Working on assignment

[ScooterP]

I've posted here before. I am freelance writer and I am typically accustomed to working on assignment. I'd like to expand into other sports publications but I am not very good at coming up with story ideas. I am good at taking assignments and putting together solid stories. Is it possible to approach a publication and ask to work on assignment, and if so, what should my approach be? I know working on assignment is something reserved for staff writers or freelancers who have been at it awhile.

Anything you folks can tell is very much appreciated.

 

[jfs1000]

You are not good at coming up with stories? You may want to think of a different profession. Freelancers must be able to identify story ideas and learn how to pitch them.

You have read the paper everyday for most of your life, and you telling me you can't find a story in your town that hasn't been told yet? If you are going to be a successful freelancer, this is the No. 1 skill you must develop -- news judgment. A lot of people have talent to write, it is news judgment that separates good writers from good journalists.

So how do you get jobs? SE calls you up and tells you to cover a game, or what he wants? That may be fine where you are, but if you aren't going to hustle and find your own ideas, you are going to stay in the $40 a story freelancer camp.

I don't know what to tell you. I have so many story ideas in my head that I don't even tell my editor them, he may tell me to do it.

Try and cover a game and find something interesting that can't be told in a gamer. Find out about the lives of some of the athletes or maybe a connection. Every single subject you interview is a potential feature story. You just have to learn to recognize it when it hits you in the head.

That is the 6th sense journalists have.