Solid questions for, and observations about, Grant Wahl and his visit. One thing he said, in particular, is worth highlighting: “The name SI can get you in the door, but in time what matters are relationships and people and trust. It’s about what you’ve shown yourself to be.”
This business is one of accretion: every story you write helps you with the next one, and the one after that. You build a reputation, and a body of work, and (hopefully) you learn from your mistakes.
For next week:
- Prepare your pitch to the class. You’ll have five minutes to sell us and five minutes for feedback. This shouldn’t be fanciful at this point. We’re five weeks in. So, like any editor, we want to hear: Why this story is interesting, why it’s worth doing, why you’re the person to do it, and how you plan to do it. Also, we’ll need the following: Who your characters are, what access you’ve secured, why this is a story (arc/conflict/etc), what your larger themes will/might be, and how this makes you better. If that last one sounds corny, that’s fine. But that’s the point of this class. Don’t do something just because you know you can do it or it seems ‘easy’. Pick a story that challenges you as a reporter, a writer, or a thinker. You’ve got a room full of thoughtful, creative people to help you. Take advantage of that. I’ve now sent all of you a pitch primer by email. I’m also posting it below:
- Read this story, by Michael Mooney, as we’ll be deconstructing it in class. More important: it serves as a perfect example of the kind of feature you can pull off in this class, as far as scope, access, and such. Mooney didn’t need to spend months reporting or negotiate access to a high-level athlete. The story ran in a regional city magazine. What mattered was that he found and told a great story. It ended up being included on all manner of year-end lists, was included in the Best American Sports Writing anthology, and was one of the best-read magazine stories of the year. This is the kind of story you should be focusing on: small in some ways but universal.
Other notes:
- Grant Thompson will now be coming on April 10th. That should be fun.
- Jason Fagone is booked for two weeks from now, and Kate Fagan will be Skyping in for another class. Both should be excellent.
- Let me know if you want to talk through your idea(s). Now is the time to do it.
Pitch Primer:
For Tuesday, keep mind that you’ll be making a pitch both to me and the class. It should be reported, thought out, and prepared. Similar to a conversation with an editor, one who wants to know why this is a story he/she should commit resources to and how you’re going to pull it off.
To gain the most value from the class on Tuesday, and add value for the rest of us, it’s imperative that you be preparing ahead of time.
Your pitch structure should go roughly as follows:
1) Your idea in a nutshell. Describe the whole thing in the first sentence, as broadly as you can. “I want to do a story about TK PERSON that is interesting for TK reason.”
2) Fill us in on the characters and why they are interesting/newsworthy
3) Tell us about your access and reporting to date
4) Tell us how you will make this a story, one that sucks us in and has a narrative arc and makes us feel something or ask questions
5) Anticipate your editor’s questions and overcome them. As in, “I know this sounds like it’s tough to pull off in the next two months, but I’ll be able to for XY reasons.” Or: “I know high school kids can be incomplete characters so I intend to focus on the parents as the main protagonists.”
Storytelling Through Sports 