Has anyone ever REALLY worked with you?

Sir,

No, and not Hunter Thompson either.

YD&OHS, etc

 

I think one of the problems with having/finding someone to teach folks is that there are fewer and fewer people in society in general and newspapers in particular who can take constructive criticism. And I'm probably one of them, even though I'm 37.

When I started out at a huge daily on the West Coast, the slot man at our bureau was this old, crotchty guy who was about 60. You'd hear him muttering from behind his terminal as he hacked and whacked his way through the stuff sent his way by a fairly young staff of reporters.

Your heart would drop when he'd call you over, and sometimes he'd tell you the same thing he'd told you two weeks earlier, but the bottom line was that he really wanted you to get better. Both to help the section and to make his life easier.

The man hated me for the first year I was there. I sent him stories with someone's name spelled three different ways in the same article. I got school nicknames wrong. I made mistakes all over the place.

By the time he retired, however, he thought I was improving and I was very grateful for his hectoring. But it took me a long time to stop being angry at him and to get past his old-school ways and very non-PC attitude.

One night, the San Jose paper called up and wanted us to get them some sort of info while we were on deadline. The slot guy told whoever answered the phone to tell them we were busy and shouted ``This ain't the Weasel Piss Bugle, for God's sake!''

When Mr. Slot left the paper, we gave him an engraved liquor flask that read ``From the boys at the Weasel Piss Bugle''. It was a touching scene.

 

In honor of Fenian_Bastard, a writer I very much admire, some thoughts on craft this morning.

I took a couple of days to think about this thread, and what it meant, before posting anything. Wanting not only to extol the virtues of great editing, or the importance of being mentored or even closely read, I wanted to dream up some actual remedies for those younger writers who are having trouble finding these rare and valuable things.

Like The Jones, I've been lucky enough to work with one editor for a very long time. I've mentioned him on these pages before. His name is Bob Roe, and anything noteworthy I've done since 1998 in longform narrative journalism is as much a product of his work as it is mine. If anyone's interested, I can detail at some later time the process by which we work through a story. Maybe The Jones would help contrive a Q and A Edit thread in the Workshop. For the moment, though, suffice to say that it's a very close partnership; and that writing, while pursued almost entirely in solitude, becomes collaborative the moment you turn in your copy.

I want first to untangle a couple of the key things we've been talking about here, because 'mentoring' and 'editing' and even 'reading' are three very different things. Each of the three constitutes a learning opportunity. And every writer everywhere, from the smallest weekly newspaper to the glossiest monthly magazine, needs each in some measure to make their work better.

Let's stipulate first that the most important editor any writer will ever have is himself/herself. Learning to objectively read, judge and correct your own work is as important a thing as you'll ever do. There's no strict formula by which to master this, but here are a few suggestions:

- Take your pride out of it. Be humble in the face of the work, and honest in assessing your own shortcomings and mistakes. Learn not only to accept criticism, but to seek it out and embrace it.

- Read widely and deeply across all kinds of writing. The more you know about what's possible with the written word, the easier it is to hold your own work to a higher standard. To know what you're doing right and what you're doing wrong. And a note here specific to our board: If all you ever read is newspaper-style sports writing, you're sunk.

- Learn to read as a writer must, with a pen in your hand, to mark and make note of what the writers you admire are doing. And how they do it. An object example of this is WC Heinz, who came to his voice through his close reading and study of Hemingway.

- To become a better writer, despite the grind of daily deadlines, you have to want to become a better writer. This often means extra work, harder work. The moment you stop trying to get better, you're getting worse.

- Make use of things like the Writers' Workshop board here.

Which brings me to 'mentoring'. I've been very lucky over the arc of my working life to have had several. These are men and women outside the routine of my paid work who take an interest, not just in my writing, but in my larger ambitions and in the overall conduct of my craft, my career and my life. I've met them all in different ways, and at different stages in my development. The key, I think, is not just to want mentoring, or be passively receptive to it, but to actively seek it out. It is a rare thing indeed to find a mentor in your own workplace, or to be taken up unbidden by someone willing to coach you through a career. So,

- Put yourself in settings where you'll meet people whose work you admire. By which I mean workshops and classes and summer writing programs and so forth. This may entail some real effort and expense on your part, but think of it as in an investment in your future. Whether you attend the Poynter seminar or the New York State Summer Writers' Institute or the Breadloaf conference or a night extension class at the community college, you have to go looking for people willing to take up your cause. There are literally thousands of events like this across the country every year, and if you aspire to being a better writer, you need to think hard about finding the time and the money to attend them. I can virtually guarantee that just up the road at your state's land grant college, there's an MFA writing program that's going to bring in four or five writers of national stature this year. Try to finagle your way into a masters' class with them. The three hours you spend drinking beer and shooting pool one night with some gray-bearded Great American Novelist might change your life. It changed mine.

- A couple of folks who've been invaluable to me over the years were editors who rejected work I submitted to them. They were kind enough, though, to reject it personally and specifically, noting what was wrong with it and what had some merit. In these cases I was able to open a correspondence with them. I took note of what I was told and continued to submit further work. I was never a pest, but I was persistent. In some cases it was years before I ever met these people in person. But this kind of long-distance mentoring can arise if you're willing to take the time and make the effort.

- Keep in mind that most writers are happy to repay the kindnesses they themselves have benefited from. My mentors took me up because someone forty years ago had taken them up. I try to do the same here with the Workshop. The point being, don't be shy about asking someone you admire for their help. The worst that can happen is they say no.

