The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1874-02-26
now TO WRITE FOR PAPRRs.
Perspleulty, POlntednea., and Brew.

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ity Indispensable Qualifications.
"Will you give me some hints In regart
to writing for the papers p asked frient
the other day. Certainly, I replied, viii
my wonted suayity; and II the profes.
sional journalist does not think my sug
gestlons sensible, he will tuck them int,
bis waste basket Just as ruthlessly as ht
did these articles you are wisely seeking
to improve. What q world Of nonsense
hints !: e0' '''Ff'''' -
1. Never write for the papers unless yot
have something TO say. Thoroughly good
newspaper articles are only written when
man feels: Necessity e laid upon me
yea, woe Is unto me II l write not this
article" II you have nothing to say, by
oil means say nothing
2. Don't undertake to say what you
have 10 say unless you are In your best
mood. II you were q minister, ! should
say TO you, explicitly, "never write for the
papers on Monday" Those Of us who
are not ministers have our "Mondays"-
though they often come In the middle Of
tho week. 1t Is, have sometimes
tancied, the custom Of most amateur
journalists to do their newspaper work
when they are too much tagged mentally
or physically, for SERIOUS buSiness." The
minister, for instance, who Is of the
hooks, 80 that he can't prepare . sermon
for an audience of FIVE hundred, ruahes,
incontinently Tor would rush, but for the
waste. basket before an audience Of fifty
thousand or so. Ought this to be thus
8. Jot down the points that you wish to
make lat least mentally before you begin
to write, See the end Of your article
from the beginning, II you have no
points to iot down, you have really
nothing to say.
4. Put your points In the clearest and
sharpest way possible. Don't cover them
up with verbIage. Let them stick out
5. Say what you have to say in the
iewest possible words, and simplest pos
sible manner. Never make use Of an al.
luslon, q quotation, or a figure of
speech, which does not distinctly pro-
mote the impression that you are seeking
to make.
6. Stop when you are done. That is,
possibly, the great secret OF the true
journalist. he does not think that he
must follow everything out to It's analy.
Bis. He contents himself with suggest.
i've hints which his readers are competent
to follow out, and love to follow out, for
themselves. He realizes, nowadays,
articles are read, and priced, in proper:
tion to their brevity. Of editorial mat.
ter:
A two column article has one reader in
one hundred.
A column and a hall, one reader in sew
enty.tlve.
A column article, one reader in fifty.
A three, quarter column, one reader in
twenty five,
A halt column, one reader in ten.
Z A quarter column, one reader In one.
Boil yourself down, then, before you
write for the papers. Ask yourself, with
every fresh page Of copy, "Am I not re.
ally throughE"
Z, Cultivate vlvacity of style and vari.
ETY. Of expression. Abound in crisp, terse,
epigrammatic sentences. What Blair says
Of preachers Is prominently true ofI
Journalists: "Thcir first duty Is to inter.
est their audience" Here d where the
'born, not made" comes in. ff
8. Write always with a realizing sense
Of the fact that every sentence may,
every word-will be subjected to the
severest criticism Of ten thousand hostile
eyes. Throw yourself into the attitude
Of cynical, captious, ignorant adversary,
and carefully criticise what you have
written after it gets cold. You will be
often, to see what nonsense you
have written-what loopholes you have
left inyitiugly open Tor attack.
0. Be courteous, even when fealty to
truth compels you to be severe. Remem.
Der that you are a gentleman, whatever
the advocate Of rival opinions may prove
himself Keep out OF controversy as far
as possible. 1t rarely pays. Never, in |
any circumstances, be betrayed into q
with the editor Of a paper.
He has got you too entirely at his mercy.
r 10. See to 1t that what you send to a
newspaper be paragraphed, spelled and
as 1t should be. Write on one
side Of small sized paper in a neat, clear
hand, and shun abreviations. Take time
to spell out all words that will have to be
spelled out in print. '-1
II. Make up your mind to acquiesce
cheerfully In any disposition which the
editor may, in his wisdom or folly, make
OF your articles. Ten to one, his judg.
ment Of your lucubrations Is more trust.
worthy than yours, Certainly he knows
better than you, qIod deceit (as Cicero,
Horace and Qulntilian would say); that Is,
what hits the very highest grace Of jour.
nalism-adaptation.