Science Writing for a General Audience (Popular Science)

Have you ever thought about writing popular science articles?

It's quite a skill to be able to turn complex theories and new ideas into accessible and arresting articles for the general public. I'd suggest you need to have either a science-based background or a bright and very enquiring mind. Isaac Asimov and Carl Sagan are excellent examples of the former category, while Bill Bryson might be just as good an exemplar of the second.

Like any skill, it's probably best to start with the simple stuff and work your way upwards, although if you're starting with an outstanding knowledge base, your journey may be in the other direction!

Because sometimes it might even be a disadvantage to be too highly skilled or over-specialised - you might find it really difficult to write at an accessible level. But wherever you come from, and by whatever route you arrive, if you are now a writer and you understand and take interest in scientific subjects, science writing might be just your thing.

One excellent writer, with a background in highly advanced mathematics, is Davide Castelvecchi, who features quite regularly in such prestigious publications as New Scientist and National Geographic. I recently came across his work in a New Scientist article on the rather esoteric subject of 'Loop Quantum Gravity' .

Davide is especially good at adjusting the level of his writing to suit the intended audience, but without it seeming anything other than intelligent and well-read. He'll never insult the intelligence of his readers and neither must you. Your aim should be to educate, inform and entertain your audience - not to show how clever you are.

I was so intrigued and inspired by his article that I wrote a poem on the subject (reproduced below), and sent it to New Scientist. Much to my surprise, they forwarded it to the man himself, who has asked if he can reproduce it on his website.

Naturally, I've agreed:


We measure time by movements,
To and fro -
And space by implication of that time,

But what if neither's real?

A universe where both are consequent
Of abstract mathematics,
Where the stuff
Of stars and all the emptiness between
Is braided formulae
And where the mass
Of all we know and all we thought to know
Has no real mass and yet just has to be.

From Einstein via Bohr the numbers call -
And Newton's apple simply had to fall.


Meanwhile, as a writer with a (less stratospheric) science background, I'm considering a couple of popular science projects myself in the near future.

Watch this space (pun half-intended).

Roy

After Keats, Millennia after Plato...

My first poem on here for a while is a reflection upon Keats' Ode to a Greek Urn. At the end of his poem, Keats seems to be saying that truth equates to beauty, and that the urn is telling us just that, but it's more likely a reference to Plato, whom I paraphrase here. Plato, for his part, feels that beauty can be a result, a consequence of truth - specifically truth in matters of the heart.

Keats is reflecting on the lives of the characters depicted on the urn, but also the life of the person whose ashes the urn contains, and he seems to draw attention to the appropriateness of the images from life to the representation of truth by the depiction of beauty:

Equating truth with beauty sees us fall
too eagerly for traps our eyes have set,
for beauty may delude us, after all.

But may we find this correlation yet
is less deceit and more simplicity?
For Plato said of this: As we apply
love's true expression, so will beauty be.
(Though not the obverse, we may hear him sigh).

To fall for beauty may be self-deceit,
but truth holds its own beauty: though we say
these urn-borne tales are simple, incomplete,
there are both truth and beauty in the clay.

For what survives, collected in the urn -
the urn and ashes from a mortal's pyre -
is death's own view of life, which cannot burn,
and our best hope for truth - beyond the fire.

Roy

'Quote, unquote'

The use of real-life quotes is a great way to add energy and realism to an article, news item or press release. Simply stating the facts from your point of view, often in the third person, will often leave a reader underwhelmed or unsatisfied. After all, unless you're well known and therefore quotable yourself, what do you know?

While simply putting your views into (eloquent) writing adds weight to your opinions, it will often not be enough to carry an entire piece.

Since everything you write will presumably have some human angle or some human involvement, some human quotes will almost always be a useful addition.

For example:
There is much concern over the environmental effects of the proposed new road carries far less weight than:
'We're terribly concerned for the futures of several rare species' said Miss Smith, protesting at the site.

Often, you will be able to contact the person concerned and ask them for a brief quote. Sometimes you will have to rely on someone else's quote on the subject, and sometimes you may have to quote from a classic source, like Shakespeare, but the more immediate (and relevant) the better.

For a press release, the person whose company or services you are helping to promote should be more than happy to give you a few words. You can always adapt their quote a little, with their permission, to make a bigger impact, although the change of voice will introduce a useful variety.

With a news item, the subject may be less willing to say anything more than 'no comment', but you should try to get as close to the source of the story as possible for a quote you can use. A bystander caught up in the drama will probably have something relevant to say.

With more general articles, where there may be no current source other than your own research, quotes from previous writers (taking care over copyright), previous press releases or comments in the public domain (i.e., the media) may be useable.

Sometimes, despite your best efforts, the aforementioned Wm Shakespeare may still be your best option.

Never mind, at least he was never known to say, 'No comment.'

Roy

Setting Your Price - and Getting It

I was chatting with a friend a couple of days ago, on the subject of pricing and selling services and products, amongst other things, and he told me about his mother, who paints.

He despairs of her pricing policy, which is basically this: cost of canvas plus cost of frame plus cost of paint plus 'a bit' (ie about 10 pounds or so). On that basis, she'll sell a painting which took her a week or more to paint for about 40 pounds.

Ridiculous?

And yet how many of us are much braver in pricing the things we write? On that basis, with no canvas, frame or paint to buy, we might be tempted to 'sell' our talents for next to nothing. And all too often, we do just that.

Of course, the advice to friend's mother is obvious: double your prices and see if you still sell as many. She probably would, as her work sells very quickly - as quickly as she can produce it. In which case, she might try pushing her prices up even higher.

Now, giving advice is one thing, and taking our own advice is quite another, but we must be brave. After all, we have nothing to lose but an unprofitable job.

An associate of mine recently took the decision to follow said advice and has never had so much work, or so much money from writing, as he has now. When one of his existing clients queried his rising prices he turned the tables and simply asked them to consider their priorities: price verses quality.

They could hardly backpedal quickly enough and willingly agreed to his new asking price. He's very good but he also has a strong nerve and growing confidence in his ability. He put both to the test, and passed with flying colours.

If you want to be a professional writer you cannot afford to work for nothing, except perhaps at the very start of your career when you're building a portfolio.

After that, if you're not charging enough to make a good living, you're not really being a professional.

Now, where did I put that price list?

Roy.