HOW TO WRITE SPECIAL FEATURE ARTICLES part 1

A handbook for reporters, correspondents and free-lance writers who desire to contribute to popular magazines and magazine sections of newspapers

BY WILLARD GROSVENOR BLEYER, PH.D.

PREFACE

This book is the result of twelve years' experience in teaching university students to write special feature articles for newspapers and popular magazines. By applying the methods outlined in the following pages, young men and women have been able to prepare articles that have been accepted by many newspaper and magazine editors. The success that these students have achieved leads the author to believe that others who desire to write special articles may be aided by the suggestions given in this book.

Although innumerable books on short-story writing have been published, no attempt has hitherto been made to discuss in detail the writing of special feature articles. In the absence of any generally accepted method of approach to the subject, it has been necessary to work out a systematic classification of the various types of articles and of the different kinds of titles, beginnings, and similar details, as well as to supply names by which to identify them.

A careful analysis of current practice in the writing of special feature stories and popular magazine articles is the basis of the methods presented. In this analysis an effort has been made to show the application of the principles of composition to the writing of articles. Examples taken from representative newspapers and magazines are freely used to illustrate the methods discussed. To encourage students to analyze typical articles, the second part of the book is devoted to a collection of newspaper and magazine articles of various types, with an outline for the analysis of them.

Particular emphasis is placed on methods of popularizing such knowledge as is not available to the general reader. This has been done in the belief that it is important for the average person to know of the progress that is being made in every field of human endeavor, in order that he may, if possible, apply the results to his own affairs. The problem, therefore, is to show aspiring writers how to present discoveries, inventions, new methods, and every significant advance in knowledge, in an accurate and attractive form.

To train students to write articles for newspapers and popular magazines may, perhaps, be regarded by some college instructors in composition as an undertaking scarcely worth their while. They would doubtless prefer to encourage their students to write what is commonly called "literature." The fact remains, nevertheless, that the average undergraduate cannot write anything that approximates literature, whereas experience has shown that many students can write acceptable popular articles. Moreover, since the overwhelming majority of Americans read only newspapers and magazines, it is by no means an unimportant task for our universities to train writers to supply the steady demand for well-written articles. The late Walter Hines Page, founder of the _World's Work_ and former editor of the _Atlantic Monthly_, presented the whole situation effectively in an article on "The Writer and the University," when he wrote:

The journeymen writers write almost all that almost all Americans read. This is a fact that we love to fool ourselves about. We talk about "literature" and we talk about "hack writers," implying that the reading that we do is of literature. The truth all the while is, we read little else than the writing of the hacks--living hacks, that is, men and women who write for pay. We may hug the notion that our life and thought are not really affected by current literature, that we read the living writers only for utilitarian reasons, and that our real intellectual life is fed by the great dead writers. But hugging this delusion does not change the fact that the intellectual life even of most educated persons, and certainly of the mass of the population, is fed chiefly by the writers of our own time....

Every editor of a magazine, every editor of an earnest and worthy newspaper, every publisher of books, has dozens or hundreds of important tasks for which he cannot find capable men; tasks that require scholarship, knowledge of science, or of politics, or of industry, or of literature, along with experience in writing accurately in the language of the people.

Special feature stories and popular magazine articles constitute a type of writing particularly adapted to the ability of the novice, who has developed some facility in writing, but who may not have sufficient maturity or talent to undertake successful short-story writing or other distinctly literary work. Most special articles cannot be regarded as literature. Nevertheless, they afford the young writer an opportunity to develop whatever ability he possesses. Such writing teaches him four things that are invaluable to any one who aspires to do literary work. It trains him to observe what is going on about him, to select what will interest the average reader, to organize material effectively, and to present it attractively. If this book helps the inexperienced writer, whether he is in or out of college, to acquire these four essential qualifications for success, it will have accomplished its purpose.

For permission to reprint complete articles, the author is indebted to the editors of:

The Boston Herald, The Christian Science Monitor, The Boston Evening Transcript, The New York Evening Post, The Detroit News, The Milwaukee Journal, The Kansas City Star, The New York Sun, The Providence Journal, The Ohio State Journal, The New York World, The Saturday Evening Post, The Independent, The Country Gentleman, The Outlook, McClure's Magazine, Everybody's Magazine, The Delineator, The Pictorial Review, Munsey's Magazine, The American Magazine, System, Farm and Fireside, The Woman's Home Companion, The Designer, and the Newspaper Enterprise Association. The author is also under obligation to the many newspapers and magazines from which excerpts, titles, and other material have been quoted.

At every stage in the preparation of this book the author has had the advantage of the coöperation and assistance of his wife, Alice Haskell Bleyer.

University of Wisconsin Madison, August, 1919

































CONTENTS

PART I

I. THE FIELD FOR SPECIAL ARTICLES
II. PREPARATION FOR SPECIAL FEATURE WRITING
III. FINDING SUBJECTS AND MATERIAL
IV. APPEAL AND PURPOSE
V. TYPES OF ARTICLES
VI. WRITING THE ARTICLE
VII. HOW TO BEGIN
VIII. STYLE
IX. TITLES AND HEADLINES
X. PREPARING AND SELLING THE MANUSCRIPT
XI. PHOTOGRAPHS AND OTHER ILLUSTRATIONS

PART II

AN OUTLINE FOR THE ANALYSIS OF SPECIAL FEATURE ARTICLES

Teach Children Love Of Art Through Story-Telling (Boston Herald)
Where Girls Learn To Wield Spade And Hoe (Christian Science Monitor)
Boys In Search Of Jobs (Boston Transcript)
Girls And A Camp (New York Evening Post)
Your Porter (Saturday Evening Post)
The Gentle Art Of Blowing Bottles (Independent)
The Neighborhood Playhouse (New York World)
The Singular Story Of The Mosquito Man (New York Evening Post)
A County Service Station (Country Gentleman)
Guarding A City's Water Supply (Detroit News)
The Occupation And Exercise Cure (Outlook)
The Brennan Mono-Rail Car (Mcclure's Magazine)
A New Political Wedge (Everybody's Magazine)
The Job Lady (Delineator)
Mark Twain's First Sweetheart (Kansas City Star)
Four Men Of Humble Birth Hold World Destiny In Their Hands (Milwaukee Journal)
The Confessions Of A College Professor's Wife (Saturday Evening Post)
A Paradise For A Penny (Boston Transcript)
Wanted: A Home Assistant (Pictorial Review)
Six Years Of Tea Rooms (New York Sun)
By Parcel Post (Country Gentleman)
Sales Without Salesmanship (Saturday Evening Post)
The Accident That Gave Us Wood-Pulp Paper (Munsey's Magazine)
Centennial Of The First Steamship To Cross The Atlantic (Providence Journal)
Searching For The Lost Atlantis (Syndicate Sunday Magazine Section)





















HOW TO WRITE SPECIAL FEATURE ARTICLES PART I

CHAPTER I - THE FIELD FOR SPECIAL ARTICLES


ORIGIN OF SPECIAL ARTICLES. The rise of popular magazines and of
magazine sections of daily newspapers during the last thirty years has
resulted in a type of writing known as the "special feature article."
Such articles, presenting interesting and timely subjects in popular
form, are designed to attract a class of readers that were not reached
by the older literary periodicals. Editors of newspapers and magazines a
generation ago began to realize that there was no lack of interest on
the part of the general public in scientific discoveries and inventions,
in significant political and social movements, in important persons and
events. Magazine articles on these themes, however, had usually been
written by specialists who, as a rule, did not attempt to appeal to the
"man in the street," but were satisfied to reach a limited circle of
well-educated readers.

To create a larger magazine-reading public, editors undertook to develop
a popular form and style that would furnish information as attractively
as possible. The perennial appeal of fiction gave them a suggestion for
the popularization of facts. The methods of the short story, of the
drama, and even of the melodrama, applied to the presentation of general
information, provided a means for catching the attention of the casual
reader.

