What gem of wisdom would you pass along to a hopeful journalist/writer?

Remember that scene in The Amityville Horror?
"GET OUT!!"

 

I just saw this----I'll play it straight and take your question seriously, even if you are just baiting the hook for silly and bitter comebacks.

First, learn how to survive as a free-lancer, scrambling to establish your contacts and "anchors" (Regular work sources). Get it to the point where you can cobble together enough to make a decent year's salary. Then go looking for fulltime employment, and once you get a job, work it to hang onto as much of the freelance as you can without conflict of interest.

This will teach you how to survive if and when your fulltime job gets pulled out from under you. You will be a tougher hombre---still scared, for sure---but better prepared to deal with things.

 

See, I think that there are way TOO MANY young writers who try to "take chances." Which means they turn in an under-sourced, disorganized mess. People need to stop trying to reinvent the wheel before they've even absorbed the basics of story & structure - and one can spend a lifetime absorbing the basics.

Now, if you mean taking chances as in attempting to give a feature a narrative spine, etc., etc., then I'm on board. But I think that kids should be fundamentally sound before they decide to be Bob Dylan-meets-Tom Wolfe.

 

Drink beer with your coworkers, especially the ones you respect the most.

 

That's more what I meant. I didn't mean try to turn in a Bill Murray every time, but once you've got the basics covered, try to make the story more interesting. Play around with things, but don't go too crazy.