Reporter and screenwriter Skip Hollandsworth spoke to student journalists at the 2012 Gloria Shields Publications Workshop in July. He gave GREAT advice.
- Learn the rhythm of a good sentence.
- Type of famous writers’ work to learn that rhythm.
- I don’t have droughts. I’m not allowed. The insurance man doesn’t get to have droughts and neither does the writer. There’s a lot of writing that’s not inspired. I get a first draft, then I know where to go.
- 1st draft is crap. (He used Hemingway’s quote)
- Challenges? I still feel fear. I still write a paragraph and say who do I think I am? I’m not a writer.
- The way to beat the fear is to write a sentence and then another. And then another.
- No matter how bad it is, keep writing.
- I don’t ever try to write a cluttered sentence.
- Hollywood always looking for the next teen movie that captures the teen zeitgeist.
- Start taking notes in a journal. It will be gold one day.
- How to get ready to write: wake up early, drink a lot of coffee, try not to get distracted.
- The great goal is how to shut out the outside world.
- Your life (as a writer) is a lonely, miserable, pain drenched life. And you’ll love it.
- Don’t be safe. Don’t write the predictable story.
- If the quote goes on too long, you lose the reader
- I love getting the detail that makes people gasp. That’s reporting.
- Readers want to be moved
- Why he’s a reporter: Because I couldn’t do math. (His father loved to tell stories) If you’re surrounded by good storytellers you pick it up.
- People love to talk about themselves.
- Here’s where you get the best stories: don’t be afraid to ask a stupid question, but ask it sincerely. I would interview anyone who would talk to me.
- Never stay with the one quote. Follow up. Ask more.
- A lot of journalism is pedestrian work, but that teaches you to write tight. Just because you’re writing a boring story doesn’t mean you get to be bored.
- ALWAYS LISTEN, follow up, don’t even look at your notebook.
- Don’t red your questions to your source. Have a conversation.
- I’m still never comfortable with my work. Never happy with it.
- Don’t think of writing as an art. Think of it as a craft.
- Get them to tell a story that’s important to them–and you
- He tells them “I’m not here to judge you. I want to try to understand what got you to this place.” Then he tries to make them comfortable.
- Make sources feel like they have a sympathetic ear
- Where he gets his stories: I read. I look for funny stories. Stories that I read and think “that will make a really good twist”
- Start a conversation. Don’t let them think it’s an interview.
- When you’re interviewing someone and they pause, take a breath too. LET THEM SPEAK. (STFU)
- I believe it’s very important to get banter going.
- If you get the forum to write about people, don’t get the hot head when they criticize you. When you enter the public arena, you ask for criticism.