The Country Writer's Craft: Writing for Country, Regional & Rural Publications: Writing for Country, Regional and Rural Publications - Softcover

Ruthven, Suzanne

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1782790012 ISBN 13: 9781782790013

Verlag: John Hunt Publishing, 2013

Inhaltsangabe

Country Writer s Craft: Writing for country, regional and rural publications, covers one of the widest marketplaces for writers in the English-speaking world especially in the UK, Australia and the USA. Here we have examples of previously published materials, together with writers exercises to help build up an impressive portfolio from Suzanne Ruthven, who has written on country topics for over 30 years, as well as being author of A Treasury of the Countryside, Hearth & Garden, Life-Writes and Signposts For Country Living.
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Über die Autorinnen und Autoren

In addition to being the commissioning editor for Compass Books, Suzanne Ruthven is also editor of the popular quarterly creative writing magazine, The New Writer (which she produces in partnership with literary agent, and publisher, Merric Davidson). She lives in Ireland.
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In addition to being the commissioning editor for Compass Books, Suzanne Ruthven is also editor of the popular quarterly creative writing magazine, The New Writer (which she produces in partnership with literary agent, and publisher, Merric Davidson). She lives in Ireland.
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The Country Writer's Craft

Writing for Country, Regional and Rural Publications

By Suzanne Ruthven

John Hunt Publishing Ltd.

Copyright © 2012 Suzanne Ruthven
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-78279-001-3

Contents

Introduction...............................................................
1
January: The Dark Month....................................................
3
February: The most unpleasant weather of the year..........................
17
March: The first month of spring...........................................
30
April: Rain and sunshine both together.....................................
43
May: A foretaste of summer.................................................
51
June: Three fine days and a thunderstorm...................................
59
July: The flowering of the meadows.........................................
68
August: The height of the silly season.....................................
77
September: The return of the hunter........................................
87
October: Trees ablaze with rich and varied colours.........................
98
November: Preparation for the cold, dark months ahead......................
108
December: The time of the Midwinter Festival...............................
125
Once In A Blue Moon........................................................
137

Excerpt

CHAPTER 1

January: The Dark Month

Most people enjoy reading about countryside, regional or ruralaffairs, and whereas women are acknowledged to be the readersof the majority of mainstream weekly and monthly publications,country magazines can also lay claim to having a large malereadership. Surprisingly, many of these magazines refuse topublish anything to do with 'hunting, shooting and fishing',while others are devoted to this aspect of living and working inthe countryside. Farming publications are mainly concernedwith the day to day requirements of earning a living off the land;smallholders are catered for with the more modest approach to arural existence. Regional magazines reflect the lifestyle of themore rural parts of the counties or regions, while rural publications(including parish magazines and free papers) will be moreinterested in community-oriented matters and entertainment.

If we are only interested in writing for one small area of thisgenre, then our marketplace is going to be extremely limitedindeed – so we are going to have to learn to think outside the boxand find original ways to interest an editor. In other words, whenwe intend to write in a specialised genre, we have to think likea professional writer.

Professionalism isn't just about making sure there aren't toomany typos in our article, or submitting a beautifully presentedtypescript. It's about attitude – gaining experience, knowledgeand understanding of the publishing world – and that takes timeand effort to acquire. The PW (Professional Writer) understandsthat the entire publishing industry needs to be mentally boileddown into four categories – probables, possibles, highly-unlikeliesand the definitely-nots. He or she never dismisses anoutlet, however, until their minds have explored all the permutation,but neither do they overestimate their own worth.

The PW's credits tell the editor all they want to know; and apoem published in the Bondage & Latex Users Weekly is unlikely toimpress a commissioning editor at The Shooting Times. The PWmerely lists those publication credits relevant to his/her currentmission. The typescripts are word-counted, double-spaced andeasy to read because the PW knows that an editor's eye is trainedto speed-read at approximately 250 words to the page. The PWwill always be scanning the reshuffle of magazine ownership andchanges of editor, and be quick to pick up on the shift of trendsin an editorial approach to field sports.

The PW also knows that magazines on the newsagent'sshelves only reflect the 'popular' end of the market, and want toknow which new columnists are considered to be the next generationof up-and-coming country writers. New editors can meandrastic changes for magazine features and the PW doesn'tconsider any publication as out-of-bounds.

A word of warning – editors, like elephants, have hellishlylong memories. One editor within country publishing has, overthe years, edited four different magazines. In the early days, hewas subjected to a series of abusive and insulting letters from awould-be contributor. The editor is still receiving submissionsfrom his old enemy and point-blank refuses to even read thecontents. "It still gives me a great feeling of pleasure to write, 'notsuitable for this publication' across the rejection slip," he confessed.

Professional writers are, of course, a joy to work with sincethey understand that freelance writing is a buyer's market – andthe editor/publisher is the one with all the choice. Having familiarisedthemselves with a publication, PWs will often e-mail orphone with an idea, only to have the editor reject it – but pick upon other points that have been raised and suggest these as analternative feature. This is a common occurrence when, duringthe exchange, the freelance lets slip a previously unmentioneditem which is a hundred times more exciting than the originalproposal. The editor's favourites are the ones who can set out aconcise letter of introduction, a de tailed outline and offersomething interesting to publish.

The PW rarely writes anything without first knowing wherethey are going to send the finished typescript, and there is littlein life that is more uplifting to a writer than an e-mail of acceptancefrom an editor or publisher. It's what, after all, every writeraspires to when she or he turns on the computer and opens up anew file for the latest idea. This is what Professional Writers do– they write for publication. They do not waste time nit-pickingand waffling; they get on with the job in hand. The PW doesn'thave the time for any other form of writing because every hourwasted in displacement activity is an hour away from a currentproject or commission. So, before we begin, get an attitude – aprofessional one – and start understanding the market you wantto write for.

Write About What You Know – or Can Learn About

Our first task is to explore the publications in the genre,regardless of where we live in the world. Taking a leaf out of theProfessional Writer's book, we should never dismiss an outletuntil we have explored all the possibilities, and never overestimateour ability to write for the 'glossies' until we have someimpressive credits under our collective belts.

Each magazine will represent the multitude of differentcountry attitudes that will be encountered wherever we live, andgive a simple guide on how and where the readership sees itselffitting into the scheme of things. And if we look closely at thefollowing breakdown of magazines, we can immediately see thatthis is one of the widest marketplaces for finding outlets for ourwork. These are just a few of the international publications thatwe can target:

• For the 'bred in the bone' type of people, who see thecountryside as an integral part of...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: John Hunt Publishing
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2013
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 1782790012
• ISBN 13: 9781782790013
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 153
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: Buchbär; info@buchbaer.de; ; Weberstr. 67; Osnabrück; 49084; Deutschland