Lesson 1: What Should I Write About?
Original Angles
Ideas that are based on what people want to know are always going to be popular. These include:
Some examples include: ‘Ten Ways to Minimize your Taxes’, ‘Secrets of a Light Packer’, ‘Unusual Ways to find your Soulmate’ and ‘Secrets of Successful Homeworkers’. You can use these simple themes to find ideas on any topic. Take travel, for example. Here are some article ideas based on these themes:
You can also target many different markets by using variations on the one theme. Take my previous example of writing about a castle. There are countless ideas suitable for different markets that you could think of. An article about the castle’s history may well be suitable for a heritage magazine, for example, while an article about the castle’s unusual architecture might be published in an architecture magazine.
The old advice to writers is to write about what you know. This can make your research easier and faster. It also provides lay people with an ‘insider’s’ view. Your professional credentials can also help you to get your pieces published. You can also provide factual anecdotes more easily. Michael Perry, for example, wrote about the neurological rehabilitation unit he had worked in as a nurse. It was the first article that he ever had published, and his professional background helped. His work also gave him access to the latest neurological advances which helped inform the article.
However, this doesn’t mean that you should never write about what you don’t know. People who write about something as a beginner can often explain things more clearly because their work isn’t riddled with jargon. Professionals who are familiar with terms that they write about can often assume that their readers are as well. The research is much more difficult, and it is harder to make sure that you ‘have your facts right’ but it can be a rewarding experience, leading you into new areas of writing and new markets.
The famous author Janet Dailey once stated that: “The worst advice I ever got in my life was to write what you know...you can research and learn anything”. Michael Perry set out to write an article about monster trucks, a subject he knew nothing about. He did so much research that “When it came time to write the piece, I was armed with all those critical bits of minutiae that can make the difference between a cursory overview-type article and a piece that truly takes the reader to the heart of the experience – whether it be monster truck racing or brain surgery”.3
2. Bykofsky, Sheree, Sander, Jennifer and Rominger, Lynne. The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Publishing Magazine Articles. Alpha Books. Indeanapolis, USA. 2000, p.78
3. Perry, Michael. Handbook for Freelance Writing. NTC Business Books, Chicago, Illinois, p.56
