by Gabrielle Linnell
DISCLAIMER: I have yet to write one of these things so I can't pretend to be an expert. As always, however, I have an opinion AND observations to share.
Profiles are articles written to showcase a specific person or organization, usually with a slant. For example, Teen Vogue does a monthly feature on a girl performing some sort of activism: sending cell phones to soldiers or books to Chinese children, etc. Profiles are fun to read and therefore popular with most magazines.
As a WriTeen, your motto is to always approach a piece with my teenagerness in mind. (There has got to be a better way to say that.) There are several ways to do this.
1. Do the profile-essay hybrid. Write about Bill Clinton. Okay, there are thousands of articles and books written about the ex-prez, but how many of them are by teenagers? Write about what is was like growing up (as a child) while he was in power: from the economic decisions he made to the Lewinsky scandal. Tie it into the Hillary campaign and Definitely, Maybe: you're set for a fantastic general news magazine piece, or an essay for the "Opinion" section of the newspaper.
2. Write a profile for a teenzine. Pick the professor of biological engineering that's a great friend of your parents' and write a profile for Girl's Life. Sound bizarre? Focus the profile on the lack of women in the engineering field, opportunities for teenage girls to get involved in engineering, and ways that engineering and teen life intersect. This sounds a lot more interesting than a straight article about the professor's Ph.Ds.
3. Keep it personal. I think of myself as the best possible source for anything, from articles to short stories. The more personal the article, the better it is. If you're not writing a full-on profile, try tying yourself into it somehow. If that's inappropriate, write a freelance article with "mini-profiles" on your sources. People are interested in other people (thus the magazine People). People articles will sell.
Gabrielle Linnell loves fashion (amateurly), football (GO EAGLES) and writing (so fantastic I need a blog to express my love.)
NOTE: I totally forgot to feature Ned Vizzini in our WriTeen Celebs WORD. He'll grab the spotlight later this week.
Sunday, April 13, 2008
Bookshelf: The Memory Keeper's Daughter
After seeing a full-page ad in the New York Times today about the upcoming Lifetime movie, I thought it worth talking about. The Memory Keeper's Daughter, I think, can be categorized as literary fiction. The author Kim Edwards has a distinct writing style and tells the story of lies and loss, and ultimately hope, in subtleties. I liked the book and it's worth reading if you're interested in a different style. Perhaps you are the next big Literary Fic Thing!
NEXTWEEK: We catch up with Marissa Doyle and talk about her debut novel, Bewitching Season, that comes out next week!
Crazed Mind Gone Missing, Authorities Scratch Heads
THIS JUST IN...
Gabrielle Linnell, editor/writer of Innovative: A Word for the WriTeen, has lost her mind and has no idea where to find it. After initiating a change from Sunday posts to Saturday posts, the editor completely forgot and has no idea why she forgot. Authorities are scratching their collective heads as to why this is. Meanwhile, Innovative will be posted later today.
Gabrielle Linnell, editor/writer of Innovative: A Word for the WriTeen, has lost her mind and has no idea where to find it. After initiating a change from Sunday posts to Saturday posts, the editor completely forgot and has no idea why she forgot. Authorities are scratching their collective heads as to why this is. Meanwhile, Innovative will be posted later today.
Friday, April 11, 2008
If You Want to Write...
So, Journalism or Creative Writing?
I'm in Journalism Skills 1 right now and just had my first feature published in our school paper. Not the most notable article :D but it was kind of cool. I have discovered, however, that I hate journalism and a career in journalism is out. Telling the whole truth? Interviewing countless people? Something that nobody really reads anyway?
However, I concede that journalism has its purpose and many people are good at it and like it. So, if you want to write, which one? Journalism or Creative Writing?
I'm in Journalism Skills 1 right now and just had my first feature published in our school paper. Not the most notable article :D but it was kind of cool. I have discovered, however, that I hate journalism and a career in journalism is out. Telling the whole truth? Interviewing countless people? Something that nobody really reads anyway?
However, I concede that journalism has its purpose and many people are good at it and like it. So, if you want to write, which one? Journalism or Creative Writing?
Monday, April 7, 2008
In the Beginning...
I was Googling myself and found a copy of the first Innovative issue... way back in July 2007! It seems like an age ago. I thought it was funny. :D I'm a very funny writer.
Innovative
a word for the writeen
premiere issue: July 22nd, 2007
Editor: Gabrielle Linnell
WORD:
It is a truth universally acknowledged that teen writing is not socially acceptable.
I mean, what kind of weekend activity could be more embarrassing? “Hey, I skate-boarded.” “Hey, I shopped.” “Hey, I devoured three books on marketing and pasted four envelopes with submissions to hooty-tooty magazines?”
You see my point?
