Newborn Activist Seeks Mentor with Knowledge of Journalism Technique

[jokerman93]

Hi folks,

I'm wondering if there are any experienced Journalistic researcher/writers out there in the vast DU that would be interested in helping me get started researching and writing opinion pieces.

It would involve giving me advice and tips on research procedures and possibly helping me edit my work. I can come up with plenty of topic ideas, but I feel I need a jumpstart.

I'm a professional (miraculously still employed in Silicon Valley) technical writer with a BA in English, and have taught rhetorical reading and writing at the university level, but I'm very interested specifically in journalistic research and writing technique.

I'd be happy to hear from everybody with ideas about this!

Thanks in Advance!

Jokerman

[mojowork_n]

1. Medium, audience, personal style

Dude,

Could you please clarify your goals, a little? is this project intended for the web, for print, or for (it's got to be coming one of these days) 'liberal' talk radio? Who are you writing for? What kinds of subjects do you need to research? What sort of changes would you hope to effect?

Personally, I'd start out by looking at some of the writers that have influenced your individual writing style, whose columns you follow closely, to whose literary influence you may owe a (conscious or unconscious) stylistic debt. If you're thinking about becoming the next Maureen Dowd, having an outrageous sense of humor would certainly be helpful. To be mentioned in the same breath with, say, Greg Palast, Sean Gonsalves, or (the U.K. Gaurdian's) Robert Fisk would require specific, strong background experience in (respectively) economics, cross-cultural issues, and history/languages/on-site-reporting.

Mainly, I think, "...researching and writing opinion pieces" requires you to personalize your work--inject your own passion and insight into your text, so that it's immediately accessible to the reader--in a way that is completely foreign to coldly objective, dispassionate 'technical communication'. (I know, I've been a tech writer/illustrator for years, now.)

I'd say just get out there and start writing. Complete some drafts. Get feedback at frequent and regular intervals. Show people examples of your work, solicit comments and ideas, and keep plowing ahead... If you're looking for editorial feedback, I'd be happy to take the time to read through what you've got. Find as many people as you can, whose opinions and sincerity you respect, to do the same.

Good luck.