Differing gamer styles ...

[Platyrhynchos]

... and how they affect how employers look at prospective employees.

I work at a small weekly, highly community-oriented paper where the unwritten rule is to get as many names in the article as possible. Not my idea, but I'd be dressed down by the boss if I didn't do this.

I have never written a pxp gamer and never will, unless a certain sequence of plays sets up or determines the outcome of the game. Still, I have to write what and how I'm expected to write, and my articles look like they've been written by a guy who works at a small weekly, highly community-oriented paper.

I read larger dailies, and the gamers there are nice and compact. I can write like that, but those who sign the checks wouldn't like it and demand that I change.

So, when I send clips to larger papers, the SE sees my tripe and summarily dismisses me as a candidate. What's the solution? Send feature clips to show I know my way around the language?

Do you understand what I'm trying to say here? I hope I've made it clear.

Any help?

 

[wickedwritah]

So you're telling me your bosses won't let you write more, smaller stories?

I'd rather read four 10-inch angles on the game on different facets of the team than one long 40-inch weekly recap.

I believe you could get just as many names in the paper with that angle as you could through the big weekly roundup-type story.

 

[Ace]

Yeah, why not suggest a package on each game. Do a 15-inch game story how you'd write it like you'd want.

Then print a full stats package.

Or run the roster with a note for each player.

Albert Abney -- rushed 3 times for 7 yards
.
.
.
Zeke Zinnia ... looked good holding clipboard

 

[TX Writer]

I always thought Zeke was skilled with the clipboard.

Yeah, but he's really stepped up his game this year. He really wants it.

 

[jfs1000]

If you write well and clean, it won't matter. Instead of worrying about length, at a community paper try and do some well thought out feature stories. That way you can show your versatility.

I think 40 inches of anything is too much. I hope you brak it up and just don't run 2,500 words all gray.

I am at a PM, and there is a certain style to it. Our gamers use delayed leads and straight play-by-play is frowned upon. If I went with a nuts and bolts AM gamer I would get scolded. You got to talyor your writing to your niche and market. Express that in your cover letter. When you get a shot at doing something of quality, don't pass it up.

I worked at a weekly for 3 weeks before I got my first daily gig. I don't know how people do it. I got a college beat now and travel, the guy who replaced me is still there taking little league scores. It's all about luck in the end I guess. I have met some great weekly writers.

 

[Appgrad05]

I always thought Zeke was skilled with the clipboard.

Yeah, but he's really stepped up his game this year. He really wants it.

Bobby Buttsniffer is really pushing him. He came up from JV and has not missed a beat.

 

[zeke12]

Buttsniffer can't carry my jock.

I run the clipboard on this team, cats and kittens.

 

[Evil ... Thy name is Orville Redenbacher!!]

... and how they affect how employers look at prospective employees.

I work at a small weekly, highly community-oriented paper where the unwritten rule is to get as many names in the article as possible. Not my idea, but I'd be dressed down by the boss if I didn't do this.

I have never written a pxp gamer and never will, unless a certain sequence of plays sets up or determines the outcome of the game. Still, I have to write what and how I'm expected to write, and my articles look like they've been written by a guy who works at a small weekly, highly community-oriented paper.

I read larger dailies, and the gamers there are nice and compact. I can write like that, but those who sign the checks wouldn't like it and demand that I change.

So, when I send clips to larger papers, the SE sees my tripe and summarily dismisses me as a candidate. What's the solution? Send feature clips to show I know my way around the language?

Do you understand what I'm trying to say here? I hope I've made it clear.

Any help?

if you are applying to larger papers, perhaps your cover letter should express this thought? If not in the cover letter, but maybe in a folo up phone call or the interview.
You get an interview the SE at the next stop will tell you what he wants - be it a eight inch gamer filed no later than 20 minutes after the final whistle.
Let that next potential employer know what you think you can do.
You can't help the box you are in.
As someone already said if your stuff is clean that will be big help. Clean copy will get your foot in the door, you can take it from there and explain the constraints of your current stop.

 

[InTheSkeller]

Don't put gamers in your clips pack. Stick to features, columns (if ya do 'em), enterprise and the like. If your boss requires you to get a ton of names in those kinds of pieces, then you really do have a problem.

 

[Sam Mills 51]

Don't put gamers in your clips pack. Stick to features, columns (if ya do 'em), enterprise and the like. If your boss requires you to get a ton of names in those kinds of pieces, then you really do have a problem.

It's SOP in certain places. I worked for a publisher who wanted phone-booked stories. It's neither good writing nor good journalism, but that never stopped the family.

 

[TX Writer]

What are some of the things yall do to make your gamers more unique? Fortunately, I don't have the thread starter's problem, but I know what it's like because I worked for a community paper once.

But what do yall do specifically to make gamers stand out?

 

[TyWebb]

Don't put gamers in your clips pack. Stick to features, columns (if ya do 'em), enterprise and the like. If your boss requires you to get a ton of names in those kinds of pieces, then you really do have a problem.

I was going to say something similar. In your clips, you should only have one (maybe two) gamers, just to show the SE that you can do them. Your strong features and enterprise pieces are what will land you a job.

Also, while the main text of your gamer might be rather mundane, try to show off your skills in the lede and endings. Doing that will express your talent to any potential suitors.

And if the higher-ups at your paper are anything like the ones at the weekly I started at, do what you have to do to get by. Maybe try to sneak a nice, clean, compact gamer in every once in awhile, but don't do anything that will get you bitched at a lot or fired.

 

[John Newsom]

In your clips, you should only have one (maybe two) gamers, just to show the SE that you can do them. Your strong features and enterprise pieces are what will land you a job.

Ditto. (Tritto? I might be at least the third person to agree. Anyway ...

At this level ("this level," meaning mid-sized daily), we expect serious candidates to be able to write gamers. We're looking for features and trend pieces. Those are the candidates who will stand out.

Sometimes it helps to send a short piece along with your clips that explains how you got a story. I'm not a mind-reader, which means I have no idea that you wrote 30 inches in 10 minutes on your Blackberry while driving 70 mph down a two-lane mountain road in a snowstorm unless you tell me. Otherwise, it's like, "Eh, another gamer."

Here's a tip for you, Platyrhynchos: When we had a community sports writer, and she wrote a story about a team, she'd run the names of all the players and coaches in a break-out box that ran with the story. It's a very efficient way of getting names in the paper. Maybe that's something your ed will go for.