Looking for serious column advice

What makes an essay different than a feature? What makes E.B. White different than W. C. Heinz? Or A. J. Liebling? What makes "Death of a Pig" different than "Death of a Racehorse"? What makes an observation different than an argument? What makes an opinion different than an assertion? What makes a sports story different than a stump speech?

Before you embark on this, you need to read very broadly and deeply across the form to understand what it is you're being asked to do. If all you know of columns is vitriol and spittle-flecked invective from the current school of bloggers, bloviators and contrarians, sobsisters, haircuts and grandstanders you need to work back across the greats already mentioned here. Add Baker and Buckley and Buchwald. Royko. Kempton.

A column, any column, is a 700-word opportunity to change minds; change hearts; change the world.

 

Well said, as usual, jgmacg.

I will amend your statement: If all you know of columns is "I" and "opinion," keep reading.

The best columns, in my opinion, are not always opinionated. A column is the most versatile assignment a newspaper writer can have. You can do anything you want with it.

 

Read Bill Plaschke, Joe Posnanski, Mark Kriegel, Ian O'Connor, Mike Vaccaro, Pat Forde, David Hyde and John Canzano to name a few current columnists. One more thing, StraightEdge: If all you've seen are "loud-mouthed assclowns on TV or on the radio," then you're not looking hard enough and you're depriving yourself of an opportunity to grow as a writer.

 

Form an opinion. Tell a story. Be witty.

Show people why you were selected to opine in those 25 inches.

 

The best columns can tell a story -- doesn;t always have to be yours.

 

I've found some stuff here and there from the names mentioned, and I'm definitely still in the camp that the column should be another form of telling someone else's story instead of putting my opinion out there. I'm still not convinced that people will want to wade through 18 inches of my opinion, even if I never use a single "I" or "my."

But I'll keep reading into these (would I be living the cliche if I started a subscription to SI?). It never occurred to me to think about writing columns. I was just told this week, 'hey, you're going to start a column.'

Thanks for the advice.

 

A column can be whatever you want it to be. Opinion. A great human interest story. Funny. Whatever. It's yours. If you use it the right way, it's a great way to touch people. And sometimes, your opinion can help shape others, and that's important.
Good luck with it.