Column Advice

OK, quick:

1) See how many time you can use "I".
2) Write your lede in the form of a question.
3) One-sentence, choppy paragraphs.
4) Inject random, peripheral thoughts to fill up the column.
5) Quotes are overrated.

That should about do it.

 

i have no issues with it, either, but it does have to be done right or it reads juvenile.

 

You could opine on what a wonderful sport cheerleading is

 

Didn't mean that you have to do a blowhard opinion piece a la Mariotti. Just means that a column is more than a feature -- you can write on the same subject, but you need to inject some perspective, opinion, personal reaction, analysis, etc. instead of relying on the subject to carry you. This could be as simple as making sure the last word belongs to you, not to the subject.

 

My editor could use this advice.

 

Funny thing. In the discussion of Jim Murray a couple of days ago on this board, among the columns linked to was his very first for the Los Angeles Times.

I did a count of the personal pronoun (I) in that column . . .

First paragraph: 7
Entire column: 60

Now, God knows I'm no Jim Murray. And neither is this original poster. And most of us are nowhere even close.

But you have to wonder, if Jim Murray weren't Jim Murray, what the critique of that column would've been in a place like this.

The hard thing about columns is that there are no rules.

They look freaking easy when you read them written by others. Some of the ones you like when you're writing them turn into dog food when you see them in the paper.

Sometimes, the job is such that you have to write from a brutally personal perspective. The prediction column. Weighing in on a major local issue.

But in my humble experience, the best ones come the same way that the best straight stories come -- when you situate yourself in the right place, a place where most people can't go, or wouldn't think to go, and bring something original to bear once you get there.

Red Smith said, "I like to get where the cabbage is cooking and catch the scents."

I can provide from my own experience plenty of examples of how not to do it, if you'd like me to email them! Thank goodness, you always get another try the day after tomorrow.

But I think the safest way in a one-shot deal is to physically get yourself to a compelling subject, and then relate what you find in such a way that the reader gets a sense of not just your subject, but of you, by the end of it.

 

A metro columnist at one of the top 25 circs in the nation says he's "paid to swing the bat." I like that. But there's more than one way to skin a column.

 

Thanks to every one for posting and giving me advice. I got my column in about one hour before it was due.

Thanks for taking the time to respond. Greatly appreciated.

 

you wrote about the cheerleaders, didn't you?

 

No, but I think my column would have attracted a lot more male readers if it were about cheerleaders.

 

you lost me already.

 

I knew I would