I'm a former journalist, too, and one of the biggest lessons I learned for writing and life in general was to grow a thick skin and learn from mistakes. Whether it's an editor massacring your draft with track changes (but hopefully making it better) or a reader with more knowledge than you schooling you on the topic you thought you knew about, it's best to see misjudgments and mistakes as learning opportunities, not attacks, even if said non-attacks were delivered attack-like.
Great stuff, Andrew, and in my experience all of this is spot on. I worked as a Wall Street analyst -- which is a type of openly biased and malleable pseudo-reporter -- before working as a proper journalist for a hot minute, and lessons 1) and 4) heavily influence my fiction writing practice.
There's always a better verb, or adjective, or turn of phrase which can infuse more life into a piece of fiction. The economy you learn as a journalist can be an incredibly powerful skill.
An anecdote I heard which I think you'll appreciate: "If you ask me for 500 words, I'll need 30 minutes. If you ask me for 250 words, I'll need an hour."
That anecdote is extremely accurate man. So much harder to keep things short. And I had no idea you dabbled in journalism for a minute. Financial stuff? Anyway, thanks for reading and engaging, as always!
Yep, after my stint at the investment bank I took a job as a research/data analyst at a business intelligence firm, but that quickly morphed into me covering the financial side of the biotech business as a full-time reporter. It was a small (but influential) industry rag that ultimately wasn't my cup of tea. All that said, I learned a ton, which is the most important thing you get from any job.
Another aside: in my first attempt at a novel I wrote two chapters that were structured as obsequious puff pieces by an access journalist. Those were a lot of fun, and worked structurally because I wrote from the third-person omniscient POV. It's an idea I might play around with again for a future project.
This is really interesting but my main takeaway is the term 'vomit draft'. I'm often a slow writer because I write *everything* and then have to sift through, shape and refine to find the real point I'm trying to make (it is rare that this is crystal clear to me before I start writing), and the best selection and order of ideas to get there. I've never known how to describe this but now I do! I, am a vomit drafter lol.
Thanks for reading, Nicola, and for sharing your thoughts. Vomit drafters unite! Also, I think the process you described is 100% normal, and I'd argue, great. I wrote about it a bit in that vomit draft post, but I used to do the opposite (edit each day as I wrote along) and I found it only slowed me down and wasted a lot of time in the process. Writing through to the end, thinking about what I have, and recalibrating, has proven to be a lot more efficient, and even fun since half the time I don't know where the hell I'm going. Happy writing!
I need to see American Fiction!!
I'm finally going tomorrow!
I'm a former journalist, too, and one of the biggest lessons I learned for writing and life in general was to grow a thick skin and learn from mistakes. Whether it's an editor massacring your draft with track changes (but hopefully making it better) or a reader with more knowledge than you schooling you on the topic you thought you knew about, it's best to see misjudgments and mistakes as learning opportunities, not attacks, even if said non-attacks were delivered attack-like.
100% agree, Ray. Huge lesson I learned, too. Journalism humbles you real quick. Appreciate you reading and commenting!
Great stuff, Andrew, and in my experience all of this is spot on. I worked as a Wall Street analyst -- which is a type of openly biased and malleable pseudo-reporter -- before working as a proper journalist for a hot minute, and lessons 1) and 4) heavily influence my fiction writing practice.
There's always a better verb, or adjective, or turn of phrase which can infuse more life into a piece of fiction. The economy you learn as a journalist can be an incredibly powerful skill.
An anecdote I heard which I think you'll appreciate: "If you ask me for 500 words, I'll need 30 minutes. If you ask me for 250 words, I'll need an hour."
Also, those blurbs! Keep killing it!
That anecdote is extremely accurate man. So much harder to keep things short. And I had no idea you dabbled in journalism for a minute. Financial stuff? Anyway, thanks for reading and engaging, as always!
Yep, after my stint at the investment bank I took a job as a research/data analyst at a business intelligence firm, but that quickly morphed into me covering the financial side of the biotech business as a full-time reporter. It was a small (but influential) industry rag that ultimately wasn't my cup of tea. All that said, I learned a ton, which is the most important thing you get from any job.
Another aside: in my first attempt at a novel I wrote two chapters that were structured as obsequious puff pieces by an access journalist. Those were a lot of fun, and worked structurally because I wrote from the third-person omniscient POV. It's an idea I might play around with again for a future project.
This is really interesting but my main takeaway is the term 'vomit draft'. I'm often a slow writer because I write *everything* and then have to sift through, shape and refine to find the real point I'm trying to make (it is rare that this is crystal clear to me before I start writing), and the best selection and order of ideas to get there. I've never known how to describe this but now I do! I, am a vomit drafter lol.
Thanks for reading, Nicola, and for sharing your thoughts. Vomit drafters unite! Also, I think the process you described is 100% normal, and I'd argue, great. I wrote about it a bit in that vomit draft post, but I used to do the opposite (edit each day as I wrote along) and I found it only slowed me down and wasted a lot of time in the process. Writing through to the end, thinking about what I have, and recalibrating, has proven to be a lot more efficient, and even fun since half the time I don't know where the hell I'm going. Happy writing!