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Trying for Tight Topics - Page 2

© Julia Buitrago

2. Factor in the length of your writing. Generally speaking, the larger your TIN gets, the smaller your final word count. Although this is not a hard and fast rule, deviating from this rule will create the potential for excruciating reader boredom. (There are very few people who would like to sit down and read a 100,000 word book about the pulley system in Thomas Jefferson's timekeeping machine at Monticello!) In some cases your word count may be set by your publisher (in the case of a book) or submission requirements (in the case of a magazine). It follows that a magazine article, which has a lower word count, will have a more specific topic than a book, which has a higher word count. On a scale of 1 to 10, I figure that a TIN of 1-4 are good topics for books, 5-8 can work for either books or magazine articles, and 9-10 are best for shorter articles only.

3. Keep your audience in mind. I'll be going deeper into this topic next week, but generally speaking the higher your TIN gets, the more experience and previous knowledge you expect from your audience.

4. Keep your research timeframe in mind. The larger your TIN, the longer you should plan to conduct research. Anyone can write an essay from a TIN of 1 or 2 from a couple of encyclopedias. When you get to a TIN of 9 or 10, you'll probably have to do extensive research (and ultimately you may find that there is NOTHING in print about your topic). You may have to resort to other research methods such as personal interviews or scientific observation and professional analysis (another topic to look for in the weeks to come).

So how can you tell that you've got a good topic? The easiest way to decide if your topic is a good one is to ask the people who will be likely to read your work. If you know that your topic is for the person on the street, ask your server at your favorite restaurant if he or she would be likely to read your article. If your topic is too broad or too narrow, they'll instinctively show you through their words and actions.

Me: I'm writing about American History. Do you think you'd enjoy reading my article once I'm finished?

Waiter: What about American History?

Ah hah! My topic is too broad. It doesn't catch their interest right away, and they have no idea if they will like the topic or not.

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