{"id":611,"date":"2011-02-16T21:30:00","date_gmt":"2011-02-16T10:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/tips-for-writing-features-5-stick-in-the-middle\/"},"modified":"2024-06-17T21:09:05","modified_gmt":"2024-06-17T11:09:05","slug":"tips-for-writing-features-5-stick-in-the-middle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/2011\/02\/tips-for-writing-features-5-stick-in-the-middle\/","title":{"rendered":"Tips for writing features #5: Stick in the middle"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

\"Tips<\/a>Part #5 of my freelance writing tips series.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Despite my best intentions, I did nothing useful today. I made a few phone calls, collated a few notes, sent a few emails. Anything but face the freelance article that needed writing. It sat there, looming large, dark, silent, brooding.<\/p>\n

It wasn’t the Muse I was waiting on. It wasn’t a format, or a fact, or a quote. It was a beginning.<\/p>\n

Find the beginning for a story and you’ll find the story. I’ve written before about armpits and angles<\/a>. About navigating your rowboat in a straight line through a sea of ideas<\/a>. All of which is just fabulous in theory. But sometimes it just doesn’t happen.<\/p>\n

So what’s a girl to do?<\/p>\n

You start with what you know. What I know, for this particular story, is the middle. I have already decided that it will be an intro\/q&a\/ending format. I don’t know the intro. I don’t know the ending. But the middle – well, that’s a matter of wrangling my questions and quotes into submission.<\/p>\n

This I can do.<\/p>\n

Hopefully, once it’s done, an intro and an ending will have suggested itself. Simple, really.<\/p>\n

Now all I have to do is to do it.<\/p>\n

\"So<\/a>Would you love more freelance writing tips and advice? Check out my book <\/strong>So You Want To Be A Writer: How To Get Started (While You Still Have A Day Job)<\/b><\/a>, co-authored with Valerie Khoo and based on <\/strong>our top-rating podcast<\/b><\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Buy it here<\/b><\/a>!<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Part #5 of my freelance writing tips series. Despite my best intentions, I did nothing useful today. I made a few phone calls, collated a few notes, sent a few emails. Anything but face the freelance article that needed writing. It sat there, looming large, dark, silent, brooding. It wasn’t the Muse I was waiting […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4849,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,697,704,5],"tags":[729],"class_list":["post-611","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-advice-for-writers","category-blog","category-freelance-writing","category-writing","tag-freelance-writing"],"yoast_head":"\nTips for writing features #5: Stick in the middle<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Number 5 in a series of tips for freelance writers. 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