- As many fine books as there may be about the craft of writing, and as much as you might learn from one, a book is no substitute for the flesh-and-blood give-and-take you'll get from a living, breathing mentor. And a book will never pick up the tab for that sixth round of Guiness.

Back up the thread a way, someone spoke to the notion of getting some help with how to organize story. One of the quickest solutions to organizational questions - and most importantly, one to which we all have access - is to find a trustworthy reader. And the less they know about sports or writing or sportswriting, the better. These are the folks who can flag your architectural shortcomings simply by saying "I don't get this part," or "I'd like to know more about what happened to him," or "what does this guy look like?" Every writer needs a reliable, disinterested reader. Might be your mom or your dad or your spouse or the guy next door. An "average" reader is the quick litmus test for the nuts and bolts of your story. Find one. And when they say to you, "I don't get this...", use that as your springboard to revision.

Finally, editing.

An edit isn't always - or even often - going to be a teaching moment. Especially in daily newspapering. Mostly it's going to be a matter of fixing and fitting your story into the rush of the day's needs.

The teaching/learning part comes after the deadline is met. But only if you seek it out and open yourself to it.

When time allows, get in the habit of asking your editors for their thoughts on what was done and why. Ask specific questions. Don't argue in defense of something; rather, listen carefully to their answers. Most will at least give you a sense of their editorial process. A very few will present themselves as willing teachers, if only to make their own lives easier. Fewer still will become mentors. But you can't succeed as a writer, at any level, until you learn to engage the editing process as a positive opportunity for growth. How positive depends almost entirely on you. Again, get your ego out of the way, and take notes from whomever is willing to give them. Turn those notes over in your head, stew on them, and then accept or reject them as you choose.

The best writers I know - even at 60 or 70 - never stop being students of the craft.

I believe very deeply that the value in the work we do is the work itself, not what that work reflects on the writer in terms of money or prizes or fame. Value the quality of the work above the result the work produces, and you'll be able to set your vanity quite comfortably aside and learn the craft as it's meant to be practiced.

There are mentors and teachers and coaches and exemplars and friends all around you.

It's up to you to find them.

 

Now THAT is incredible work.

Thanks, as always, jgmacg.

 

I've started a thread on this up in the workshop, too, so we can have a running repository of advice and insight without having to dig too far to find it.

http://www.sportsjournalists.com/forum/threads/56563/

 

Has anybody had the copy flow break down so badly that the copy is going straight from the writer to the slot guy? Happens all the time where I am. Cut backs seem to eliminate copy editing first. You gotta have copy and you gotta put it on the page. The easiest thing to cut out is the guy who reads it.

It's hard to have writing mentors when you can hardly find eyes to ready your fricking copy, know what I mean?

I hate having to write on Sunday for Monday because on the Sunday skeleton crew, there isn't much left in the office to give your stuff a good read. And if I am doing something Sunday for Monday, it's usually a gamer or a column or both — not anything I can get done while the Saturday for Sunday crew is still around.

 

brian, i am not piling up on because many of us have been in your situation. but check out jgmacg's post. you might not find a mentor or a good writer's editor in your department or even your workplace. you might have to go outside your building. it takes a little effort, as jgmacg stated. at my first job out of college, the circ was 29K daily and about 40K sunday. it was tough to get the kind of writing help i needed/wanted in-house.

 

I've had a few seminars, more on page design than writing, but I guess I'm a gifted writer. That seems to be what most of those I have worked for believe.

My very first story, a feature story, received rave reviews from both my SE and ME, and ended up winning an award. I've been told I'm the best writer (some) have ever worked with by copy editors, and have the "cleanest copy" of anyone (they) have ever worked with.

My biggest booster? My Writing 102 instructor in junior college. She called one essay "a masterpiece" and constantly raved to the class about my writing. That challenged me to try different concepts, and she was very encouraging with what she saw. I would love to write a book, but being ADHD and ADD, I just can't try something that labor-intensive.

Not to say I don't have typos here and there, and the occasional brain fart. But writing just comes naturally, I guess. I have a very vivid imagination and like words.

Two of my first three sports editors I worked for were some of the easiest people to work with in my life (and this is a second career). They became close friends, and we seemed to compliment each other in the newsroom.

I have had others I have worked with or under me that I would rate as well. One, who was a high school stringer for me (and now is a sports writer) was the most gifted writer I've ever worked with when he was still in high school.

Then again, I have had a guy work for me who is now an ASE, and his writing is still below college level. When I approached him (I was asked to by the SE) about helping him improve his writing, he became hostile and defensive. I think because his family has been in the business forever, he thinks he doesn't need anyone telling him how to write.

A lot of it is a gift, and you either have it or don't. But gifts or not, if you don't put hard work behind it, and are not open to critique, you're screwed no matter what business you're in.

 

Nope.

 

It's not just about writing. It's even more about reporting. At least in reporting you get edited. In reporting you get thrown into the field and told to figure out how to swim (how's that for a mixed metaphor!)
Journalism teaching and training always have been lacking.
No doubt some good talent drowns because of this.

 

There are a great many more outstanding reporters in this business than there are outstanding writers.

 

Maybe on your beat.

Not on mine.

There are lots of folks on my beat who can write interesting prose or a witty column.

There are about three of them who can grab a story between the teeth like a bulldog and not let go until they've made it bleed ink.