Comments on: Guest post: Up close and personal, writing first-person profiles

By: Melody

Melody — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 15:38:59 +0000

I love these ideas, Pat. I’ve written profiles, but never first-person ones, and I love your thoughts about hitting on the right topic to draw out stories, then shaping the stream-of-consciousness so it’s interesting. Definitely saving this. Thanks!

By: Michelle V. Rafter

Michelle V. Rafter — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 18:08:25 +0000

Thanks for weighing in on this Anne. I’ve never done first-person profiles nor ghostwriting so can’t say whether I like either one. But I agree on the positive outcome of letting writing cook overnight as you say. I’ll often start an assignment late in the afternoon the day before it’s due and try to get as much down on the page as I can, especially the lede. No matter how difficult it was and how awful I think it reads, I open the file the next day and am amazed to find that it’s actually not that bad. Conversely, I can finish a story thinking it’s wonderful, there’s nothing more I could do to make it better, let it sit overnight, and come back the next morning to see all kinds of extraneous words that could be cut or quotes that could be redone.

Michelle R.

By: Anne Wayman - About Freelance Writing

Anne Wayman - About Freelance Writing — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 17:09:36 +0000

Interesting, I don’t like doing first person profiles at all! Instead I ghostwrite books so both your suggestions work for me too.

I also let much of my writing cook overnight, or even longer if time allows. Amazing what a positive effect that has.