On Wednesday December 4th I went to hear Michael Cohen, Pete Thamel, and Greg Bishop speak about their careers as sports writers. Cohen, Thamel, and Bishop all attended the Newhouse School and now have successful careers in communications. Though they spoke specifically regarding sports writing and their personal experiences, their advice can be applied to all storytellers and communicators.
One piece of advice that I found extremely helpful was their emphasis on writing as much as possible. Though this might seem like a simple and obvious statement, their reasoning really resonated with me. Every good story starts with good writing. Whether it be reporting on a basketball game or writing a fiction script, writing is the foundation for all communication. The three spoke about all the school newspapers and local publications that they wrote for simply for practice, and how they believe that every one of those pieces helped them build themselves and their skills to what they are today.
In addition to practice they also stressed that to write a good story it is important to write what you see. This can be applied literally to the practice of sports writing where accuracy and precision are extremely important, but it can also relate to any communicator. For example when writing a fiction story, though there is room for dramatization, the most compelling stories are those that are rooted in truth. When the audience is able to connect to a character or scenario, they feel an emotional response and are likely to react positively to the message the storyteller is attempting to get across. Therefore, writing what you see is a helpful phrase to keep storytellers from creating implausible stories that an audience would not connect with.
As well as writing stories that are rooted in truth, Cohen, Thamel, and Bishop put emphasis on getting personally involved in the story you are writing. This may seem contradictory to the ideals of unbiased reporting, but getting close to a story does not necessarily mean being partial. Cohen shared an anecdote about how he was covering a story on the Syracuse Basketball team when one of the players developed severe lung and breathing issues and was admitted to the hospital. Cohen decided in order to get the truth, he would visit the player in the hospital to get an account straight from the source. With permission, Cohen sat in the hospital room and talked to the player about the team and his injury, gathering quality information to use in his story. The relationship he fostered with this player was not only beneficial for this particular story but proved useful in covering later stories as well. The importance of this personal connection is relevant for non-reporters too. If a filmmaker for example has a real passion for the subject of a film, this dedication will be apparent. If a storyteller is disinterested in their own story, it is very difficult for him or her to get an audience to be interested in the story. Therefore it is important to create work that is representational of you, and the audience will be much more likely to respond positively.
The advice that these three professionals gave was invaluable for all communicators. Not only was it helpful to hear what they each did to reach the positions they now hold, but it was also extremely insightful to hear what they wish they had known and the mistakes that they made at the beginnings of their careers. I will definitely try to incorporate their suggestions into my future work in storytelling.