The Writer's 5 Ws - DailyWritingTips |
| Posted: 23 Sep 2010 09:00 PM PDT Yes, it's Journalism 101, but people who should have it engraved upon the doorposts of their hearts still manage to forget that every news story should contain the Five Ws (and sometimes the H of "how"). As editor for a site for writers, I solicit announcements about events that have to do with writing. I am dismayed by the number of submissions I receive that leave out one of the five Ws. Kipling made it easy for us to remember:
For a club announcement, be sure that the five Ws provide enough information to enable a reader to make an decision. For example, the When should include not just the date, but the time of day. Readers will appreciate having an ending time as well as a beginning time, for example, "noon until 3 p.m." The Where may be familiar to the person writing the notice, but it may not be to the reader. If the place is a restaurant or a hall, it may be helpful to include an address, or directions for getting there. The Who needs to include more "who-ness" than just a name. If Who is a speaker, use an appropriate epithet: Forensics expert Max Lewis, Entomology professor Laurie Baxter, literary agent Maggie Smith. If the Who is an organization, don't expect the everyone to know that SCBWI stands for Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators. Spell it out at least once. The What, of course, is the event: a monthly meeting, the tour of a new library, an exhibit. The Why should give the reader an idea of why the event is worth attending: an opportunity to see a new facility, to learn about criminal investigation, to find out what an agent wants in a query letter. Next time you're asked to send a notice of an upcoming event to your local media, it may be a good idea to review the five Ws (and sometimes H) before submitting it. Oh, and one more thing that's not in Kipling's list: Be sure to include contact information. This may take the form of a name, telephone number, website, or email address at the end of the story.
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| You Can Buy Our Book On The Kindle Now Posted: 23 Sep 2010 05:40 AM PDT The Kindle fans out there can now buy our book on that platform. Just visit the official Amazon page, and you'll be able to purchase and download it immediately. If you end up buying we would appreciate if you could write a review on Amazon, as these help to give credibility to the book. You can also buy it as a PDF download if you prefer, by clicking here. How To Get Your Book on The KindleI was surprised regarding how easy it is to get a book for sale on the Kindle store. The process took literally five minutes, and after 24 hours of review period the book was already live and available for sale. One small problem I faced was to get the formating right though. Simply uploading a PDF document won't work. Luckily one of our readers, Ray Fowler, emailed us offering his services. He converted our PDF into the .mobi format used by the Kindle, and when I uploaded it to Amazon it worked like a charm. Ray told me he is willing to give a 10% discount to all DWT readers looking for eBook conversions, audio book productions and so on. Just check his services page for more details or to get in touch with him. It will be interesting to see how the Kindle sales compare with the standard PDF sales, so I'll probably write a post updating you guys soon.
Like this article? Then you'll love our book: 100 Writing Mistakes to Avoid. It lists 100 common spelling, punctuation, grammar and usage mistakes. You can buy it today with a 50% discount! Original Post: You Can Buy Our Book On The Kindle Now Your eBook: Click here to download the Basic English Grammar ebook. |
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