Daily newspapers had already discovered the advantage of giving the
day's news in a form that could be read rapidly with the maximum degree
of interest by the average man and woman. Certain so-called sensational
papers had gone a step further in these attempts to give added
attractiveness to news and had emphasized its melodramatic aspects.
Other papers had seen the value of the "human interest" phases of the
day's happenings. It was not surprising, therefore, that Sunday editors
of newspapers should undertake to apply to special articles the same
methods that had proved successful in the treatment of news.

The product of these efforts at popularization was the special feature
article, with its story-like form, its touches of description, its
"human interest," its dramatic situations, its character portrayal--all
effectively used to furnish information and entertainment for that rapid
reader, the "average American."

DEFINITION OF A SPECIAL ARTICLE. A special feature article may be
defined as a detailed presentation of facts in an interesting form
adapted to rapid reading, for the purpose of entertaining or informing
the average person. It usually deals with (1) recent news that is of
sufficient importance to warrant elaboration; (2) timely or seasonal
topics not directly connected with news; or (3) subjects of general
interest that have no immediate connection with current events.

Although frequently concerned with news, the special feature article is
more than a mere news story. It aims to supplement the bare facts of the
news report by giving more detailed information regarding the persons,
places, and circumstances that appear in the news columns. News must be
published as fast as it develops, with only enough explanatory material
to make it intelligible. The special article, written with the
perspective afforded by an interval of a few days or weeks, fills in the
bare outlines of the hurried news sketch with the life and color that
make the picture complete.

The special feature article must not be confused with the type of news
story called the "feature," or "human interest," story. The latter
undertakes to present minor incidents of the day's news in an
entertaining form. Like the important news story, it is published
immediately after the incident occurs. Its purpose is to appeal to
newspaper readers by bringing out the humorous and pathetic phases of
events that have little real news value. It exemplifies, therefore,
merely one distinctive form of news report.

The special feature article differs from the older type of magazine
article, not so much in subject as in form and style. The most marked
difference lies in the fact that it supplements the recognized methods
of literary and scientific exposition with the more striking devices of
narrative, descriptive, and dramatic writing.

SCOPE OF FEATURE ARTICLES. The range of subjects for special
articles is as wide as human knowledge and experience. Any theme is
suitable that can be made interesting to a considerable number of
persons. A given topic may make either a local or a general appeal. If
interest in it is likely to be limited to persons in the immediate
vicinity of the place with which the subject is connected, the article
is best adapted to publication in a local newspaper. If the theme is one
that appeals to a larger public, the article is adapted to a periodical
of general circulation. Often local material has interest for persons in
many other communities, and hence is suitable either for newspapers or
for magazines.

Some subjects have a peculiar appeal to persons engaged in a particular
occupation or devoted to a particular avocation or amusement. Special
articles on these subjects of limited appeal are adapted to
agricultural, trade, or other class publications, particularly to such
of these periodicals as present their material in a popular rather than
a technical manner.

THE NEWSPAPER FIELD. Because of their number and their local
character, daily newspapers afford a ready medium for the publication of
special articles, or "special feature stories," as they are generally
called in newspaper offices. Some newspapers publish these articles from
day to day on the editorial page or in other parts of the paper. Many
more papers have magazine sections on Saturday or Sunday made up
largely of such "stories." Some of these special sections closely
resemble regular magazines in form, cover, and general make-up.

The articles published in newspapers come from three sources: (1)
syndicates that furnish a number of newspapers in different cities with
special articles, illustrations, and other matter, for simultaneous
publication; (2) members of the newspaper's staff; that is, reporters,
correspondents, editors, or special writers employed for the purpose;
(3) so-called "free-lance" writers, professional or amateur, who submit
their "stories" to the editor of the magazine section.

Reporters, correspondents, and other regular members of the staff may be
assigned to write special feature stories, or may prepare such stories
on their own initiative for submission to the editor of the magazine
section. In many offices regular members of the staff are paid for
special feature stories in addition to their salaries, especially when
the subjects are not assigned to them and when the stories are prepared
in the writer's own leisure time. Other papers expect their regular
staff members to furnish the paper with whatever articles they may
write, as a part of the work covered by their salary. If a paper has one
or more special feature writers on its staff, it may pay them a fixed
salary or may employ them "on space"; that is, pay them at a fixed
"space rate" for the number of columns that an article fills when
printed.

Newspaper correspondents, who are usually paid at space rates for news
stories, may add to their monthly "string," or amount of space, by
submitting special feature articles in addition to news. They may also
submit articles to other papers that do not compete with their own
paper. Ordinarily a newspaper expects a correspondent to give it the
opportunity of printing any special feature stories that he may write.

Free-lance writers, who are not regularly employed by newspapers or
magazines as staff members, submit articles for the editor's
consideration and are paid at space rates. Sometimes a free lance will
outline an article in a letter or in personal conference with an editor
in order to get his approval before writing it, but, unless the editor
knows the writer's work, he is not likely to promise to accept the
completed article. To the writer there is an obvious advantage in
knowing that the subject as he outlines it is or is not an acceptable
one. If an editor likes the work of a free lance, he may suggest
subjects for articles, or may even ask him to prepare an article on a
given subject. Freelance writers, by selling their work at space rates,
can often make more money than they would receive as regular members of
a newspaper staff.

For the amateur the newspaper offers an excellent field. First, in every
city of any size there is at least one daily newspaper, and almost all
these papers publish special feature stories. Second, feature articles
on local topics, the material for which is right at the amateur's hand,
are sought by most newspapers. Third, newspaper editors are generally
less critical of form and style than are magazine editors. With some
practice an inexperienced writer may acquire sufficient skill to prepare
an acceptable special feature story for publication in a local paper,
and even if he is paid little or nothing for it, he will gain experience
from seeing his work in print.

The space rate paid for feature articles is usually proportionate to the
size of the city in which the newspaper is published. In small cities
papers seldom pay more than $1 a column; in larger places the rate is
about $3 a column; in still larger ones, $5; and in the largest, from $8
to $10. In general the column rate for special feature stories is the
same as that paid for news stories.

WHAT NEWSPAPERS WANT. Since timeliness is the keynote of the newspaper,
current topics, either growing out of the news of the week or
anticipating coming events, furnish the subjects for most special
feature stories. The news columns from day to day provide room for only
concise announcements of such news as a scientific discovery, an
invention, the death of an interesting person, a report on social or
industrial conditions, proposed legislation, the razing of a landmark,
or the dedication of a new building. Such news often arouses the
reader's curiosity to know more of the persons, places, and
circumstances mentioned. In an effort to satisfy this curiosity, editors
of magazine sections print special feature stories based on news.

By anticipating approaching events, an editor is able to supply articles
that are timely for a particular issue of his paper. Two classes of
subjects that he usually looks forward to in this way are: first, those
concerned with local, state, and national anniversaries; and second,
those growing out of seasonal occasions, such as holidays, vacations,
the opening of schools and colleges, moving days, commencements, the
opening of hunting and fishing seasons.

The general policy of a newspaper with regard to special feature stories
is the same as its policy concerning news. Both are determined by the
character of its circulation. A paper that is read largely by business
and professional men provides news and special articles that satisfy
such readers. A paper that aims to reach the so-called masses naturally
selects news and features that will appeal to them. If a newspaper has a
considerable circulation outside the city where it is published, the
editors, in framing their policy, cannot afford to overlook their
suburban and rural readers. The character of its readers, in a word,
determines the character of a paper's special feature stories.

The newspaper is primarily local in character. A city, a state, or at
most a comparatively small section of the whole country, is its
particular field. Besides the news of its locality, it must, of course,
give significant news of the world at large. So, too, in addition to
local feature articles, it should furnish special feature stories of a
broader scope. This distinctively local character of newspapers
differentiates them from magazines of national circulation in the matter
of acceptable subjects for special articles.

