severely rewritten, perhaps into something you would not have written. The other risk is full rejection from your editor. The short of it is, take your subject matter and bust it up into small segments and go from there. ]]>