Getting the scoop on becoming a journalist
By Melissa Ray
Arts Editor
October 3, 2007
 When I first started university like many persons my age, I had big dreams of becoming a writer. At that time in my life my own definition of what writer meant was a little abstract, the thought of expressing ideas and uncovering, quote-unquote, truths was certainly becoming.
I remember attending my first editorial meeting at The Lance and being completely intimidated. Being around other writers made me question my own writing and my ability to construct an article that would actually be published.
I didn’t volunteer myself to cover a single news story, arts piece or sporting event, in fact, it took me another month to return to the office and speak to the editorial board.
After compiling an arts article, which never ran, about independent Canadian record labels I was convinced that my dreams of becoming a writer were numbered. A year later I returned to the idea of writing for a third time, determined to see my name in print and I found myself to be more successful.
My first article appeared in The Lance in the fall of 2003, after a number of tedious rewrites.
In the time it took for me to return to writing I had been pouring myself into reading, writing and conversing about various topics, as I had heard from several other successful writers that the key to producing an interesting article was reading.
Readers, these people said, had a keener eye for language and phrasing and in turn writing came easier to them.
Since this may be my last contribution to The Lance for a while, I thought that I might tell you how challenging, yet satisfying writing can be and I would hate to see all you would-be writers miss out an opportunity because they experienced some of the same insecurities that I felt when I was starting out. So here it is the how-to guide to breaking onto the scene:
No Pressure
First of all, don’t put so much pressure on yourself. Writing for any publication, for any section is a learning experience and should first and foremost be exciting and rewarding for you.
In developing your journalistic skills and encountering various personalities, you will make mistakes, get nervous and even turn out a bad copy or two, but everything you write will help you become a more skilled writer.
You can see what worked in an interview and what didn’t, what transitions worked and which didn’t and which writing styles best suit which stories.
Research
Like school, writing about any given topic takes some research. This is your cue to get to the library or hop on the computer. Know your topic or the person you intend to talk to about your topic.
While in some stories it might be okay to include personal opinion (for example, in an arts piece) the majority of what you write will need to be substantiated with factual evidence, such as a quote.
Writers that base the majority of their story on opinion without supporting it with other, more qualified sources, from experience, usually come off sounding pretentious. It takes time to find a balance in your writing.
Finding a style
When I first started I pretended to write an article like I was writing a letter to a friend in different country. I wanted to explain things for a person who was interested in the events of my story, but was not well versed in the material. I aimed to present a mix of “opinion, facts and flair.” If a friend were indeed reading this article, would they see me in it? Would they have enough facts about the topic? And lastly, would they be bored?
Preparation
Once I felt that I had taken hold of my writing, my editor began sending to do interviews and in my five years here I have interviewed everyone from Ron Jeremy to Noam Chomsky. Interviews were always nerve-wracking, because for the longest time I kept thinking that I sounded rehearsed and awkward. It took a handful of interviews before I got comfortable talking to the people I was interviewing like they were real people. My advice to you is to prepare interview questions but only use them if you’re really stuck. Let things in the conversation flow naturally. You’ll feel better and less stressed about it in the end, I promise.
While letting the conversation flow, don’t be afraid to ask the serious questions. Even though they are sometimes the most difficult to ask a person, questions that open up important issues will guarantee you a better article. Breaking down the invisible barrier between you and your interviewee comes with asking ‘velvet rope’ questions followed up with ‘serious’ ones. The velvet rope’ concept means getting your interviewee to talk about something light and fun to discuss so they can get to know you, before opening up something more difficult to answer. I like to think of questioning as though you are trying to extract a secret from a friend; you need their trust before they’ll tell you.
As a result of interviewing and writing about many topics that I, myself, was not entirely knowledgeable about I have become more confident talking to strangers, in line at the bookstore or in the office and have discovered a love of many topics that I may not have otherwise learnt about.
So in leaving I encourage you to take the reigns and a pad of paper and get to scribbling.
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