The frequency of publication of newspapers, as well as their ephemeral
character, leads, in many instances, to the choice of comparatively
trivial topics for some articles. Merely to give readers entertaining
matter with which to occupy their leisure at the end of a day's work or
on Sunday, some papers print special feature stories on topics of little
or no importance, often written in a light vein. Articles with no more
serious purpose than that of helping readers to while away a few spare
moments are obviously better adapted to newspapers, which are read
rapidly and immediately cast aside, than to periodicals.

The sensationalism that characterizes the policy of some newspapers
affects alike their news columns and their magazine sections. Gossip,
scandal, and crime lend themselves to melodramatic treatment as readily
in special feature articles as in news stories. On the other hand, the
relatively few magazines that undertake to attract readers by
sensationalism, usually do so by means of short stories and serials
rather than by special articles.

All newspapers, in short, use special feature stories on local topics,
some papers print trivial ones, and others "play up" sensational
material; whereas practically no magazine publishes articles of these
types.

SUNDAY MAGAZINE SECTIONS. The character and scope of special articles
for the Sunday magazine section of newspapers have been well summarized
by two well-known editors of such sections. Mr. John O'Hara Cosgrove,
editor of the _New York Sunday World Magazine_, and formerly editor of
_Everybody's Magazine_, gives this as his conception of the ideal Sunday
magazine section:

The real function of the Sunday Magazine, to my thinking, is to
present the color and romance of the news, the most authoritative
opinions on the issues and events of the day, and to chronicle
promptly the developments of science as applied to daily life. In
the grind of human intercourse all manner of curious, heroic,
delightful things turn up, and for the most part, are dismissed in a
passing note. Behind every such episode are human beings and a
story, and these, if fairly and artfully explained, are the very
stuff of romance. Into every great city men are drifting daily from
the strange and remote places of the world where they have survived
perilous hazards and seen rare spectacles. Such adventures are the
treasure troves of the skilful reporter. The cross currents and
reactions that lead up to any explosion of greed or passion that we
call crime are often worth following, not only for their plots, but
as proofs of the pain and terror of transgression. Brave deeds or
heroic resistances are all too seldom presented in full length in
the news, and generously portrayed prove the nobility inherent in
every-day life.

The broad domain of the Sunday magazine editor covers all that may
be rare and curious or novel in the arts and sciences, in music and
verse, in religion and the occult, on the stage and in sport.
Achievements and controversies are ever culminating in these diverse
fields, and the men and women actors therein make admirable subjects
for his pages. Provided the editor has at his disposal skilled
writers who have the fine arts of vivid and simple exposition and of
the brief personal sketch, there is nothing of human interest that
may not be presented.

The ideal Sunday magazine, as Mr. Frederick Boyd Stevenson, Sunday
editor of the _Brooklyn Eagle_, sees it, he describes thus:

The new Sunday magazine of the newspaper bids fair to be a crisp,
sensible review and critique of the live world. It has developed a
special line of writers who have learned that a character sketch and
interview of a man makes you "see" the man face to face and talk
with him yourself. If he has done anything that gives him a place in
the news of to-day, he is presented to you. You know the man.

It seems to me that the leading feature of the Sunday magazine
should be the biggest topic that will be before the public on the
Sunday that the newspaper is printed. It should be written by one
who thoroughly knows his subject, who is forceful in style and
fluent in words, who can make a picture that his readers can see,
and seeing, realize. So every other feature of the Sunday magazine
should have points of human interest, either by contact with the
news of the day or with men and women who are doing something
besides getting divorces and creating scandals.

I firmly believe that the coming Sunday magazine will contain
articles of information without being dull or encyclopædic, articles
of adventure that are real and timely, articles of scientific
discoveries that are authentic, interviews with men and women who
have messages, and interpretations of news and analyses of every-day
themes, together with sketches, poems, and essays that are not
tedious, but have a reason for being printed.

THE MAGAZINE FIELD. The great majority of magazines differ from all
newspapers in one important respect--extent of circulation. Popular
magazines have a nation-wide distribution. It is only among agricultural
and trade journals that we find a distinctly sectional circulation. Some
of these publications serve subscribers in only one state or section,
and others issue separate state or sectional editions. The best basis of
differentiation among magazines, then, is not the extent of circulation
but the class of readers appealed to, regardless of the part of the
country in which the readers live. The popular general magazine, monthly
or weekly, aims to attract readers of all classes in all parts of the
United States.

HOW MAGAZINES GET MATERIAL. Magazine articles come from (1) regular
members of the magazine's staff, (2) professional or amateur free-lance
writers, (3) specialists who write as an avocation, and (4) readers of
the periodical who send in material based on their own experience.

The so-called "staff system" of magazine editing, in accordance with
which practically all the articles are prepared by writers regularly
employed by the publication, has been adopted by a few general magazines
and by a number of class periodicals. The staff is recruited from
writers and editors on newspapers and other magazines. Its members often
perform various editorial duties in addition to writing articles.
Publications edited in this way buy few if any articles from outsiders.

Magazines that do not follow the staff system depend largely or entirely
on contributors. Every editor daily receives many manuscripts submitted
by writers on their own initiative. From these he selects the material
best adapted to his publication. Experienced writers often submit an
outline of an article to a magazine editor for his approval before
preparing the material for publication. Free-lance writers of reputation
may be asked by magazine editors to prepare articles on given subjects.

In addition to material obtained in these ways, articles may be secured
from specialists who write as an avocation. An editor generally decides
on the subject that he thinks will interest his readers at a given time
and then selects the authority best fitted to treat it in a popular way.
To induce well-known men to prepare such articles, an editor generally
offers them more than he normally pays.

A periodical may encourage its readers to send in short articles giving
their own experiences and explaining how to do something in which they
have become skilled. These personal experience articles have a reality
and "human interest" that make them eminently readable. To obtain them
magazines sometimes offer prizes for the best, reserving the privilege
of publishing acceptable articles that do not win an award. Aspiring
writers should take advantage of these prize contests as a possible
means of getting both publication and money for their work.

OPPORTUNITIES FOR UNKNOWN WRITERS. The belief is common among novices
that because they are unknown their work is likely to receive little or
no consideration from editors. As a matter of fact, in the majority of
newspaper and magazine offices all unsolicited manuscripts are
considered strictly on their merits. The unknown writer has as good a
chance as anybody of having his manuscript accepted, provided that his
work has merit comparable with that of more experienced writers.

With the exception of certain newspapers that depend entirely on
syndicates for their special features, and of a few popular magazines
that have the staff system or that desire only the work of well-known
writers, every publication welcomes special articles and short stories
by novices. Moreover, editors take pride in the fact that from time to
time they "discover" writers whose work later proves popular. They not
infrequently tell how they accepted a short story, an article, or some
verse by an author of whom they had never before heard, because they
were impressed with the quality of it, and how the verdict of their
readers confirmed their own judgment.

The relatively small number of amateurs who undertake special articles,
compared with the hundreds of thousands who try their hand at short
stories, makes the opportunities for special feature writers all the
greater. Then, too, the number of professional writers of special
articles is comparatively small. This is particularly true of writers
who are able effectively to popularize scientific and technical
material, as well as of those who can present in popular form the
results of social and economic investigations.

It is not too much to say, therefore, that any writer who is willing (1)
to study the interests and the needs of newspaper and magazine readers,
(2) to gather carefully the material for his articles, and (3) to
present it accurately and attractively, may be sure that his work will
receive the fullest consideration in almost every newspaper and magazine
office in the country, and will be accepted whenever it is found to
merit publication.

WOMEN AS FEATURE WRITERS. Since the essential qualifications just
enumerated are not limited to men, women are quite as well fitted to
write special feature and magazine articles as are their brothers in the
craft. In fact, woman's quicker sympathies and readier emotional
response to many phases of life give her a distinct advantage. Her
insight into the lives of others, and her intuitive understanding of
them, especially fit her to write good "human interest" articles. Both
the delicacy of touch and the chatty, personal tone that characterize
the work of many young women, are well suited to numerous topics.

