Defector

True. But too many places today don't have editors with spines who will say this, or enforce it. Or take it out of stories to tighten and make the story better.

I read things and wonder how the hell an editor let it go through. I don't want to be Old Clouds Guy but damn, if you're going to invest in significant websites, podcasts or print products at least invest in editors and copy-editors with backbones.

 

I guess I am That Guy, too. I understand the Internet is a "limitless canvas," but that's still no reason to use it in a way that detracts from the message you're trying to present. Whether it's Homer or Chaucer or Shakespeare or the weekly rag down the street, one thing about writing has not changed: Advance the narrative.

If Deadspin and Defector and Podcasts are making money (i.e., increasing audience/advertising revenue) with this recipe, I'm in no position to tell them how to bake their chocolate chip cookies. People will choose their favorites. But not everybody wants to wait until the cookies are cold and hard before they're served, as was almost the case with this particular piece.

As an editor, it was my ass if I didn't suggest (demand?) constructive criticism to improve things that made for compelling/cohesive/reader-friendly content that advances the narrative.

And that encompasses a wide range of styles and voices. There were stories so good I just corrected verb tenses or a misspelled word and away they went. Others were laborious pieces of junk that required sledgehammer editing to see the light of day.

If that Defector story was presented to me at that time (or even posted in the Writer's Workshop), those are the corrections/suggestions I'd make. The story is great but the part that makes it great is buried under 1,500 other words that don't advance the narrative.

You've got a famous sports blooper meme, and obviously you solved the mystery, or you wouldn't be writing about it. Unless you're Agatha Christie, I'm scrolling to the bottom for the whodunit.

 

He's still funny, but the pieces are overly long and he just throws FUCK SHIT DAMN in there out of habit.

 

Defector would only hire editors with a sharp sense of progressive moral clarity, and the writers - who make the money for the site - likely have zero interest in introducing that factor to the process.

 

Two years from setup to punchline. That’s dedication to a bit.

 

Teller waited 30 years for his punchline.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enoch_Soames

 

Uh huh. Because I'm the one who revived the thread on Tuesday.

 

Deadspin really thrived with smart aggregations and some good longform stuff and obviously the Mant’i Teo piece that was amazing.

But it’s 2022 and there isn’t a lot of money in aggregating and longform is dead.

 

Damn you, SB Nation! For a blissful moment in time, you saved longform.

 

Longform can still be alive in the right context. Unfortunately that context is not 2000 words about the press box hot dogs in Montreal