Cut to the Chase

by Stephanie Olsen

The IdiomSiteCom says "cut to the chase" is a movie term from the 1920's, and it originally meant to cut from a dramatic scene to an action scene (like a chase).

Nowadays, of course, we use that phrase in the same way we use: get to the point; no fluff; just the facts, ma'am.

Writers cut to the chase all the time. We need to prune constantly, whether for clarity or word count. It's difficult, however, to snip for style: a balance between the objectivism of stringent newspaper reporting and the personal tone of essay writing—such as when you're writing a travel piece for a consumer magazine. Here, you've got to make it interesting, with your voice highly evident, but without imposing your opinion throughout.

A recent travel assignment for Skylights Magazine called for a quick-trip, 650 word (sidebars included!) NYC article, suitable for families with children. During research, while looking for points of interest that stood out, ranging from budget to outlandish and from educational to plain ridiculous, I found my title. It gave me an original point from which to start and served double-duty as the name of a tourist service: "The Big Onion."

Obviously a play on "The Big Apple," a walking-tour agency in NYC calls itself the Big Onion because there are so many layers of the city to discover. So the tone was set for the piece: bright and fun, yet crammed with information.

When fusing geographical sites and monuments with a region's identity (i.e. Paris and the Eiffel Tower), your article would seem obviously incomplete without mention of them—try a twist to alleviate boredom. For instance, The Statue of Liberty? Here's my line: "For the best hot pretzels in the world plus sublime views of Lady Liberty—without the line-ups—ride the free Staten Island Ferry back and forth from Manhattan as many times as it takes to figure out which side the Statue's on."

In any sightseeing article about New York City, mention of the World Trade Center must be made—but how so in a breezy little travel story?  I decided to simply use it as a point of reference: "…across from the WTC Memorial site in lower Manhattan." Thus, paying tribute by acknowledgment but not altering the article's purpose.

Detail and description can be lost altogether in short articles, but when using them, add bits of brilliance, interest, and validity.  I toss a word or phrase into the mix whenever possible: "… the best of NY waits just outside your Art Nouveau door.” Similarly, playing with words becomes very important—the “sounds” that words make can perk up a line. For instance, in a Québec City piece, I wrote: "Sashay your way on Grande-Allée: Voodoo with its pounding disco and tiered bars…" instead of "Try Voodoo on…" or "Go to Voodoo.…" Say it out loud: Sa-SHAY your WAY on Grand-Al(LAY).

When writing snappy little informative pieces, the entertainment value lies in your approach, voice, and style (as opposed to the actual content, per se).  You have no alternative but to cut to the chase and—back to Writing Rule 101—make every syllable count.

Published freelance writer, Stephanie Olsen is also publisher of JustMarkets.com, and has a special time-limited offer for readers of WriterOnLine.

$10 GIFT CERTIFICATE

Order a 6-month subscription to JustMarkets Daily
by April 30, 2005 and get $10 OFF with this coupon.

That's paying, telecommute markets and jobs for writers, 6 mornings a week—including Saturdays!—for a full half year. All this at just 30 cents a day. Not bad for about 18-20+ new paying, work-from-home jobs in your email every day!

 With our enormous search base plus direct requests from editors and publishers,
you'll SAVE TIME, you'll get PUBLISHED and you'll get PAID.

>>SUBSCRIBE ME TO JUSTMARKETS DAILY<<