In some fields, such as cooking, sewing, teaching, the care of children,
and household management, woman's greater knowledge and understanding of
conditions furnish her with topics that are vital to other women and
often not uninteresting to men. The entry of women into occupations
hitherto open only to men is bringing new experiences to many women, and
is furnishing women writers with additional fields from which to draw
subjects and material. Ever since the beginning of popular magazines and
of special feature writing for newspapers, women writers have proved
their ability, but at no time have the opportunities for them been
greater than at present.




CHAPTER II

PREPARATION FOR SPECIAL FEATURE WRITING


QUALIFICATIONS FOR FEATURE WRITING. To attain success as a writer of
special feature articles a person must possess at least four
qualifications: (1) ability to find subjects that will interest the
average man and woman, and to see the picturesque, romantic, and
significant phases of these subjects; (2) a sympathetic understanding of
the lives and interests of the persons about whom and for whom he
writes; (3) thoroughness and accuracy in gathering material; (4) skill
to portray and to explain clearly, accurately, and attractively.

The much vaunted sense of news values commonly called a "nose for news,"
whether innate or acquired, is a prime requisite. Like the newspaper
reporter, the writer of special articles must be able to recognize what
at a given moment will interest the average reader. Like the reporter,
also, he must know how much it will interest him. An alert, responsive
attitude of mind toward everything that is going on in the world, and
especially in that part of the world immediately around him, will reveal
a host of subjects. By reading newspapers, magazines, and books, as well
as by intercourse with persons of various classes, a writer keeps in
contact with what people are thinking and talking about, in the world at
large and in his own community. In this way he finds subjects and also
learns how to connect his subjects with events and movements of interest
the country over.

Not only should he be quick to recognize a good subject; he must be able
to see the attractive and significant aspects of it. He must understand
which of its phases touch most closely the life and the interests of the
average person for whom he is writing. He must look at things from "the
other fellow's" point of view. A sympathetic insight into the lives of
his readers is necessary for every writer who hopes to quicken his
subject with vital interest.

The alert mental attitude that constantly focuses the writer's attention
on the men and women around him has been called "human curiosity," which
Arnold Bennett says "counts among the highest social virtues (as
indifference counts among the basest defects), because it leads to the
disclosure of the causes of character and temperament and thereby to a
better understanding of the springs of human conduct." The importance of
curiosity and of a keen sense of wonder has been emphasized as follows
by Mr. John M. Siddall, editor of the _American Magazine_, who directed
his advice to college students interested in the opportunities afforded
by writing as a profession:

A journalist or writer must have consuming curiosity about other
human beings--the most intense interest in their doings and motives
and thoughts. It comes pretty near being the truth to say that a
great journalist is a super-gossip--not about trivial things but
about important things. Unless a man has a ceaseless desire to learn
what is going on in the heads of others, he won't be much of a
journalist--for how can you write about others unless you know about
others?

In journalism men are needed who have a natural sense of wonder....
You must wonder at man's achievements, at man's stupidity, at his
honesty, crookedness, courage, cowardice--at everything that is
remarkable about him wherever and whenever it appears. If you
haven't this sense of wonder, you will never write a novel or become
a great reporter, because you simply won't see anything to write
about. Men will be doing amazing things under your very eyes--and
you won't even know it.

Ability to investigate a subject thoroughly, and to gather material
accurately, is absolutely necessary for any writer who aims to do
acceptable work. Careless, inaccurate writers are the bane of the
magazine editor's life. Whenever mistakes appear in an article, readers
are sure to write to the editor calling his attention to them. Moreover,
the discovery of incorrect statements impairs the confidence of readers
in the magazine. If there is reason to doubt the correctness of any data
in an article, the editor takes pains to check over the facts carefully
before publication. He is not inclined to accept work a second time from
a writer who has once proved unreliable.

To interpret correctly the essential significance of data is as
important as to record them accurately. Readers want to know the meaning
of facts and figures, and it is the writer's mission to bring out this
meaning. A sympathetic understanding of the persons who figure in his
article is essential, not only to portray them accurately, but to give
his story the necessary "human interest." To observe accurately, to feel
keenly, and to interpret sympathetically and correctly whatever he
undertakes to write about, should be a writer's constant aim.

Ability to write well enough to make the average person see as clearly,
feel as keenly, and understand as well as he does himself the persons
and things that he is portraying and explaining, is obviously the _sine
qua non_ of success. Ease, fluency, and originality of diction, either
natural or acquired, the writer must possess if his work is to have
distinction.

TRAINING FOR FEATURE WRITING. The ideal preparation for a writer of
special articles would include a four-year college course, at least a
year's work as a newspaper reporter, and practical experience in some
other occupation or profession in which the writer intends to specialize
in his writing. Although not all persons who desire to do special
feature work will be able to prepare themselves in this way, most of
them can obtain some part of this preliminary training.

A college course, although not absolutely essential for success, is
generally recognized to be of great value as a preparation for writing.
College training aims to develop the student's ability to observe
accurately, to think logically, and to express his ideas clearly and
effectively--all of which is vital to good special feature writing. In
addition, such a course gives a student a knowledge of many subjects
that he will find useful for his articles. A liberal education furnishes
a background that is invaluable for all kinds of literary work.
Universities also offer excellent opportunities for specialization.
Intensive study in some one field of knowledge, such as agriculture,
banking and finance, home economics, public health, social service,
government and politics, or one of the physical sciences, makes it
possible for a writer to specialize in his articles. In choosing a
department in which to do special work in college, a student may be
guided by his own tastes and interests, or he may select some field in
which there is considerable demand for well trained writers. The man or
woman with a specialty has a superior equipment for writing.

With the development of courses in journalism in many colleges and
universities has come the opportunity to obtain instruction and
practice, not only in the writing of special feature and magazine
articles, but also in newspaper reporting, editing, and short story
writing. To write constantly under guidance and criticism, such as it is
impossible to secure in newspaper and magazine offices, will develop
whatever ability a student possesses.

Experience as a newspaper reporter supplements college training in
journalism and is the best substitute for college work generally
available to persons who cannot go to college. For any one who aspires
to write, reporting has several distinct advantages and some dangers.

The requirement that news be printed at the earliest possible moment
teaches newspaper workers to collect facts and opinions quickly and to
write them up rapidly under pressure. Newspaper work also develops a
writer's appreciation of what constitutes news and what determines news
values; that is, it helps him to recognize at once, not only what
interests the average reader, but how much it interests him. Then, too,
in the course of his round of news gathering a reporter sees more of
human life under a variety of circumstances than do workers in any other
occupation. Such experience not only supplies him with an abundance of
material, but gives him a better understanding and a more sympathetic
appreciation of the life of all classes.

To get the most out of his reporting, a writer must guard against two
dangers. One is the temptation to be satisfied with superficial work
hastily done. The necessity of writing rapidly under pressure and of
constantly handling similar material, encourages neglect of the niceties
of structure and of style. In the rush of rapid writing, the importance
of care in the choice of words and in the arrangement of phrases and
clauses is easily forgotten. Even though well-edited newspapers insist
on the highest possible degree of accuracy in presenting news, the
exigencies of newspaper publishing often make it impossible to verify
facts or to attain absolute accuracy. Consequently a reporter may drop
into the habit of being satisfied with less thorough methods of
collecting and presenting his material than are demanded by the higher
standards of magazine writing.

The second danger is that he may unconsciously permit a more or less
cynical attitude to replace the healthy, optimistic outlook with which
he began his work. With the seamy side of life constantly before him, he
may find that his faith in human nature is being undermined. If,
however, he loses his idealism, he cannot hope to give his articles that
sincerity, hopefulness, and constructive spirit demanded by the average
reader, who, on the whole, retains his belief that truth and
righteousness prevail.