The problem that adult and teen writers face is that to be a writer is to dream about something, to leap for it. It’s not like you can go to School of Writing and graduate with a degree, so you’re “officially” a writer. Even real MFA graduate schools can’t guarantee that their students are prime storytellers. So, like most dreams, it’s embarrassing to talk about because if you do spill the beans, people are going to think you’re a little childish.
Thousands of kids dream of being writers. I guess there’s something enchanting about the word, about the creative process. Most of these same-said kids grow up and find different jobs, but some of us refuse to grow up. There are a few of us who take the dream and make it into something solid, like a copy of a magazine with your name on it. We’re not kids, we’re not grown-ups. We’re teen writers.
Innovative: (courtesy of dictionary.com)
ahead of the times; “the advanced teaching methods”; “had advanced views on the subject”; “a forward-looking corporation”; “is British industry innovative enough?” [syn: advanced]
being or producing something like nothing done or experienced or created before; “stylistically innovative works”; “innovative members of the artistic community”; “a mind so innovational, so original”
We don’t have the maturity of a sixty-year-old woman who has seen the world. We don’t have the naivete of a six-year-old writing for Stone Soup. But I think we can bring innovation to the literary world, “producing something like nothing done or experienced or created before.”
Welcome to Innovative. Innovative is an adjective. Innovative is also my new baby project, that you are embarking on with me. I’m specifically looking at how WriTeens work in publication.
You have to love the metaphysical discussion of writing as art, but this is more writing-in-action.
I want to create something FOR the WriTeens, since there’s not a lot out there. I have never read a writing magazine for teenagers, about writing and the writing process. There are a few books, but nothing compared to the amount available for the big guys. So, to help fill in the blank, there’s Innovative.
How am I qualified to do this? I’m not sure that I am. I’ve been published multiple times (check me out at www.storytellermag.com) and writing since I was seven or eight. I love words, with a surpassing passion. I’m a teenager, who writes and attempts to do it with innovation.
And heck, this looks like fun.
nextweek: I take a look at Stone Soup Syndrome. What is it? Find out!
MARKET spotlight: KidMagWriters.com
KidMagWriters.com is a monthly e-zine for people who write for children’s and teen’s magazines, like an online support group. First of all, it’s great to read. I read it every month and almost always come away with ideas and market opportunities. But it’s also a very nice way to get published.
It’s a nonpaying market, but it’s a good clip* and as Ariel Gore, author of How to Become a Famous Writer Before You’re Dead, says, publish as much as possible. If you have an innovative thought about writing, or teenagers, or publication, see if it would fit in here.
WHO YOU TALK TO: Jan Fields, editor. editor AT kidmagwriters.com
WHAT YOU SEND: Essays and success/attempt/what-I-learned stories. No fiction. There is a niche in their submission guidelines for stuff about/for young writers.DETAILS:
www.kidmagwriters.com/others/rite4us.htm
*Clip: a published story/article/essay/poem, often requested by other magazines as proof you’ve been published and have writing ability. It’s like if my story gets published in Learn ABCs, I can print it out and then when big magazine Learn Alphabet Phonetically wants me to send my submission AND a “clip,” I can send (or CLIP!) my Learn ABCs story with it.
Bookshelf: The Young Writer’s Guide to Getting Published by Kathy Henderson.
YWG2GP is a classic every WriTeen should read. It covers the basic essentials of submissions and marketing, with some nice profiles and about one hundred markets. WARNING: The latest edition is several years old, so some magazines she lists are defunct. But the basics remain current.
~TIP!~When you read magazines you like, read the bios of the articles’ authors. Usually they list other magazines where they’ve been published, like: Julie Joyce has been published in Innovative, Creative, etc.
Innovative
a word for the writeen
premiere issue: July 22nd, 2007
Editor: Gabrielle Linnell
WORD:
It is a truth universally acknowledged that teen writing is not socially acceptable.
I mean, what kind of weekend activity could be more embarrassing? “Hey, I skate-boarded.” “Hey, I shopped.” “Hey, I devoured three books on marketing and pasted four envelopes with submissions to hooty-tooty magazines?”
You see my point?
The problem that adult and teen writers face is that to be a writer is to dream about something, to leap for it. It’s not like you can go to School of Writing and graduate with a degree, so you’re “officially” a writer. Even real MFA graduate schools can’t guarantee that their students are prime storytellers. So, like most dreams, it’s embarrassing to talk about because if you do spill the beans, people are going to think you’re a little childish.
Thousands of kids dream of being writers. I guess there’s something enchanting about the word, about the creative process. Most of these same-said kids grow up and find different jobs, but some of us refuse to grow up. There are a few of us who take the dream and make it into something solid, like a copy of a magazine with your name on it. We’re not kids, we’re not grown-ups. We’re teen writers.
