Writing Tips for Bloggers From Magazine Land

In the whiz-bang world of the internet, is there anything to be learned about writing from reading magazines? Um, YES.

1. Master the art of using quotes. Good long-form magazine articles skillfully weave quotes into the exposition in a way that feels very natural and breaks up long chunks of service-y exposition and description. When you read magazines, note how the writer uses quotes. Where are they placed? How often are they used? How long are each of the quotes? Is the same person quoted over and over, or are there many sources?

2. Take your reader to the action. One technique for starting a magazine article is scene-setting. The writer describes the action, paying special attention to very specific details: the exact shade of the woman's shirt, the time of day, the slant of sunlight, the sound of the crowd cheering, the smell of roasted meats in the air. Banish generic phrases from your writing and really dig into the details to engage your reader.

3. Use headers and subheads to help your reader navigate a longer post. You can provide a map to your post by summarizing different sections with headers or subheaders ina different or larger/bolder font. This technique is particularly useful for anthing prescriptive - recipes, how-to posts, op-ed posts pitting pros and cons or covering different sides of an issue. Play around with the visual effects your headers and subheaders give your piece.

4. Wrap your images. Most blogging platforms give you options for wrapping your images with text. Presentation plays a huge part in readers' decisions to read, especially if they're not familiar with your work and found their way to you via a social share. Study your favorite magazines to see where they use images and how the image and the text interact.

5. Try pull-quotes. Have you ever been seduced into reading a magazine article because the large quote highlighted somewhere in the article or in a sidebar piqued your curiousity? You can create a pull-quote by isolating a quote in larger font or you can use text-on-image apps to create something even prettier (and more easy to pin or share in social media). As you read your magazines, try to decide why the editor made the decision to highlight this quote instead of that one. Read with an eye for what should be pulled out as you hone your skills.

What have you learned about writing from reading magazines?

Rita Arens is the author of the young adult novel THE OBVIOUS GAME & the managing editor of BlogHer.com.

Source: Writing Tips for Bloggers From Magazine Land