Of the relation of newspaper reporting to the writing of magazine
articles and to magazine editing, Mr. Howard Wheeler, editor of
Everybody's Magazine, has said:

It is the trained newspaper men that the big periodical publishers
are reaching out for. The man who has been through the newspaper
mill seems to have a distinct edge on the man who enters the field
without any newspaper training.

The nose for news, the ability to select and play up leads, the feel
of what is of immediate public interest is just as important in
magazine work as in newspaper work.

Fundamentally the purpose of a magazine article is the same as the
purpose of a newspaper story--to tell a tale, to tell it directly,
convincingly, and interestingly.

Practical experience in the field of his specialty is of advantage in
familiarizing a writer with the actual conditions about which he is
preparing himself to write. To engage for some time in farming,
railroading, household management, or any other occupation, equips a
person to write more intelligently about it. Such practical experience
either supplements college training in a special field, or serves as the
best substitute for such specialized education.

WHAT EDITORS WANT. All the requirements for success in special
feature writing may be reduced to the trite dictum that editors want
what they believe their readers want. Although a commonplace, it
expresses a point of view that aspiring writers are apt to forget. From
a purely commercial standpoint, editors are middlemen who buy from
producers what they believe they can sell to their customers. Unless an
editor satisfies his readers with his articles, they will cease to buy
his publication. If his literary wares are not what his readers want, he
finds on the newsstands unsold piles of his publication, just as a
grocer finds on his shelves faded packages of an unpopular breakfast
food. Both editor and grocer undertake to buy from the producers what
will have a ready sale and will satisfy their customers.

The writer, then, as the producer, must furnish wares that will attract
and satisfy the readers of the periodical to which he desires to sell
his product. It is the ultimate consumer, not merely the editor, that he
must keep in mind in selecting his material and in writing his article.
"Will the reader like this?" is the question that he must ask himself at
every stage of his work. Unless he can convince himself that the average
person who reads the periodical to which he proposes to submit his
article will like what he is writing, he cannot hope to sell it to the
editor.

UNDERSTANDING THE READER. Instead of thinking of readers as a more or
less indefinite mass, the writer will find it advantageous to picture to
himself real persons who may be taken as typical readers. It is very
easy for an author to think that what interests him and his immediate
circle will appeal equally to people in general. To write successfully,
however, for the Sunday magazine of a newspaper, it is necessary to keep
in mind the butcher, the baker, and--if not the candlestick-maker, at
least the stenographer and the department store clerk--as well as the
doctor, lawyer, merchant, and chief. What is true of the Sunday
newspaper is true of the popular magazine.

The most successful publisher in this country attributes the success of
his periodical to the fact that he kept before his mind's eye, as a
type, a family of his acquaintance in a Middle-Western town of fifteen
hundred inhabitants, and shaped the policy of his publication to meet
the needs and interests of all its members. An editor who desired to
reach such a family would be immeasurably helped in selecting his
material by trying constantly to judge from their point of view whatever
passed through his hands. It is equally true that a writer desiring to
gain admittance to that magazine, or to others making the same appeal,
would greatly profit by visualizing as vividly as possible a similar
family. Every successful writer, consciously or unconsciously, thus
pictures his readers to himself.

If, for example, an author is preparing an article for an agricultural
journal, he must have in his mind's eye an average farmer and this
farmer's family. Not only must he see them in their surroundings; he
must try to see life from their point of view. The attitude of the
typical city man toward the farm and country life is very different from
that of the countryman. Lack of sympathy and insight is a fatal defect
in many an article intended by the writer for farm readers.

Whatever the publication to which an author desires to contribute, he
should consider first, last, and all the time, its readers--their
surroundings, their education, their income, their ambitions, their
amusements, their prejudices--in short, he must see them as they really
are.

The necessity of understanding the reader and his point of view has been
well brought out by Mr. John M. Siddall, editor of the _American
Magazine_, in the following excerpt from an editorial in that
periodical:

The man who refuses to use his imagination to enable him to look at
things from the other fellow's point of view simply cannot exercise
wide influence. He cannot reach people.

Underneath it, somehow, lies a great law, the law of service. You
can't expect to attract people unless you do something for them. The
business man who has something to sell must have something useful to
sell, and he must talk about it from the point of view of the people
to whom he wants to sell his goods. In the same way, the journalist,
the preacher, and the politician must look at things from the point
of view of those they would reach. They must feel the needs of
others and then reach out and meet those needs. They can never have
a large following unless they give something. The same law runs into
the human relation. How we abhor the man who talks only about
himself--the man who never inquires about _our_ troubles, _our_
problems; the man who never puts himself in _our_ place, but
unimaginatively and unsympathetically goes on and on, egotistically
hammering away on the only subject that interests him--namely
_himself_.

STUDYING NEWSPAPERS AND MAGAZINES. Since every successful publication
may be assumed to be satisfying its readers to a considerable degree,
the best way to determine what kind of readers it has, and what they are
interested in, is to study the contents carefully. No writer should send
an article to a publication before he has examined critically several of
its latest issues. In fact, no writer should prepare an article before
deciding to just what periodical he wishes to submit it. The more
familiar he is with the periodical the better are his chances of having
his contribution accepted.

In analyzing a newspaper or magazine in order to determine the type of
reader to which it appeals, the writer should consider the character of
the subjects in its recent issues, and the point of view from which
these subjects are presented. Every successful periodical has a distinct
individuality, which may be regarded as an expression of the editor's
idea of what his readers expect of his publication. To become a
successful contributor to a periodical, a writer must catch the spirit
that pervades its fiction and its editorials, as well as its special
articles.

In his effort to determine the kind of topics preferred by a given
publication, a writer may at first glance decide that timeliness is the
one element that dominates their choice, but a closer examination of the
articles in one or more issues will reveal a more specific basis of
selection. Thus, one Sunday paper will be found to contain articles on
the latest political, sociological, and literary topics, while another
deals almost exclusively with society leaders, actors and actresses, and
other men and women whose recent experiences or adventures have brought
them into prominence.

It is of even greater value to find out by careful reading of the entire
contents of several numbers of a periodical, the exact point of view
from which the material is treated. Every editor aims to present the
contents of his publication in the way that will make the strongest
appeal to his readers. This point of view it is the writer's business to
discover and adopt.

ANALYSIS OF SPECIAL ARTICLES. An inexperienced writer who desires to
submit special feature stories to newspapers should begin by analyzing
thoroughly the stories of this type in the daily papers published in his
own section of the country. Usually in the Saturday or Sunday issues he
will find typical articles on topics connected with the city and with
the state or states in which the paper circulates. The advantage of
beginning his study of newspaper stories with those published in papers
near his home lies in the fact that he is familiar with the interests of
the readers of these papers and can readily understand their point of
view. By noting the subjects, the point of view, the form, the style,
the length, and the illustrations, he will soon discover what these
papers want, or rather, what the readers of these papers want. The
"Outline for the Analysis of Special Articles" in Part II will indicate
the points to keep in mind in studying these articles.

In order to get a broader knowledge of the scope and character of
special feature stories, a writer may well extend his studies to the
magazine sections of the leading papers of the country. From the work of
the most experienced and original of the feature writers, which is
generally to be found in these metropolitan papers, the novice will
derive no little inspiration as well as a valuable knowledge of
technique.

The methods suggested for analyzing special feature stories in
newspapers are applicable also to the study of magazine articles.
Magazines afford a better opportunity than do newspapers for an analysis
of the different types of articles discussed in Chapter V. Since
magazine articles are usually signed, it is possible to seek out and
study the work of various successful authors in order to determine
wherein lies the effectiveness of their writing. Beginning with the
popular weekly and monthly magazines, a writer may well extend his study
to those periodicals that appeal to particular classes, such as women's
magazines, agricultural journals, and trade publications.

