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Nobody Reads You? Write Newspaper Style, Not Creative Non Fiction Style
I can’t tell you how many people I don’t read beyond the first few paragraphs — they just don’t get to the point!
My closest friend, now retired, was editor to some of the world’s most famous Nobel and Booker prize winning authors. So when I told her that I couldn’t bring myself to read to the end of all those stories that didn’t break up what they were saying into sizeable portions, she replied, “I can’t stand long pieces of text.’
Newspapers and magazines write either CMS (Chicago Manual Style) or AP (Associated Content) style. That means that the headline captures exactly what the story is about, the second line gives a little more information about it, and the first few paragraphs sum up the essence of the stories. The detail only follows later in the story.
In creative non-fiction (New Yorker, The Reader), people go on and on and on, as if people have all the time in the world to read. They assume that the reader’s curiosity or willingness to read what they have written will keep their reader. I don’t think so. Like many other readers, I really don’t have time to read verbal diarrhea. I have absolutely no idea why so many writers and magazine owners think that it’s what your average reader is…
