Urban v's the Commentariat

[phildwyer]

Laurie's contributions to the #AdviceForYoungJournalists mess on the twitter machine really are something. So something, she posted a storify of them.

Actually they are very good advice. Especially this: "Make sure you get paid."

The real reason ordinary people rarely make a career in mainstream journalism is that they can't afford to work for free. Rich people can though.

 

[phildwyer]

If you're a cub/fresh journalism grad then "pitch, pitch and pitch again" is likely to get you shit, not work, bearing in mind that the person on the other end of the phone will have already heard every pitch under the sun by about 10.00am. I'd recommend trying to sell a finished story, rather than pitching to get a story commissioned.

That's very silly advice. Then you'll just waste your time writing stories that no-one will publish.

 

[ViolentPanda]

That's very silly advice. Then you'll just waste your time writing stories that no-one will publish.

Pitching is fine if you've already made a name. It's not so good if you're one of a fresh stream of journalism grads, all of whom are also trying to pitch.

 

[phildwyer]

Pitching is fine if you've already made a name. It's not so good if you're one of a fresh stream of journalism grads, all of whom are also trying to pitch.

Don't write anything unless you're sure you're going to get paid for it, otherwise you will starve.

 

[two sheds]

Pitching is fine if you've already made a name. It's not so good if you're one of a fresh stream of journalism grads, all of whom are also trying to pitch.

Worth writing the introduction you're thinking of and an outline I'd say.

 

[DaveCinzano]

Worth writing the introduction you're thinking of and an outline I'd say.

Mind you don't get splinters in your arse, now

 

[J Ed]

So she says not to work for free, and that working for free is undercutting people who don't then why did she do it? Do as I say not as I do

 

[J Ed]

lol

 

[JimW]

Where's "quote what you needed them to say, not what they said"?

 

[J Ed]

"Be born well"
"Choose parents who will pay for private school"
"Leverage privilege to get into Oxford"

 

[DotCommunist]

"Be born well"
"Choose parents who will pay for private school"
"Leverage privilege to get into Oxford"

trainspotting poster for the elite

 

[Bakunin]

Laurie's contributions to the #AdviceForYoungJournalists mess on the twitter machine really are something. So something, she posted a storify of them.

They're something, all right. Bollocks and bullshit, mostly. I especially like the one about not screwing over your sources, considering what she did to the one that was threatening suicide whose story she ran even after taking professional advice not to.

I've got most of my clients by pitching. You can expect to make far more pitches than you'll get replies, but it's still worth doing.

 

[phildwyer]

I love the idea that it takes "talent" to be a journalist. If only...

 

[Greebo]

I love the idea that it takes "talent" to be a journalist. If only...

Stamina, persistence, a bit of ruthlessness, and the ability to tell any qualms to take a running jump might be nearer the mark.

 

[phildwyer]

Stamina, persistence, a bit of ruthlessness, and the ability to tell any qualms to take a running jump might be nearer the mark.

Yes, for those employed full-time by a UK daily anyway. That isn't all journalists though, there are some decent ones around.

 

[Bakunin]

Speaking of commentaritwats, here's the New York Times ripping Hari a new one over his latest book:

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/15/books/review/chasing-the-scream-by-johann-hari.html?_r=1

 

[captainmission]

Two experts talk about sci-fi

Penny: It always interests me when you’re in a traditional literary circle and you say to someone I haven’t read Ulysses, people will look at you like Oh my God, who are you, why are you here? But if I’m at a con like Nine Worlds and I say I haven’t read the Foundation Trilogy, people will be like Oh my God, it’s amazing, you’re gonna love it, you can get a copy upstairs!

Penny: More people now are reading Octavia Butler, Margaret Atwood. But still, within the SF community, it’s astonishing how many people haven’t read this stuff! People who claim to be really huge science fiction fans.

Such expertise

 

[el-ahrairah]

without reading anything but those quotes actually my experience is similar. as a massive generalisation!

 

[DotCommunist]

I was into octavia butler before it was cool. and Joan Slonczewsk, Gene Ure, Cherry Wilder, Mary Doria Russel, gwyneth jones.


thats just how hip I am I'm afraid

 

[emanymton]

without reading anything but those quotes actually my experience is similar. as a massive generalisation!

I find it quite amusing that in the second quote it sounds like she is engaging on just the sort of behaviour she criticised in the first.

 

[DotCommunist]

atwood disavows her work as sci fi anyway. Too good for the genre ghetto obvs

 

[Nigel Irritable]

atwood disavows her work as sci fi anyway. Too good for the genre ghetto obvs

Does every work involving a love affair belong in the romance genre?

 

[DotCommunist]

Does every work involving a love affair belong in the romance genre?

no. TBH you can make the case for handmaids tale being not of the genre but orynx n crake, come on

 

[Nigel Irritable]

no. TBH you can make the case for handmaids tale being not of the genre but orynx n crake, come on

I haven't read Oryx and Crake, but hasn't Atwood said that it is "speculative fiction", ie the dual purpose genre renaming that serves both to unite science fiction and fantasy under a single genre title and also as an attempt to claim various "literary fiction" works for the genre ghetto.

 

[DotCommunist]

I haven't read Oryx and Crake, but hasn't Atwood said that it is "speculative fiction", ie the dual purpose genre renaming that serves both to unite science fiction and fantasy under a single genre title and also as an attempt to claim various "literary fiction" works for the genre ghetto.

yeah its all spec fiction these days, uniting all sorts from slipstream to alt history to space tales etc

 

[Belushi]

Nothing new about SF writers being a bit ashamed of the genre

 

[DotCommunist]

Nothing new about SF writers being a bit ashamed of the genre

or fantasy- the plethora of pseudonym attests to it

 

[Spanky Longhorn]

rubbish. It's nothing to do with shame and everything to do with differentiation in a massively crowded marketplace. It's quite acceptable and if anything should be encouraged.

ETA: and pseudonyms tend to be more about people pigeon holing writers in particular genres

 

[DotCommunist]

rubbish. It's nothing to do with shame and everything to do with differentiation in a massively crowded marketplace. It's quite acceptable and if anything should be encouraged.

do you think the author of the Chronicles of Gor hid behind a fake name for purposes of differentiation

 

[rekil]

Japanese author Ayako Sono calls for racial segregation.

“Since learning about the situation in South Africa 20 or 30 years ago, I’ve come to think that whites, Asians, and blacks should live separately,” Sono wrote.

Tough one for the PD identity politics kommando. Is it racist and sexist to be not very supportive of a woman of colour's pro-apartheid views?