Experimenting With Magazine Writing: Finding New Ideas for the printed page

Experimenting With Magazine Writing: Finding New Ideas for the printed page

by Jacob Malewitz, Age of Empires Writer, and working on a book, 7 Gates of Thebes

Magazines do not always publish experimental non-fiction, but often they do. This essay explores how to write experimental magazine writing.

Hunter Thompson’s writing was far from normal, but he was published

Magazine writers need to have an intended audience

Bring the human factor into the article first

DID: Blake Bailey used a beginning similar to a novel in his biography of Richard Yates

Unlike journalism, magazine writers can, more often than not, bring themselves into a piece. A writer who likes to experiment can find a home for many of their off-beat pieces. There were magazines that published Hunter Thompson in his prime—and his writing was far from normal. Many other top writers began their careers by writing non-fiction for magazines. If you would like to experiment with a magazine piece, this essay will offer a few ideas on present tense writing, adding odd details to people or places, and writing similar to a fiction story.

The key for magazine writers is to have an intended audience. Just the same, if you wish to write more experimental prose for a magazine, you will really have to knock the editor’s socks off. You must be consistent with your style. A common tool that many fiction writers like John Updike use the present tense. It can be applied to a magazine article too. Consider that reviews are usually written in the present tense for clarity. These should be studied. It can be as simple as writing “He jumps” instead of “He jumped.” That is common however. Still, it will catch an editor’s attention. What we can do additionally is add the details in the present tense.

“The eyes are crimson; they bat around like locust.” A poor example perhaps, but you get the point. When we write a profile of someone, say a writer, we can elaborate on how they look in the present tense. If this is not desired, the odd details can be pointed out instead of the more common ones. We would not comment on his or her eyes; we would comment on how they moved in the head. Instead of writing about how they walk, we describe the show. You can make this humorous if you think about it.

Blake Bailey, a biographer, wrote in his work on Richard Yates (former novelist) a beginning that was much like a fiction stories opening. It told of the fateful hours after Richard Yates had died, and how local teachers went through his house trying to find the last manuscript Yates had been working on. Everything was told like a fiction story. It was also similar to a scene from a memoir. Consider opening your article like this: bring the human factor into it, tell it like it is told to you, and then open up the regular portion of the book.

These strategies may not always work, but at the least they will enliven your piece. Consider toying with the present tense because top writers do, think about adding some odd details on what you are writing about, and, lastly, come up with an opening much like a fiction story. Trying any one of these things could lead to success in experimental magazine writing.