At some point in your career as a writer you’ll be asked to write an article on the subject. What you do with that request is completely up to you, but be assured, the call or email will come eventually and you should be prepared for it.

Articles can be a very good thing. For one thing, they help pay the bills when you don’t have anything else coming in at the moment. They tend to be fairly quick and easy to get out to the editor, and rarely require a ton of rewrites. They can also give your readers and contemporaries a unique glimpse into what goes on in your mind.

Before you accept the request for an article however, there are a few things you should keep in mind.

Be passionate about your topic:

You should only accept a request for an article if it is on a topic you are passionate about. Agreeing to write an article on the process of story outlining is wonderful if you’re the type that has notebooks full of story arc, diagrams on your wall detailing the history of the particular region you’re writing about and have friends and family members that won’t return your calls while you’re in the throes of outlining.

If I were to write that same article it would be less palatable than overcooked seafood. I couldn’t begin to do the topic justice. I keep my story arc in my head and almost never take notes. I spend months in world building, but none of that process ever sees paper. I simply don’t have any passion for the subject, and it would show in every word I wrote.

Write in your own voice:

Many writers fall into the habit of writing articles in a very monotonous and formal tone. I applaud this in technical articles, when the audience is of the stuffy corporate mindset. I don’t really think it’s necessary in articles on writing, especially if your audience is other writers.

Writers are generally some pretty free-spirited folks. As a group, we’re in tune with the emotion of the written word. We’re used to packing feelings into those words to get our point across and the books we read are the ones that make us feel something as we go. We’re not likely to sit through an article that reads as dry as saltines with nothing to drink.

Let your own tone and language out in your article and you’ll be far more likely to keep someone reading along. If you have a wry sense of humor, then let ‘er quip! If a pun comes to mind, then let it fly, you’ll get a chuckle out of your reader, and she’ll be more apt to finish what you’ve labored to get across.

In simple terms, just be yourself. Grammatically correct if possible, but yourself. And plz no l33t sp33k! It’s hard to get through much of it at one time, and it’s impossible to take any sentence seriously if it ends in “LOL” or “LMAO”. save that for chats, not professional pieces, unless of course you’re writing a piece on leetspeak.

Know your topic:

Just as importantly as being passionate about your subject matter, you need to know your topic well. If you’re unsure of something, by all means look it up. There’s nothing you can do to destroy your credibility more quickly and permanently than printing something incorrect and calling it fact.

Don’t make anything up. It’s a career killer. Look it up instead, and then credit the source. It’s perfectly all right for them to have made an error that you quoted. It’s not OK to misquote. Not ever.

If you’re giving your opinion, make sure you’ve stated that. You’re allowed your opinion. Hell, you’re allowed to be opinionated if you choose to be. Just make sure that it’s understood that it is your opinion. People can disagree with you all they like, it’ll spark discussion and perhaps boost sales. You want to make sure that they can’t claim you lied or misrepresented the truth. Your opinion can be incorrect, but it’s not a misrepresentation.

Well, that’s my opinion, anyway…

Be Succinct, direct and not too long winded:

Articles usually have a limit on the number of words the publisher will accept. While some publications may be happy to accept a piece that passes that limit by a bit or even doubles it, others will reject it out of hand. Magazines have a limited amount of space to work with, and they expect you to follow their guidelines.

Be brutal with your edits. You can’t afford an extra word, or go off on a tangent. Stay on topic no matter how pressing your personal need to expand on something may become. If you absolutely must expand on a topic, perhaps it would be better to write that up as a separate article. Remember, you’re getting paid to write about “x”, not segue into “y” and “z” on the way there.

If you find that you’re a tad over limit once you’ve paired down every extraneous punctuation mark you should still submit the article. The worst you’ll face is rejection or an editor’s note stating they think you can live without paragraph fourteen. It’s been my experience that you’ve got a good chance at being accepted anyway, there’s always the possibility that someone else came in a bit short.

If you’re under the limit, don’t pad it out. It’s better to have an article that goes right for the jugular. Your publisher will appreciate it. Hopefully enough to request more articles from you in the future.

And that’s the name of the game, isn’t it?