–P.T. Barnum (supposedly)
There are some questions about if it was actually P.T. Barnum who said this but – no matter who said it -- I think it’s good advice far beyond the big top. In creative writing, I feel we unconsciously strive to follow this advice. After all, we want to get people from that attention grabbing opening sentence to the next one, from the first chapter to the next, from the first book to the next. It’s great to leave that hint of something more to come…a mini cliffhanger that encourages everyone to keep reading. Our book title, book cover and even our author’s bio are designed to peak people’s curiosity.
Turns out you can use this advice beyond your creative writing career. The other morning I received an email from a magazine editor asking for photos of the treehouses and details about the article.
Umm…ok.
I am an Excel fanatic and all my queries, submissions, assignments and invoices are faithfully recorded in the proper spreadsheet with updates as I communicate with editors, publishers and agents. Treehouses were not on my spreadsheets. Truthfully, I had to look back at an old email chain to get a grasp of this puzzling request.
Three months earlier I sent a piece to this editor on spec, an article on a historical aspect of Longwood Gardens. I also offered the option that, if it wasn’t for them, I could adjust it to feature more recent changes at the gardens. Plus four words in parentheses: the treehouses are amazing. I'm not exactly sure why I added that. Was I thinking of changing the whole article to focus on the treehouses? The child friendly parts of the garden? Was it just that I really love the treehouses? Anyway...they bought the historical article as is and, at some point, someone must have looked at that tiny detail I added off the cuff to my email and thought, “Treehouses could be interesting.”
Interesting enough to reach out months later and assign another article. An article based on an idea that was just a vague notion in my brain. Who knew that four words could get me an assignment?
My new resolution is to always leave my editors wanting more. Each time I touch base with an editor I’m going to include a mention of an idea I’m considering that could work for their publication. Not a full query (although I still will be sending those) but just enough to plant a thought in their head. Enough that they may say, “Tell me more.”
I'm not recommending this as your primary way of touching base with editors; just suggesting it as something extra in addition to the tried and true query method. After all, even if you don't get an assignment, it's nice to keep your name top-of-mind. It's also a great way to prod yourself to come up with new ideas.
Have you ever received a “surprise” assignment based on a minor detail?
And more importantly, if you worked in P.T. Barnum’s circus what would your act be? My heart says trapeze artist but my brain says lady getting knives thrown at her..jpg)
Jodi M. Webb writes from her home in the Pennsylvania mountains about everything from DIY projects to pretzels to butterflies to treehouses. She's also a blog tour manager for WOW-Women on Writing. Get to know her @jodiwebbwrites, Facebook and blogging at Words by Webb.
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Jodi M. Webb writes from her home in the Pennsylvania mountains about everything from DIY projects to pretzels to butterflies to treehouses. She's also a blog tour manager for WOW-Women on Writing. Get to know her @jodiwebbwrites, Facebook and blogging at Words by Webb.
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2 comments:
That’s so funny, Jodi! And congrats on the assignment! As an editor, I’ve read through old queries and emails and come up with possible article ideas based on what the writer said, so that doesn’t surprise me, especially when the writer is great to work with. An author wrote a how-to for us, and then I asked her if she was interested in interviewing her agent based on a small detail in her article. Another writer and I were casually talking about AI, and that inspired another possible feature. Being personable in emails and sharing things, like your love of treehouses, is a great way to build a relationship and land more assignments. :)
Ha! This is funny, but yeah, I can see how a mention of tree houses would inspire an idea for another article. Did you have to e-mail the editor back and ask for maybe a few more details or were there some parameters included? When I wrote for Disney years ago I would get article assignments for parenting that said things like "write about the breaking water phase of pregnancy." Um, create an 800-word article about that?! Good luck on the assignment--it does sound fun!
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