Wednesday, July 4, 2007
An interesting thing
The moment when your self image and your self knowledge have nothing to do with each other...
Lesson One
The first lesson comes from an article by my friend Kate Linthicum. Kate sent me this article as an example of one of the favorite things she's written so far.
It could have been the typical intern story - it's an event piece about something that happens every year. But Kate focuses it around one person. The person isn't particularly unique, but the details bring him to life. Additionally, Kate builds the story around the moments before and after the kid competes in his event. This forward motion keeps the reader reading.
I often get stories like this, but I don't think I've ever nailed a piece, even though I spend a lot of time worrying about making them original. The other day I wrote a story about iPhones. If I had written the story with this relatively simple narrative structure (start the story a few minutes before the store opens, end it with how a particular buyer feels about the phone), it would have been much more interesting. Instead, I peppered it with quotes and wrote a story that could have been written anywhere.
I'm going to try to write a story in this style over the next few days. We'll see how it goes.
It could have been the typical intern story - it's an event piece about something that happens every year. But Kate focuses it around one person. The person isn't particularly unique, but the details bring him to life. Additionally, Kate builds the story around the moments before and after the kid competes in his event. This forward motion keeps the reader reading.
I often get stories like this, but I don't think I've ever nailed a piece, even though I spend a lot of time worrying about making them original. The other day I wrote a story about iPhones. If I had written the story with this relatively simple narrative structure (start the story a few minutes before the store opens, end it with how a particular buyer feels about the phone), it would have been much more interesting. Instead, I peppered it with quotes and wrote a story that could have been written anywhere.
I'm going to try to write a story in this style over the next few days. We'll see how it goes.
The reason I have this blog
I've been staunchly opposed to having a blog for about as long as I can remember. Blogs have always seemed a little too self-involved and self-reflective for my tastes, I imagined writing in one would be a chore.
But today I came up with a new project, and a blog seems the only and best way for me to go about doing it. The project is simple, and also difficult: I want to get better at doing the thing I love most, journalism.
I love the craft for so many reasons: it gives me the chance to explore and explain what I see before me; to find new ideas and shine light on old ones; to make things better; meet people; to travel; to see the world.
But it is also one of the things that makes me most insecure. I worry that I am not good at it. That I'm mediocre, and unoriginal. Part of the problem is that I'm naturally like this about anything I do. But part of the reason is that journalism is something I taught myself and learned from my peers - it isn't something I've studied meticulously. It's something I'd like to think about and learn about more critically. Hopefully then I'll be able to get better.
So everyday, I'm going to post something I've thought about or learned. It has to be every day, otherwise I won't do it. I want it to be public, so I actually put coherent, edited thoughts together. Thus the blog. Please comment, if you're reading. Please leave me things to think about.
But today I came up with a new project, and a blog seems the only and best way for me to go about doing it. The project is simple, and also difficult: I want to get better at doing the thing I love most, journalism.
I love the craft for so many reasons: it gives me the chance to explore and explain what I see before me; to find new ideas and shine light on old ones; to make things better; meet people; to travel; to see the world.
But it is also one of the things that makes me most insecure. I worry that I am not good at it. That I'm mediocre, and unoriginal. Part of the problem is that I'm naturally like this about anything I do. But part of the reason is that journalism is something I taught myself and learned from my peers - it isn't something I've studied meticulously. It's something I'd like to think about and learn about more critically. Hopefully then I'll be able to get better.
So everyday, I'm going to post something I've thought about or learned. It has to be every day, otherwise I won't do it. I want it to be public, so I actually put coherent, edited thoughts together. Thus the blog. Please comment, if you're reading. Please leave me things to think about.
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