Innovative: (courtesy of dictionary.com)
ahead of the times; “the advanced teaching methods”; “had advanced views on the subject”; “a forward-looking corporation”; “is British industry innovative enough?” [syn: advanced]
being or producing something like nothing done or experienced or created before; “stylistically innovative works”; “innovative members of the artistic community”; “a mind so innovational, so original”
We don’t have the maturity of a sixty-year-old woman who has seen the world. We don’t have the naivete of a six-year-old writing for Stone Soup. But I think we can bring innovation to the literary world, “producing something like nothing done or experienced or created before.”
Welcome to Innovative. Innovative is an adjective. Innovative is also my new baby project, that you are embarking on with me. I’m specifically looking at how WriTeens work in publication.
You have to love the metaphysical discussion of writing as art, but this is more writing-in-action.
I want to create something FOR the WriTeens, since there’s not a lot out there. I have never read a writing magazine for teenagers, about writing and the writing process. There are a few books, but nothing compared to the amount available for the big guys. So, to help fill in the blank, there’s Innovative.
How am I qualified to do this? I’m not sure that I am. I’ve been published multiple times (check me out at www.storytellermag.com) and writing since I was seven or eight. I love words, with a surpassing passion. I’m a teenager, who writes and attempts to do it with innovation.
And heck, this looks like fun.
nextweek: I take a look at Stone Soup Syndrome. What is it? Find out!
MARKET spotlight: KidMagWriters.com
KidMagWriters.com is a monthly e-zine for people who write for children’s and teen’s magazines, like an online support group. First of all, it’s great to read. I read it every month and almost always come away with ideas and market opportunities. But it’s also a very nice way to get published.
It’s a nonpaying market, but it’s a good clip* and as Ariel Gore, author of How to Become a Famous Writer Before You’re Dead, says, publish as much as possible. If you have an innovative thought about writing, or teenagers, or publication, see if it would fit in here.
WHO YOU TALK TO: Jan Fields, editor. editor AT kidmagwriters.com
WHAT YOU SEND: Essays and success/attempt/what-I-learned stories. No fiction. There is a niche in their submission guidelines for stuff about/for young writers.DETAILS:
www.kidmagwriters.com/others/rite4us.htm
*Clip: a published story/article/essay/poem, often requested by other magazines as proof you’ve been published and have writing ability. It’s like if my story gets published in Learn ABCs, I can print it out and then when big magazine Learn Alphabet Phonetically wants me to send my submission AND a “clip,” I can send (or CLIP!) my Learn ABCs story with it.
Bookshelf: The Young Writer’s Guide to Getting Published by Kathy Henderson.
YWG2GP is a classic every WriTeen should read. It covers the basic essentials of submissions and marketing, with some nice profiles and about one hundred markets. WARNING: The latest edition is several years old, so some magazines she lists are defunct. But the basics remain current.
~TIP!~When you read magazines you like, read the bios of the articles’ authors. Usually they list other magazines where they’ve been published, like: Julie Joyce has been published in Innovative, Creative, etc.
Sunday, April 6, 2008
Minor Heart Attack
I was finishing up a submission and decided to include the link to my full publishing resume. I scrolled around my website... where is it?
Where is it?
It is gone.
I freaked out and I still haven't found it. I had a page up on my old blog that had a list of everywhere I was published, and I was very good about updating it. The blog has since become the food of spammers but the page has remained until somehow... it is gone. Completely vanished into cyberspace.
I spent the last fifteen minutes trying to remember everywhere I've been published. I know it's about twenty-five times. It's a heartbreaking type of situation because you work so hard for each piece and then not to have a record of it, for colleges and publishers, is devastating. I'm at 21 and 22 right now, so I think I got all the major clips, although I can't remember a few of the ones I wrote for KidMagWriters.com. Dang it.
Let this be a warning: KEEP GOOD RECORDS. Even if you've only been published once and think, gee, I'll never forget. I totally forgot about New Moon (my first clip) until like five minutes ago. Gee.
Where is it?
It is gone.
I freaked out and I still haven't found it. I had a page up on my old blog that had a list of everywhere I was published, and I was very good about updating it. The blog has since become the food of spammers but the page has remained until somehow... it is gone. Completely vanished into cyberspace.
I spent the last fifteen minutes trying to remember everywhere I've been published. I know it's about twenty-five times. It's a heartbreaking type of situation because you work so hard for each piece and then not to have a record of it, for colleges and publishers, is devastating. I'm at 21 and 22 right now, so I think I got all the major clips, although I can't remember a few of the ones I wrote for KidMagWriters.com. Dang it.
Let this be a warning: KEEP GOOD RECORDS. Even if you've only been published once and think, gee, I'll never forget. I totally forgot about New Moon (my first clip) until like five minutes ago. Gee.
Saturday, April 5, 2008
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