Zinsser makes a strong case for finding your voice as a writer. I believe him when he says, “My commodity as a writer, whatever I’m writing about, is me.” That is true for writing that has a byline, but not for content that does not. That includes content for popular consumption, including news and special-interest magazines. In news magazines like Time, that sometimes, but not always, list one or more contributors to an article, articles sound as though they were written by a single writer, even though the contributors’ list shows they were not. Probably an editor packages disparate contributions for a single article to give it a single voice. And probably editorial style guides contributors to write contributions that can be seamlessly packaged with those of other writers.
Beauty and fashion magazines typically have a single voice, even when contributors have a byline. Maybe editors craft contributions to give them the magazine’s voice, or maybe contributors fit their writing to the magazine’s style. Zinsser says that readers don’t like being talked down to, but readers of magazines like Glamour and Cosmopolitan must. These have a “just-us-girls” voice that matches the magazine’s light content. These magazines gush trivia that captures readers’ attention, while allowing them to take a mental vacation from serious thought. They use cheap slang that Zinsser advises writers to avoid to create a persona that readers trust and emulate in thought, language, and lifestyle. Writers deliberately chose the slang terms “gorge” and “banging” in the example below. For their audience, cheap slang works.
“We’ve got lots of gorge runway photos to looks at! (Glamour, 2/18/2011)
“Despite being born with a rare and debilitating genetic disease, Lauren Ruotolo, an entertainment executive in New York City who works closely with Cosmo, busted her ass to have it all –” hot job, hotter boyfriend, and a banging shoe collection.” (Cosmopolitan, 2/18/2011)
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