JUNE 2012 |
www.opp.org.uk WORDS | John Howell
BUSINESS
OPP GET INVOLVED | 31
Many readers have told OPP that they would like to write for the magazine...however, one hesitation always remains: “As English isn’t my fi rst language, I’m not very confi dent.” Worry not. We can help you with that. Here’s how.
Writing with our style W
e have been asked to produce a guide to help people who are thinking of sending news stories or longer articles for publication in OPP magazine. We do this with some hesitation. Few things provoke more debate, heated arguments and threats of death or mutilation than views expressed about how to write in the English language. To make matters worse, our style guide has to be short and easy to understand. Many newspapers and magazines have style guides. Most of them go on for hundreds of pages. Our guide is limited to just two. We would welcome any feedback about this fi rst version of the guide and, in particular, any suggestions for improvements.
There are two main things to remember when writing for OPP. The fi rst is that we have readers in
89 countries and that many of them do not speak English as their fi rst
language. To make things even more complicated, of those readers who are native English speakers, some will speak it in its American form, some in its British form and some in the versions that have developed in other parts of the world such as India. Each of these versions of English has different rules
“We have readers in 89 countries and many of the do not speak English as a fi rst language”
or conventions for spelling, punctuation and so on. Frankly, whatever we suggest or publish, it will not please everybody! The second is that our readers want content that is useful, reliable and understandable.
Providing this content is our main objective. If the content is well written it is easier and more enjoyable to read and so this is an important secondary
objective.
So, with these points in mind, here are our top ten tips about how to write for OPP:
1. Organise your story
If you have thought about your news item or story and arranged it in a logical sequence it will be easier for others to understand.
For news stories, there is some very old but very wise guidance as to what your story should contain if it is to be complete. Not every story needs to contain every element but it is often better if they do.
Who?
Who are we talking about? What?
What have they done? Where?
Where did they do it? When?
When did they do it? Why?
Why did they do it? In short news pieces this often omitted either because it is obvious. For example, in the case of the headline “New Two Thousand Bed Hotel Opens in Nice”, the “Why?” is probably to make money! For this reason, it might be omitted from the story. However, the story can often be much more interesting if you ask some more probing “Why?” questions; why did they choose Nice?; why did they choose now?
How?
The “How?” question is particularly important in compiling police and other investigative reports. In some other cases the “How?” is also the most interesting part of the story but in many simple news stories it may not be relevant.
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