IDEALS IN FEATURE WRITING. After thoughtful analysis of special articles
in all kinds of newspapers and magazines, the young writer with a
critical sense developed by reading English literature may come to feel
that much of the writing in periodicals falls far short of the standards
of excellence established by the best authors. Because he finds that the
average uncritical reader not only accepts commonplace work but is
apparently attracted by meretricious devices in writing, he may conclude
that high literary standards are not essential to popular success. The
temptation undoubtedly is great both for editors and writers to supply
articles that are no better than the average reader demands, especially
in such ephemeral publications as newspapers and popular magazines.
Nevertheless, the writer who yields to this temptation is sure to
produce only mediocre work. If he is satisfied to write articles that
will be characterized merely as "acceptable," he will never attain
distinction.

The special feature writer owes it both to himself and to his readers to
do the best work of which he is capable. It is his privilege not only to
inform and to entertain the public, but to create better taste and a
keener appreciation of good writing. That readers do not demand better
writing in their newspapers and magazines does not mean that they are
unappreciative of good work. Nor do originality and precision in style
necessarily "go over the heads" of the average person. Whenever writers
and editors give the public something no better than it is willing to
accept, they neglect a great opportunity to aid in the development of
better literary taste, particularly on the part of the public whose
reading is largely confined to newspapers and periodicals.

Because of the commercial value of satisfying his readers, an editor
occasionally assumes that he must give all of them whatever some of them
crave. "We are only giving the public what it wants," is his excuse for
printing fiction and articles that are obviously demoralizing in their
effect. A heterogeneous public inevitably includes a considerable number
of individuals who are attracted by a suggestive treatment of morbid
phases of life. To cater to the low desires of some readers, on the
ground of "giving the public what it wants," will always be regarded by
self-respecting editors and authors as indefensible.

The writer's opportunity to influence the mental, moral, and æsthetic
ideals of hundreds of thousands of readers is much greater than he often
realizes. When he considers the extent to which most men and women are
unconsciously guided in their ideas and aspirations by what they read in
newspapers and magazines, he cannot fail to appreciate his
responsibility. Grasping the full significance of his special feature
writing, he will no longer be content to write just well enough to sell
his product, but will determine to devote his effort to producing
articles that are the best of which he is capable.




CHAPTER III

FINDING SUBJECTS AND MATERIAL


SOURCES OF SUBJECTS. "What shall I write about?" is the first question
that inexperienced writers ask their literary advisers. "If you haven't
anything to write about, why write at all?" might be an easy answer.
Most persons, as a matter of fact, have plenty to write about but do not
realize it. Not lack of subjects, but inability to recognize the
possibilities of what lies at hand, is their real difficulty.

The best method of finding subjects is to look at every person, every
event, every experience--in short, at everything--with a view to seeing
whether or not it has possibilities for a special feature article. Even
in the apparently prosaic round of everyday life will be found a variety
of themes. A circular letter from a business firm announcing a new
policy, a classified advertisement in a newspaper, the complaint of a
scrub-woman, a new variety of fruit in the grocer's window, an increase
in the price of laundry work, a hurried luncheon at a cafeteria--any of
the hundred and one daily experiences may suggest a "live" topic for an
article.

"Every foot of ground is five feet deep with subjects; all you have to
do is to scratch the surface for one," declared the editor of a popular
magazine who is also a successful writer of special articles. This
statement may be taken as literally true. Within the narrow confines of
one's house and yard, for instance, are many topics. A year's experience
with the family budget, a home-made device, an attempt to solve the
servant problem, a method of making pin-money, a practical means of
economizing in household management, are forms of personal experience
that may be made interesting to newspaper and magazine readers. A garden
on a city lot, a poultry house in a back yard, a novel form of garage,
a new use for a gasoline engine, a labor-saving device on the farm, may
afford equally good topics. One's own experience, always a rich field,
may be supplemented by experiences of neighbors and friends.

A second source of subjects is the daily newspaper. Local news will give
the writer clues that he can follow up by visiting the places mentioned,
interviewing the persons concerned, and gathering other relevant
material. When news comes from a distance, he can write to the persons
most likely to have the desired information. In neither case can he be
sure, until he has investigated, that an item of news will prove to
contain sufficient available material for an article. Many pieces of
news, however, are worth running down carefully, for the day's events
are rich in possibilities.

Pieces of news as diverse as the following may suggest excellent
subjects for special articles: the death of an interesting person, the
sale of a building that has historic associations, the meeting of an
uncommon group or organization, the approach of the anniversary of an
event, the election or appointment of a person to a position, an unusual
occupation, an odd accident, an auction, a proposed municipal
improvement, the arrival of a well-known person, an official report, a
legal decision, an epidemic, the arrest of a noted criminal, the passing
of an old custom, the publication of the city directory, a railroad
accident, a marked change in fashion in dress.

A third source of both subjects and material is the report of special
studies in some field, the form of the report ranging from a paper read
at a meeting to a treatise in several volumes. These reports of
experiments, surveys, investigations, and other forms of research, are
to be found in printed bulletins, monographs, proceedings of
organizations, scientific periodicals, and new books. Government
publications--federal, state, and local--giving results of investigative
work done by bureaus, commissions, and committees, are public documents
that may usually be had free of charge. Technical and scientific
periodicals and printed proceedings of important organizations are
generally available at public libraries.

As Mr. Waldemar Kaempffert, editor of _Popular Science Monthly,_ has
said:

There is hardly a paper read before the Royal Institution or the
French Academy or our American engineering and chemical societies
that cannot be made dramatically interesting from a human standpoint
and that does not chronicle real news.

"If you want to publish something where it will never be read," a wit
has observed, "print it in an official document." Government reports are
filled with valuable information that remains quite unknown to the
average reader unless newspapers and magazines unearth it and present it
in popular form. The popularization of the contents of all kinds of
scientific and technical publications affords great opportunities for
the writer who can present such subjects effectively.

In addressing students of journalism on "Science and Journalism," Dr.
Edwin E. Slosson, literary editor of the _Independent_, who was formerly
a professor of chemistry, has said:

The most radical ideas of our day are not apt to be found in the
popular newspaper or in queer little insurrectionary, heretical and
propaganda sheets that we occasionally see, but in the technical
journals and proceedings of learned societies. The real revolutions
are hatched in the laboratory and study. The papers read before the
annual meetings of the scientific societies, and for the most part
unnoticed by the press, contain more dynamite than was ever
discovered in any anarchist's shop. Political revolutions merely
change the form of government or the name of the party in power.
Scientific revolutions really turn the world over, and it never
settles back into its former position.

* * * * *

The beauty and meaning of scientific discoveries can be revealed to
the general reader if there is an intermediary who can understand
equally the language of the laboratory and of the street. The modern
journalist knows that anything can be made interesting to anybody,
if he takes pains enough with the writing of it. It is not
necessary, either, to pervert scientific truths in the process of
translation into the vernacular. The facts are sensational enough
without any picturesque exaggeration.

* * * * *

The field is not an unprofitable one even in the mercenary sense. To
higher motives the task of popularizing science makes a still
stronger appeal. Ignorance is the source of most of our ills.
Ignorant we must always be of much that we need to know, but there
is no excuse for remaining ignorant of what somebody on earth knows
or has known. Rich treasure lies hidden in what President Gilman
called "the bibliothecal cairn" of scientific monographs which piles
up about a university. The journalist might well exchange the
muckrake for the pick and dig it out.

Nothing could accelerate human progress more than to reduce the time
between the discovery of a new truth and its application to the
needs of mankind.... It is regarded as a great journalistic
achievement when the time of transmission of a cablegram is
shortened. But how much more important it is to gain a few years in
learning what the men who are in advance of their age are doing than
to gain a few seconds in learning what the people of Europe are
doing? This lag in intellectual progress ... is something which it
is the especial duty of the journalist to remove. He likes to score
a beat of a few hours. Very well, if he will turn his attention to
science, he can often score a beat of ten years.

