We asked Scott Peterson, editor-in-chief of the Waukesha County-based Lake Country and Living on the Lake magazines, what he’d say to free-lance contributors if all of us were sipping coffee in a Hartland restaurant—hoping he’d pass along some guidance. He thought about the request for a spell, then e-mailed a reply. Here’s a sampling of his insights:

• Be curious. In your interview(s), don't stop asking questions, even dumb questions. The only bad question is the one not asked. As you think about readers, your goal is to give the novice and the expert things they did not already know about the topic.

• Find the story. Everyone has a story to tell. It's your job to find it—and the most compelling slant. Never come back from an interview calling it boring; it's probably the interviewer, not the interviewee, who is boring. Be interested. Ask good questions. Make your subjects feel relaxed. Earn their trust. Most everyone likes talking about subjects close to their heart.

• Carefully organize your material. Your high school English teacher was right. It's all about organizing. Tell the reader what you are going to say, say it, and then tell them what they just read. Caution: make the bookends so interesting that readers don't even realize you’ve led them on a reading adventure.

• As you write, keep a typical reader in mind. Picture the person you're writing for: a single mother, a lake resident, a dog lover, a teacher, the local postmaster. Write so the story has depth and meaning for that person, or persons. Ask the questions they would want answered—the obvious and the not-so-obvious.

• Also, don't be afraid to take chances. Challenge yourself with your writing. Break the mold. Consider trying something a little different. Save examples of writing that took a risk and dust them off when you need to jump-start your own imagination.

• Make sure you GRAB the reader. We live in a world of increasingly short attention spans and growing impatience. Is your lead engaging? Is it short enough? Looking through your material, ask yourself, what components might work better perhaps as a short sidebar or graphic element? And keep asking yourself: Have I given the reader captivating entry points into the gist of my article?

• Use examples. Anecdotes, stories, and quotations keep people reading. Look for dramatic incidents and episodes, and enlightening quotes or brief case histories to convey key points. And don't just TELL the reader, SHOW him or her. Paint a picture. [An example: Telling – The trees in the backyard are stunningly colorful in fall. Showing – Our oaks turn red, brown, and russet; the hickories suddenly show a golden bronze. A red maple dazzles us with its brilliant scarlet. Almost overnight, the sugar maple goes from deep green to orange-red. And aspen, birch, and poplar treat us to a gentle golden-yellow.]

• Make every sentence count. Keep them clear and concise, and convey at least one point with every sentence. An interesting fact, emotion or transition. Give your sentences some density without being intellectual or loading it with jargon.

• As you look back on your feature story, ask yourself, have I made the reader FEEL the story? Anyone can write facts, but the writer who can connect emotionally with the reader is a cut above the norm.

• Be the master. Pore over grammar; look up words and try to incorporate a bit of new vocabulary in every writing. Be a master of words. Take pride in plucking just the right ones from your arsenal.

• Read your edited work [as it appears in print]. Go over every printed word and, if in doubt, ask why changes were made. Learn from the experience. Be open to the fact that the editor might (or might not) know more than you. But, as noted, if you don't agree with changes, it’s permissible to politely challenge the editor. Most of all, learn from the experience of seeing how an editor has worked on your writing.

Scott concludes with this insight:

Enjoy the process. This is one of the best jobs in the world. Think of it: A job where you get to talk to the most interesting people around and then to interpret their words, experiences, and perspectives for the world. And you get paid to do it! As a writer, every day is a new adventure, a new learning experience. Is this heaven or what?

Scott works for Lake Country Publications, part of the Journal Community Publishing Group, located in Hartland.

A preview: Future Musings will go one-on-one with editors of three other Wisconsin-based publications: Wisconsin Trails, Wisconsin West, and The Writer (published in Waukesha).