Last Updated: May 20, 1999
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Good writing
Newspaper writers have no end of demons to blame for boring, cookie-cutter
stories: deadline pressures, inflexible editors, even readers who they
think want one style of writing.
But writers whose stories never wander from the straight and narrow
should ask whether they’re simply holding themselves back.
More and more lately I’ve taken to telling writers what I once heard
Kate Long, the folk-singing writing coach in Charleston, W.Va., say at
a writing workshop: Give yourself permission to be creative, to excel,
to break the mold.
As she found with her own staff, that’s often the only obstacle standing
in the way.
It sounds simplistic, but it can have profound results. It can free
you try the things you think you can’t accomplish, often with surprisingly
good results.
Most usefully, it helps writers overcome the internal obstacles to creativity:
Journalistic prejudices
You know the ones: This touchy-feely stuff doesn’t belong in newspapers,
especially in hard news stories; storytelling isn’t an appropriate vehicle
for newstelling; creativity distracts both the writer and the reader from
the news; readers pay 50 cents to read news, dammit, not your flowery prose.
That’s a lot of internal prejudice to overcome. It can be daunting,
especially when your newsroom is packed with such naysayers. But the answer
can be as simple as saying: Says who? And then producing not flowery prose,
but a compelling read that happens not to be an inverted pyramid.
Fear
Our work is laden with enough fear already: the fear of making deadline,
the fear of the tough interview, the fear of missing a fact or a call,
the fear of the blank screen. We don’t need to pile on more.
But there are deeper fears to deal with, and giving yourself permission
to be creative in the face of them can be truly liberating. Strongest,
perhaps, are the fear of failure (journalists have to "get it right," a
way of thinking that often is wrongly applied to story form) and the fear
of rejection, especially rejection by the folks at the neighboring desks.
There’s fear of success, too. The worry that, if you pull it off, you’ll
have to do it again, and you’re not even sure how you did it the first
time.
One thing I’ve learned by hard experience — I suspect the best writers
have done the same — is that it pays to follow our fears. Write the piece
you think you can’t write. Cover the same old story in a new way. Leap
into the narrative you think you can’t pull off. Almost without fail, that’s
where the magic lies. Mostly, we’re afraid of the journey from where we’re
cowering to where we can be.
Doubt
Doubt is fear’s evil cousin. It tells you you can’t break the mold,
you can’t do the big story, you can’t try something new without screwing
things up.
It lies.
The truth is that we’re immensely creative beings, no matter what our
natural gifts. Assuming that you’re in newspapering because you like to
write, there’s little more to do but set out and write. Your instincts
will take care of much of the rest; training and experience will hone your
instincts.
Editors need to hear this as much as writers. A lot of editors need
to give themselves permission to break the mold; still more need to give
their writers permission.
I’ve gone so far in coaching visits as to have the top editor stand
up and say, "Let’s do great writing." Why? Because at least one writer
will always say, "Our editor won’t allow that." In almost every case, that
writer is mistaken. Editors, even bad ones, are like readers: They yearn
for stories that surprise and delight. But many of them never tell their
staffs to try.
There are precious few shackles in newspapering beyond the ones we put
on ourselves.
Take yours off. Give yourself permission to create. Or if you’re an
editor, give your staff permission. Tell them you want the good stuff.
Chances are, your readers will thank you. v
McGrath is the writing coach for The Times of Munster, Ind. Call
him at 800/837-3232, ext. 3239 or
e-mail him at mcgrath@howpubs.com
