Blueprint for writing

Although there are no writing schools in Sri Lanka many of us want to write and sell our articles. Our magazine market is relatively small when compared to newspapers, In Fact, magazine and newspaper editors are constantly on the lookout for new writers.

The first hurdle a new writer has to overcome is finding a subject matter to write about. Apart from Fiction, you can try your hand at an instructional article of the do-it-yourself variety. Such articles have a ready market in women’s magazines.

On the other hand, you can write a travelogue after visiting an interesting place in Sri Lanka or abroad. Once I had the fortune in travelling on board “Nippon Maru” - a Japanese ship. Immediately after my trip I wrote “Fragrant memories of Nippon Maru” to a national daily.

There are exceptional people around us if you observe them carefully. Do you know that the oldest local politician is living in Matugama? The 96-old-vegetarian, teetotaller and non-smoker goes for a two-mile walk every day. He was interviewed by Lal Kannangara and the interview appeared in the Sunday Observer last week. Such celebrities very often cross our path. So be vigilant.

Real life offers more material for writing than fiction. Every individual is moulded in a different way. And every person might have a story to tell you.

Sometimes, you might give a lame excuse and say that you have no time to meet celebrities. Even then there are a host of other subjects you can write about.

If you look at your environment carefully, there is enough raw material for a feature. For instance, mounting garbage heaps are a big problem for many local government bodies. However, the chairman of the Bandaragama Pradesheeya Sabha is reported to have solved the garbage problem in his area. In fact, I hear that he is willing to buy garbage from neighbouring areas!

Another problem we are facing is the mosquito menace. Although journalists have written many articles on this subject, there are certain uncovered areas. An enterprising writer can find but the mating habits of the common mosquito and discuss the possible health hazards of mosquito coils.

In order to write an article to a magazine or newspaper, you do not have to be an expert. You can interview an expert and get his views on a given subject. Interviews are a good way of writing articles on a wide range of subjects. Interviews also help you to meet interesting people who have divergent views on different subjects. Those who interview such people and write readable articles are in great demand.

Apart from such interviews, you can turn to your life experience to produce many articles. Everybody, even a student, has some experience in life to write about. As a student I was thrilled to witness how a kattadiya (charmer) was trying to catch a thief by using a “kanappuva” (a three-legged stool).Kattadiya placed his forefinger on the kanappuva and two of his assistants helped it to “walk”! I was rather dismayed because the kanappuva did not walk on its own. What happened finally was an interesting episode.

The kanappuva “walked” and Finally stopped at a bystander- one of the most innocent villagers. Kattadiya caught him by the hand and handed him over to a mudalali (businessman) who hired him. If not for the timely intervention of a Buddhist monk, the innocent villager would have been beaten to a jelly by mudalali’s men.

Suppose you are an ordinary housewife leading a dull and battered life. You have raised two or three children and some of them are living happily abroad. Your husband is bed-ridden. You have no one to talk to except the grandchildren who might call from distant places. The experience you have had as a mother and housekeeper is unique and only you can write about it in an interesting way.

This is where writing experts come in to help you. They will show you how to find a different angle, a different slant or even a fresh approach to the story you are going to write. The University of Sri Jayawardenepura conducts a Diploma in creative writing in the Sinhala medium. However, those who wish to write in English have no such course to follow locally. Without the guidance of an expert the beginner can turn out many articles but he will not be able to sell them.

Before you write an article you have to do a sales survey. Those who keep on writing without doing a market research will find that their articles are never published in magazines or newspapers. Once a beginner wrote an article on how to make the best out of odd moments and sent it to a society magazine. It was not published because no market research had been done.

There is another matter that needs your attention. Some publications prefer to publish long stories with a few pictures or illustrations. On the other hand, some magazines use short texts with a lot of pictures. For instance, the “Filmfare” magazine is an example for the second category. It does not carry long stories because the emphasis is on glossy pictures of filmstars.

Unless you follow a course in writing and learn the basics, you can only collect more rejection slips than cheques. Those who ignore the rules of the game are simply putting the cart before the horse!

Those who do the market research First and then write their stories are on their way to success. Many people in their retirement feel that they can become freelance journalists overnight. When they find that their contributions are rejected they give up writing. What they should remember is that editors are not interested in their personal experiences or tutorials.

Those who wish to become writers should follow at least a short course in journalism. It is a skill without which you cannot write even that occasional one-off story. If you have learnt the proper skills, you might get commissions from editors to write stories. Such established freelance writers are not so rare in Sri Lanka.

Our magazine and newspaper market is relatively small compared to that of foreign countries. In a way, this is a blessing for the beginner. The first step in market research is to read all the magazines and newspapers published in the island. If you cannot afford to buy them read them at a public library.

Gradually you will find the magazine or newspaper to you liking, study what type of articles they carry and try to write similar stories. When once you establish yourself as a writer in your own country, it is quite easy to enter the foreign market.

Finally, never send hand-written manuscripts to a magazine or newspaper. Since we are living in the Digital Age, use modern techniques to present a neatly produced copy. The contents and the appearance of the manuscript are matters you cannot ignore.

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