1. Be thankful for criticism. It may seem like the professor or editor is being mean and harsh about your writing, but there are certain standards in the business. They are honing your skills so you don't land flat on your face in the real world.
2. Save the French for the French. The French add additional worlds to phrases that we don't (i.e. they say "the room for class" and we say "classroom"). Lady X of Y Township is always Y Township resident Lady X.
3. The Associated Press Stylebook is your bible. Keep it by your bed at all times, and take it with you on vacation. You never know when the paper or magazine is going to need a last-minute revision or story, and that stylebook is going to be your best friend.
4. Journalism is creative writing. You don't have to stick to the same boring news stories without details. Liven it up a bit with the use of senses and imagery.
5. Just like in photography, journalism has a rule of thirds. Interview three of each type of person (i.e. wives, husbands, children) or one of at least three types of people (i.e. one husband, one wife, one child). This keeps the story from being stale or being biased by only talking to one group of people.
6. Edit, edit, edit. Wait a while after typing your story before you give it a good look-over. Nothing is worse than when you want to say "public" and it comes off as something totally different. Not only does your credibility go down, but so does the credibility of whatever publication you're working for or submitted to.
7. Be ready to have to defend yourself to your contacts, your readers...anyone, really. You will always be questioned on where you obtained your information, why you published this, etc. etc. No one said this job would be easy.
No comments:
Post a Comment