Peter Jacobi Tips on Writing Well

Samir Husni's Mr. Magazine blog has a list of six points on writing well for magazines as suggested by Peter Jacobi, professor emeritus at The University of Indiana. I thought they were interesting, and valuable. Yet, as they say in mathematical circles, they are necessary but not sufficient for good writing. So I thought I'd look at each one:

1. The invitation: the lead or the initial tease; it should even hook the reluctant reader.


2. The thesis: telling the reader what the article is all about, sort of an early summary. Perhaps a response to the readers expectations. - This is the first sales stage of an article. Thought you "don't do" marketing? Oh, yes you do, every single time you write something. There are other pieces in the magazine, other magazines, television, bills, work, family, a book, music - millions of things that can potentially distract the reader. To get people to read your writing, you must interest them. Dont' turn this into a dry formula, where you always use an anecdotal lede or a quote or a question or something clever. This is the highest type of selling you can do, to so thoroughly understand the need of the customer as to present something in a way that compels attention and summons forth interest. Formulas get dull. Putting that need first makes you think, be inventive, and look for the approach that will best work at the intersection of topic, audience, and your own craft.


3. Purpose: the why it is for me “piece of writing.” It is an extended explanation of the purpose of the piece. The purpose must be made evident (another sales pitch). - Yes, a second sales pitch. But this phrasing can be misleading. You can tell someone from here to a week from Wednesday why you do something, but it doesn't matter unless you can show that purpose. You have to make something evident; that is, you must uncover it so that the audience can perceive it. That's different from giving someone a lecture.


4. Direction: you must have a sense of clear direction. Every point along the “verbal highway” must set the course… a crystal clear viewable course…you must write with a compass. - Absolutely fundamental. I find this is often the most time consuming and difficult part of the craft. You can't be concerned only with making a given set of points or observations, or touching on the basic elements of a narrative. How you arrange them will determine where you end up. Writing is like having a series of pipes that run either vertically or horizontally. Send someone up one pipe, over another, and down a third, and it might be as though you had just directed the person directly to the side. Go up one, over, and then up another, and the person is in a completely different place. ask yourself, what do I want to emphasize as the center of the story? What relationships do I wish to show among the story elements? And how do I set direction in a way that brings the audience along without leaving a sense of intellectual lurching or foundering?


5. Propulsion: a sense of motion, going forward. Your writing must have actual movement with pulse and progress. - Stories with no movement are dead. This is like the stereotypical modern short story in which nothing really happens and there is only a tiny denouement, not a satisfying flash of comprehension or insight. Pay as much attention to the rhythm of the words and sentences as to the imagery. Transitions will make or break the attempt to move forward, acting either as conveyor belts or brick walls.


6. Memory: pleasure of reading should be followed by a sense of recalling. Good writing should give me “something to remember.” - This is only possible if there's a strong reason to tell the story in the first place. You have to show that reason throughout the piece if it is to stay with anyone, or all you can achieve is a bit of verbal candy.