The three main sources, therefore, of subjects and material for special
feature and magazine articles are (1) personal observation and
experience, (2) newspapers, (3) scientific and technical publications
and official reports.

PERSONAL OBSERVATION. How a writer may discover subjects for newspaper
feature articles in the course of his daily routine by being alive to
the possibilities around him can best be shown by concrete examples.

A "community sing" in a public park gave a woman writer a good subject
for a special article published in the _Philadelphia North American_.

In the publication of a city directory was found a timely subject for an
article on the task of getting out the annual directory in a large city;
the story was printed in a Sunday issue of the _Boston Herald_.

A glimpse of some children dressed like Arctic explorers in an outdoor
school in Kansas City was evidently the origin of a special feature
story on that institution, which was published in the _Kansas City
Star_.

A woman standing guard one evening over a partially completed school
building in Seattle suggested a special feature in the _Seattle Post
Intelligencer_ on the unusual occupation of night "watchman" for a
woman.

While making a purchase in a drug store, a writer overheard a clerk make
a request for a deposit from a woman who desired to have a prescription
filled, an incident which led him to write a special feature for the
_New York Times_ on this method of discouraging persons from adding to
the drug store's "morgue" of unclaimed prescriptions.

From a visit to the Children's Museum in Brooklyn was developed a
feature article for the _New York Herald_, and from a story-telling hour
at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts was evolved a feature story for the
_Boston Herald_ on the telling of stories as a means of interesting
children in pictures.

Magazine articles also may originate in the writer's observation of what
is going on about him. The specific instances given below, like those
already mentioned, will indicate to the inexperienced writer where to
look for inspiration.

A newspaper reporter who covered the criminal courts compiled the
various methods of burglars and sneak thieves in gaining entrance to
houses and apartments, as he heard them related in trials, and wrote a
helpful article for _Good Housekeeping_ on how to protect one's house
against robbery.

The exhibition of a novel type of rack for curing seed corn gave a
writer a subject for an article on this "corn tree," which was published
in the _Illustrated World_.

During a short stop at a farm while on an automobile trip, a woman
writer noticed a concrete storage cellar for vegetables, and from an
interview with the farmer obtained enough material for an article, which
she sold to a farm journal.

While a woman writer was making a purchase in a plumber's shop, the
plumber was called to the telephone. On returning to his customer, he
remarked that the call was from a woman on a farm five miles from town,
who could easily have made the slight repairs herself if she had known a
little about the water-supply system on her farm. From the material
which the writer obtained from the plumber, she wrote an article for an
agricultural paper on how plumber's bills can be avoided.

A display of canned goods in a grocer's window, with special prices for
dozen and case lots, suggested an article, afterwards published in the
_Merchants Trade Journal_, on this grocer's method of fighting
mail-order competition.

PERSONAL EXPERIENCE. What we actually do ourselves, as well as what we
see others do, may be turned to good use in writing articles. Personal
experiences not only afford good subjects and plenty of material but are
more easily handled than most other subjects, because, being very real
and vital to the writer, they can the more readily be made real and
vital to the reader. Many inexperienced writers overlook the
possibilities of what they themselves have done and are doing.

To gain experience and impressions for their articles, special writers
on newspapers even assume temporarily the roles of persons whose lives
and experiences they desire to portray. One Chicago paper featured every
Sunday for many weeks articles by a reporter who, in order to get
material, did a variety of things just for one day, from playing in a
strolling street band to impersonating a convict in the state
penitentiary. Thirty years ago, when women first entered the newspaper
field as special feature writers, they were sometimes sent out on
"freak" assignments for special features, such as feigning injury or
insanity in order to gain entrance to hospitals in the guise of
patients. Recently one woman writer posed as an applicant for a position
as moving-picture actress; another applied for a place as housemaid; a
third donned overalls and sorted scrap-iron all day in the yard of a
factory; and still another accompanied a store detective on his rounds
in order to discover the methods of shop-lifting with which department
stores have to contend.

It is not necessary, however, to go so far afield to obtain personal
experiences, as is shown by the following newspaper and magazine
articles based on what the writers found in the course of their everyday
pursuits.

The results obtained from cultivating a quarter-acre lot in the
residence district of a city of 100,000 population were told by a writer
in the _Country Gentleman_.

A woman's experience with bees was related in _Good Housekeeping_ under
the title, "What I Did with Bees."

Experience in screening a large porch on his house furnished a writer
with the necessary information for a practical story in _Popular
Mechanics_.

Some tests that he made on the power of automobiles gave a young
engineer the suggestion for an article on the term "horse power" as
applied to motor-cars; the article was published in the _Illustrated
World_.

"Building a Business on Confidence" was the title of a personal
experience article published in _System_.

The evils of tenant farming, as illustrated by the experiences of a
farmer's wife in moving during the very early spring, were vividly
depicted in an article in _Farm and Fireside_.

The diary of an automobile trip from Chicago to Buffalo was embodied in
an article by a woman writer, which she sold to the _Woman's Home
Companion_.

Both usual and unusual means employed to earn their college expenses
have served as subjects for many special articles written by
undergraduates and graduates.

Innumerable articles of the "how-to-do-something" type are accepted
every year from inexperienced writers by publications that print such
useful information. Results of experiments in solving various problems
of household management are so constantly in demand by women's magazines
and women's departments in newspapers, that housewives who like to
write find a ready market for articles based on their own experience.

CONFESSION ARTICLES. One particular type of personal experience article
that enjoys great popularity is the so-called "confession story." Told
in the first person, often anonymously, a well-written confession
article is one of the most effective forms in which to present facts and
experiences.

Personal experiences of others, as well as the writer's own, may be
given in confession form if the writer is able to secure sufficiently
detailed information from some one else to make the story probable.

A few examples will illustrate the kind of subjects that have been
presented successfully in the confession form.

Some criticisms of a typical college and of college life were given
anonymously in the _Outlook_ under the title, "The Confessions of an
Undergraduate."

"The Story of a Summer Hotel Waitress," published in the _Independent_,
and characterized by the editor as "a frank exposure of real life below
stairs in the average summer hotel," told how a student in a normal
school tried to earn her school expenses by serving as a waitress during
the summer vacation.

In _Farm and Fireside_ was published "The Confession of a Timber Buyer,"
an article exposing the methods employed by some unscrupulous lumber
companies in buying timber from farmers.

"How I Cured Myself of Being Too Sensitive," with the sub-title, "The
Autobiography of a Young Business Man Who Nearly Went to Smash through
Jealousy," was the subject of a confession article in the _American
Magazine_.

An exposure of the impositions practiced by an itinerant quack was made
in a series of three confession articles, in Sunday issues of the
_Kansas City Star_, written by a young man whom the doctor had employed
to drive him through the country districts.

To secure confession features from readers, magazines have offered
prizes for the best short articles on such topics as, "The Best Thing
Experience has Taught Me," "How I Overcame My Greatest Fault," "The Day
of My Great Temptation," "What Will Power Did for Me."

SUBJECTS FROM THE DAY'S NEWS. In his search for subjects a writer will
find numberless clues in newspapers. Since the first information
concerning all new things is usually given to the world through the
columns of the daily press, these columns are scanned carefully by
writers in search of suggestions. Any part of the paper, from the "want
ads" to the death notices or the real estate transfers, may be the
starting point of a special article. The diversity of topics suggested
by newspapers is shown by the following examples.

The death of a well-known clown in New York was followed by a special
feature story about him in the Sunday magazine section of a Chicago
paper.

A newspaper report of the discovery in Wisconsin of a method of
eliminating printing ink from pulp made from old newspapers, so that
white print paper might be produced from it, led a young writer to send
for information to the discoverer of the process, and with these
additional details he wrote an article that was published in the _Boston
Transcript._

A news story about a clever swindler in Boston, who obtained possession
of negotiable securities by means of a forged certified check, was made
the basis of a special feature story in the _Providence Journal_ on the
precautions to be taken against losses from forged checks.

