Learning how to be a sports writer

Seth,

Embrace criticism, it what makes you stronger as a human and as a writer. Open conversation lines with other writers and ask if they'll read your work. As everyone else is saying, read and read some more. Along with that, write and write some more. It doesn't matter if you are writing a story for your paper, watch a game and then write a story about it. Embrace that you can write, it's a gift.

 

Read everything you can, and not just sports. The more you read, the better you learn how to write.

Spend some time on the copy desk also. (Then run away from that shit.). A few weeks or months on the copy desk is better than college.

You'll learn how to write better, and with brevity (look it up, memorize that point).

 

I would echo most of the suggestions already made, especially the part about reading everything you can.

I'd also recommend a couple of writing/editing exercises using wire copy:
1. Try squeezing every last non-essential word out of a story. Cut as much as you can without losing any information. It's not going to make for an interesting story, but it teaches you to avoid redundancies and sloppiness.
2. Try rewriting stories to focus on different angles.

It helps if you have competition. If someone else is covering the same event as you, obviously you want to see how they do it. You could also try this by watching a game on TV, writing your own fake story and comparing it to what the pros do.

 

First you have to dress the part. Is there a Goodwill store in your town?

No, really, read and write a lot.

Even though you're weekly, maybe practice writing a game story like you would for a daily and compare it to what's in the local dailies. Find people you admire and read them for both style and content. Ask around and see if someone with experience would be willing to critique your stuff. When you're covering something, take note of the experienced guys and their work habits (assumng they're good). Watch the way they relate to people when they do interviews.

 

Sir,

Try not to be.

I'm not saying that you should not pursue a career in ths sports pages. Don't try to join the herd. Avoid it. Learn how to be a writer, learn a discipline other than sports (learn how to write business or science or politics, whatever). Then bring what you learned to sports. Best way to break out is to separate yourself from the pack.

YD&OHS, etc

 

And know the difference between "your" and "you're."

 

Do a lot of reading and a lot of writing. Post your stories on the Writers Workshop. Find people whose opinions you trust who can read your copy and make suggestions/punch holes in it if necessary.

And don't be hung up on someone's age or experience level. I got one of my most important wake up calls from a guy 10 years my junior. I still have his e-mail in which he ripped me a new one. I keep it as a reminder of what I need to do better.

 

Sir,

Stay curious. I sold my first sports story almost 25 years ago and I still feel like I'm learning. I read and re-read everything. I study books like Jon Franklin's and James Stewart's. Even poor books on writing (e.g. Richard Rhodes's) might nudge you off a spot. Shit, i went to Poynter the year before last (I felt like Dangerfield going back to college) but I got something out of it. If you think you have nothing left to learn, you're settling for less.

YD&OHS, etc

 

Here are my humble suggestions, which I am parroting from others:

1) Read.

2) Write.

3) Take chances.

4) Learn to chase a story.

 

I like fotf's point. The moment you stop learning, you start regressing. Always try to learn. Always try to get better. Even if you're in this business for 50 years, there's always something you can get better at doing.

 

A lot of good advice here, but most of it seems to be about writing. You can't write before you have something TO write, and for that you have to learn how to report.

You asked about "just learning how to build sources and find interesting stories on a prep sports beat". You build sources and find interesting stories on ANY beat with a simple yet demanding technique. You talk to people. As many people as you can. As often as you can. A lot of the conversation will be simply getting to know them and letting them get to know you. Ask them about themselves. Ask them about the people around them. It's fishing, yes, but it's necessary because, in the beginning, you won't know enough about them to know that they were raised by wolves. Eventually, in the middle of some conversation about Paris Hilton's lasting contributions to American culture, Joe Blow will say to you, "You realize, of course, that Johnny Sportsstar was raised by wolves?"

The people I've worked with who were the best reporters were just the ones who talked to the most people. If they couldn't do it in person (and most of the time they couldn't), they did it by phone. They made 100 calls a day, if for no other reason than to get the coach's secretary to start recognizing their names. And when they could do something in person, they did, because nothing beats being able to associate a face with a name ("So YOU'RE Mitch Albom! You're even shorter than I thought!)

In short (no pun intended), get to know everything about everybody. Isn't that the best part of our jobs -- we take subjects we're interested in but don't know everything about and get paid to go find the missing answers?

One last thing, and this relates to reading. Don't just read a story. Break it down. What was the writer's point? How did he/she try to make it? Who did he/she talk to? Who else should he/she have talked to? By reading the quotes, try to figure out what questions were (and weren't) asked, and if you think there were any that might have made the story better. Plus, for each quote, was it really necessary or did the writer use it only to show that he/she interviewed someone?

Hope there was something in here that helps. Good luck. The fact that you care enough to ask is a good sign.

FOS

 

Uh, yeah, sounds great in theory, but be careful. Sometimes when you're going in the opposite direction of the pack, you're also missing the story. You don't just separate yourself by story subject, but also by how you handle it.