I wasted 20 minutes of my time the other day applying for what was presented as freelance work with an outfit called Foodtripper. The reply had a variation on the theme 'We have no budget to pay you as yet, but...'. It really is about time that the Gorkanas and Travmedias of this world made those sending such alerts come out with it upfront. Foodtripper, however, will be flooded with pitches from eager young things keen to submit pieces for nothing.
'Everyone is a writer now' is a phrase that I've seen several times about the demotic nature of the internet. But it is wrong. Some can write, and others throw rubbish together. It would be more correct to say everyone thinks they writers now.
They have good reason to feel they can emulate many of the supposed professionals. I did some subbing a while back at a Sunday paper, and was horrified at the trash that came in as copy. One piece submitted by a showbiz 'writer' was the worst of a bad lot: sentences left incomplete, without flow, without style, it was drivel punctuated with the names of soapstars. Subbing there meant a total rewrite. A big name chef (or, if I am any judge, his PA) wrote a Valentine's recipe for an intimate meal - for four people. Cue exchange of mails and another rewrite. A showbiz profile got the name of the 'actress' wrong throughout. But at least they had the back-stop of sub-editors.
Writing is as much a craft as an art, where you learn the tricks of the trade, study how it is done, and take an interest in the tools you can use. You polish words, rework, try different things, and with sweat and luck and thought end up with something more than readable. A good writer too should read and read and read. Look at a few pieces on the sites of certain online publishers and you'll see the output of those who have bypassed the learning phase, and don't read anything except Hello, or Vogue for the real highbrows. And if they have sub-editors it doesn't show.
No comments:
Post a Comment