News of the energetic manner in which a New Jersey sheriff handled a
strike suggested a personality sketch of him that appeared in the
_American Magazine_.

The publication, in a newspaper, of some results of a survey of rural
school conditions in a Middle Western state, led to two articles on why
the little red schoolhouse fails, one of which was published in the
_Country Gentleman_, and the other in the _Independent_.

From a brief news item about the success of a farmer's widow and her
daughter, in taking summer boarders in their old farmhouse, was
developed a practical article telling how to secure and provide for
these boarders on the ordinary farm. The article appeared in _Farm and
Fireside_.

OFFICIAL DOCUMENTS. Bulletins and reports of government officials are a
mine for both subjects and material. For new developments in agriculture
one may consult the bulletins of the United States Department of
Agriculture and those of state agricultural experiment stations. Reports
on new and better methods of preparing food, and other phases of home
economics, are also printed in these bulletins. State industrial
commissions publish reports that furnish valuable material on industrial
accidents, working-men's insurance, sanitary conditions in factories,
and the health of workers. Child welfare is treated in reports of
federal, state, and city child-welfare boards. The reports of the
Interstate Commerce Commission, like those of state railroad
commissions, contain interesting material on various phases of
transportation. State and federal census reports often furnish good
subjects and material. In short, nearly every official report of any
kind may be a fruitful source of ideas for special articles.

The few examples given below suggest various possibilities for the use
of these sources.

Investigations made by a commission of American medical experts
constituting the Committee on Resuscitation from Mine Gases, under the
direction of the U.S. Bureau of Mines, supplied a writer in the _Boston
Transcript_ with material for a special feature story on the dangers
involved in the use of the pulmotor.

A practical bulletin, prepared by the home economics department of a
state university, on the best arrangement of a kitchen to save needless
steps, was used for articles in a number of farm journals.

From a bulletin of the U.S. Department of Agriculture a writer prepared
an article on "the most successful farmer in the United States" and what
he did with twenty acres, for the department of "Interesting People" in
the _American Magazine_.

The results of a municipal survey of Springfield, Illinois, as set
forth in official reports, were the basis of an article in the _Outlook_
on "What is a Survey?" Reports of a similar survey at Lawrence, Kansas,
were used for a special feature story in the _Kansas City Star_.

"Are You a Good or a Poor Penman?" was the title of an article in
_Popular Science Monthly_ based on a chart prepared by the Russell Sage
Foundation in connection with some of its educational investigations.

The _New York Evening Post_ published an interesting special article on
the "life tables" that had been prepared by the division of vital
statistics of the Bureau of the Census, to show the expectation of life
at all ages in the six states from which vital statistics were obtained.

A special feature story on how Panama hats are woven, as printed in the
_Ohio State Journal_, was based entirely on a report of the United
States consul general at Guayaquil, Ecuador.

SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL PUBLICATIONS. Almost every science and every
art has its own special periodicals, from which can be gleaned a large
number of subjects and much valuable material that needs only to be
popularized to be made attractive to the average reader. The printed
proceedings of scientific and technical societies, including the papers
read at their meetings, as well as monographs and books, are also
valuable. How such publications may be utilized is illustrated by the
articles given below.

The report of a special committee of an association of electrical
engineers, given at its convention in Philadelphia, furnished a writer
with material for an article on "Farming by Electricity," that was
published in the Sunday edition of the _Springfield Republican_.

Studies of the cause of hunger, made by Prof. A.J. Carlson of the
University of Chicago and published in a volume entitled "The Control of
Hunger in Health and Disease," furnished the subject for an article in
the _Illustrated World._ Earlier results of the same investigation were
given in the Sunday magazine of one of the Chicago papers.

From the _Journal of Heredity_ was gleaned material for an article
entitled "What Chance Has the Poor Child?" It was printed in _Every
Week_.

"Golfer's Foot, One of Our Newest Diseases," was the subject of a
special feature in the _New York Times_, that was based on an article in
the _Medical Record_.

That the canals on Mars may be only an optical illusion was demonstrated
in an article in the Sunday magazine of the _New York Times_, by means
of material obtained from a report of the section for the Observation of
Mars, a division of the British Astronomical Association.

ANTICIPATING TIMELY SUBJECTS. By looking forward for weeks or even
months, as editors of Sunday newspapers and of magazines are constantly
doing, a writer can select subjects and gather material for articles
that will be particularly appropriate at a given time. Holidays,
seasonal events, and anniversaries may thus be anticipated, and special
articles may be sent to editors some time in advance of the occasion
that makes them timely. Not infrequently it is desirable to begin
collecting material a year before the intended time of publication.

An article on fire prevention, for instance, is appropriate for the
month of October just before the day set aside for calling attention to
fires caused by carelessness. Months in advance, a writer might begin
collecting news stories of dangerous fires resulting from carelessness;
and from the annual report of the state fire marshal issued in July, he
could secure statistics on the causes of fires and the extent of the
losses.

To secure material for an article on the Christmas presents that
children might make at a cost of twenty-five cents or less, a woman
writer jotted down after one Christmas all the information that she
could get from her friends; and from these notes she wrote the article
early in the following summer. It was published in the November number
of a magazine, at a time when children were beginning to think about
making Christmas presents.

Articles on ways and means of earning college expenses are particularly
appropriate for publication in the summer or early fall, when young men
and women are preparing to go to college, but if in such an article a
student writer intends to describe experiences other than his own, he
may well begin gathering material from his fellow students some months
before.

Anniversaries of various events, such as important discoveries and
inventions, the death or birth of a personage, and significant
historical occasions, may also be anticipated. The fiftieth anniversary
of the arrival of the first railroad train in Kansas City was
commemorated in a special feature story in the _Kansas City Star_,
published the day before the anniversary. The day following the
fifty-sixth anniversary of the discovery of petroleum in Pennsylvania,
the _New York Times_ printed in its Sunday magazine section a special
article on the man who first found oil there. The centenary of the
launching of the first steam-propelled ship to cross the Atlantic, was
commemorated by an article in the Sunday edition of the _Providence
Journal_. _Munsey's Magazine_ printed an article on the semi-centennial
of the discovery of the process of making paper from wood pulp.

By looking over tables giving dates of significant events, writers will
find what anniversaries are approaching; or they may glean such
information from news stories describing preparations made for
celebrating these anniversaries.

KEEPING LISTS OF SUBJECTS. Every writer who is on the lookout for
subjects and sources of material should keep a notebook constantly at
hand. Subjects suggested by everyday experiences, by newspaper and
magazine reading, and by a careful study of special articles in all
kinds of publications, are likely to be forgotten unless they are
recorded at once. A small notebook that can be carried in the pocket or
in a woman's hand-bag is most convenient. Besides topics for articles,
the titles of books, reports, bulletins, and other publications
mentioned in conversation or in newspapers, should be jotted down as
possible sources of material. Facts and figures from publications may
be copied for future use. Good titles and interesting methods of
treatment that a writer observes in the work of others may prove helpful
in suggesting titles and methods for his own articles. Separate sections
of even a small notebook may conveniently be set aside for all of these
various points.

FILING MATERIAL. The writer who makes methodical preparation for his
work generally has some system of filing good material so that it will
be at hand when he wants it. One excellent filing device that is both
inexpensive and capable of indefinite expansion consists of a number of
stout manilla envelopes, large enough to hold newspaper clippings,
printed reports, magazine articles, and photographs. In each envelope is
kept the material pertaining to one subject in which the writer is
interested, the character of the subject-matter being indicated on one
side of the envelope, so that, as the envelopes stand on end, their
contents can readily be determined. If a writer has many of these
envelopes, a one-drawer filing case will serve to keep them in good
order. By constantly gathering material from newspapers, magazines, and
printed reports, he will soon find that he has collected a considerable
amount of information on which to base his articles.