I am reading a story I edited before I went home at 12 30 am.

It concerns aesthetic treatments in Singapore, which have generated a storm of controversy after MOH reportedly tried to ban doctors from administering 11 of them.

I didn't like it too much when I sent it off, but now I feel its actually pretty good.

Definition of pride in your work, here.


I also wrote a long letter to my writers (by my standards to my writers) while I was editing some other article by a new writer whom I judged was far too new to the business of freelancing.

Here it is, in its entirety. I add one last point though: intellectual honesty, and emotional honesty (in short total honesty) is the only and constant basis of good writing. If it doesn't work, cut it. If it is too contrived, cut it. If it means nothing to your reader (and only to you) god damn it, cut it.

People can detect a bluffer (an insincere writer who is only out to puff up their story/someone they shouldn't be reading/someone who only cares what they have to say, and cares nothing about their reader) from way away: they get bored and simply stop reading. We all have this bullshit detector in us. You know so. Life's too short.


It really is. I plan to be dead really soon. Health magazine editor speaking. Sorry.


------ Forwarded Message
From: Vincent
Date: Thu, 17 Apr 2008 21:45:14 +0800
Subject: Re: a story on Wisdom teeth




Dear XXXX,

Here’s my edited draft which shall now proceed to layout. Some comments on how to hit our ‘house style’:


1.Try to address the reader directly, and personally. Avoid expressions such as ‘one tends to feel’, instead go for ‘you will tend to feel’. It is more personal, and less clinical.

2. Unless the images are high resolution, try not to include them in your piece.. I agree that diagrams and illustrations make for a more informative story. However we do not, at present, have the artists and illustrators on hand to create press-quality reproductions of your images.

3. Use plenty of subheads (and make them creative). They’ll break up long chunky blocks of information (which cause most readers to fall asleep). They’ll also sharpen your thinking about how each segment flows and links together. If your thoughts are imprecise and lack confidence, you do not deserve to write about health. Find a fashion rag instead. That hurts no one when you are unclear.

4. Only three sentences max per paragraph (unless they are short sentences), and use commas often. Information in bite sized portions, please. This means every sentence matters.

Choose which detailed chunks of information are important (string them together and make it a segment) or summarise unwieldy info into one sentence (those not so important, but still mentionable to move your story forward)! Exercise judgement. For example, information about nerve damage in the cranium, neck, tooth and jaw can all be summarised under one universal heading and into one sentence: nerve damage!

Which layman really needs to know which nerve caused which kind of numbness?

You'd lose them at hello.


5. Do pay close attention to how I’ve formatted the final text. All sections are labelled to help my designer identify which elements are which in the layout. There is a headline, a standfirst, and finally a body of text which I named ‘copy’. Additional story elements (such as box stories) will be labelled as such. If you send in stories which are formatted to your own fonts and styles, I will spend 5 minutes removing all your styles and scolding you in my head. I will then spend the next 15 minutes deciding not to get worked up over small matters such as formatting. That is 20 minutes I will never recover of my life and doesn’t take much more than 1 minute of your time.



Hope this helps get you up to speed with us. Looking forward to hearing from you.


Warm regards,

Vincent
Editor




Except for points 2 and 5, nobody on this planet has a problem reading to the end if you write with these rules in mind, and include rule zero at the top. Anything that is sufficiently engaging will not lose a reader with these rules in place.

It'll also focus your thoughts. Some writers are so disconnected from paragraph to paragraph (usually because they are *unclear* of what they want to say) they absolutely fuck up their message.

Some writers have no message. They have no style either.

So write in 3 sentence paragraphs. It will give you style and focus your thoughts. If your paragraphs don't link it is immediately obvious.



In other other news, I wrote a kickass complaint letter to Sakae Sushi for a friend (you know who) and got a response within less than 6 hours. I shall post it tomorrow (along with their response). Things like this make my day as you know, I hate rude people.


As for house rules as above... This is my house. You play or you pay. You don't like it? You think you can do better?

It's a free world. I need you less than you think anyone can.


Edit: One last point. Learn to dance, or at least to fight. Writing has a rhythm, and unless you have it, everything you write will feel like a polar bear trying to do the polka. My judgement is fast, and remarkably consistent. If I feel you do not match up in any way to what I demand, I will drop you as quickly and as without remorse as Edison Chen.

I will also forget you forever in 5 seconds flat. Why should I pay you to make me miserable?


Too bad no writer of mine ever reads this.

And... phew.

If you are dumb enough to ask me 'what is press-quality' without having an inkling of what it means ...

Nice knowing you.

Learn to do some research, unless you are my intern.