Tag: getting it right

Getting it Right: The-Not-Always-So-Glamorous World of Advertising

Okay, I’ll admit it: I’m not perfect. I made a horticultural error in my first novel, which a reviewer and gardening enthusiast was kind enough to point out to me privately. Now I’m extra-careful about getting it right. And we want to help you get it right.

So let’s talk about the wonderful world of ad agencies.

I was seduced into the advertising business by certain popular entertainment that shall remain nameless. It sounded like the career would be creative, fun, glamorous, and judging by the lifestyles of those in that popular entertainment, extremely lucrative.

As Humphrey Bogart says in Casablanca, I was misinformed. Continue reading “Getting it Right: The-Not-Always-So-Glamorous World of Advertising”

Getting It Right: Hot Tubbing

The hot water nearly singed her skin as she submerged, completely naked. She protected her breasts from burning with her hands, slowly removing them after the water was over her chest. Yet it was soothing, and as the water came up to her chin she could feel herself melting and becoming one with it. The heat seeped into her body’s sculpted musculature. The sky, still clear, served as a deep black canvas for constellations, stars, planets and the haze of the Milky Way. One star, just above the tree line, glittered in red and blue hues. Kathrin rolled her head all the way around, then touched her chin to her chest. She let her head fall back on the cushion. With both the underwater light and the jets off, she let the sights and sounds of the night surround her. The babbling of the brook just below the house echoed off the trees, magnifying its steady rush into that of a stronger river. A night bird called out. An owl answered. Steam rose up from the tub. Continue reading “Getting It Right: Hot Tubbing”

Getting It Right: This Just In: Writing News Copy into Your Fiction, Part 2

Author Lynne Cantwell
Author Lynne Cantwell

Last time, we talked about writing print news stories – the kind you would find in your morning newspaper.  Today we’ll talk about how broadcast copy is different, and why.

Write for the ear:  I have a confession.  While I was writing my fake Sotheby’s story for the last installment, I was wincing.  No, actually, it was worse than that.  As I typed that hard news lede, every fiber of my being was screaming, “NONONONO!  This sentence is too damned LONG!”  That’s because, in broadcast news stories, the shorter your sentence is, the better.  Keep in mind that someone is supposed to be reading your words aloud.  If the sentence is too long, the news anchor will have to pause partway through it and take a breath – and guaranteed, he’ll breathe in the wrong place and screw up the flow.  So do yourself a favor and keep your sentences to between ten and 20 words.

You’re absolutely right – 20 words is not very many, and ten will hardly get you started (especially if you interview some self-important person whose title is five or six words long, but I digress).  That’s why you must stick to subject-verb-object sentence construction.  Any subordinate clause needs its own sentence. Continue reading “Getting It Right: This Just In: Writing News Copy into Your Fiction, Part 2”

Getting It Right: Stop the Presses: Writing News Copy into Your Fiction, Part 1

Author Lynne Cantwell
Author Lynne Cantwell

It happens sometimes: Your main character needs a vital piece of information that can only come from a third-party source. So you slip it into a newspaper story, or you put it into the mouth of a TV or radio reporter. There’s nothing wrong with that. But please note that writing credible journalistic prose means following some conventions – conventions that you would do well to follow, if you want to keep your journalist readers from howling, or sobbing brokenly, or reaching for the hooch. Or all three.

I worked as a broadcast journalist for 20 years, including a few years at the network level, before I quit the business and got a real job. I’ve distilled that experience into some pointers on how to make news stories in your novel more realistic.

Writing for broadcast is a little different from writing for print, but the principles behind both are the same. Let’s talk about those principles in the context of newspaper copy first. Continue reading “Getting It Right: Stop the Presses: Writing News Copy into Your Fiction, Part 1”