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• Wednesday, April 9, 2008 08:53 PM

  first, freelance so you have some clips

  I'm dubious about launching someone on a journalism career with advice that boils down to 'be sassy and lie,' though of course it works for some people.

  i would say, stop expecting to get "a writing job" handed to you and instead start pestering editors with story ideas. accept the idea that no one is ever, ever, ever going to call you back, for the next 5-7 years, and keep trying to get editors on the phone and suggest ideas to them. maybe they'll discuss or tell you to contact them by email and your foot is in the door. admit that you don't have clips but say you'll do it "on spec" (that means they owe you nothing if they don't like it.)

  go after editors every way you can. go through your friends in the business if you have them, make some if you don't. persisting and being forward are traits of a good reporter, and while 14 out of 15 editors will be as mean as can be in rejecting you, one may give you a chance, and all you'll need is a few before you start getting somewhere, and THEN you get the writing job.

  also, this might be a good time to accept that you probably aren't 'a pretty decent' writer yet, in terms of what editors are looking for, which is generally a very specific and formulaic product that doesn't have a lot of literary flexibility. you don't have to be good at this yet, no one will really expect it, but you do have to be humble about being rewritten and accepting edits and trying to understand not what it is that YOU want to do, but what it is your editor needs.

  if you are fast and reliable and willing to do anything at the last minute without being a pain in the ass, you will get work.

  and oh, your 'ideas' don't have to be breaking news. start noticing stuff. anytime you find something annoying or weird, ask yourself some more questions about it and it might be news. what do YOU wonder about your favorite celebrity or politician or whomever. that might very well lead to news.

  —Arya Stark Read Arya Stark's other letters
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