Best writers to read for a young writer

Ernest Hemingway.

 

best beat writer? gordon edes. it's not even close. in l.a. he was the best on nba, nhl and baseball. in s. florida and boston, the best on baseball. incredible combo of reporting, writing and endless enthusiasm.

 

Me. I'll show you how to write with humility.

Shaddup.

 

Gregg Doyel Dennis Dodd ;D

 

Edward de Vere.

 

There is easily still a place for craft discussions. I'm not sure craft discussions is always what was happening before, though.

Most of us here are adults. What we don't need to read are, you know, motivational speeches or starry-eyed paeans to certain writers or stories. There isn't anything wrong with taking celebrated work apart and figuring out why it's good. Or why it isn't as good as some others suggest it is. And why two well-meaning people may disagree.

 

I liked the craft discussions. I especially liked them when they involved something I had written, because I learned a lot and hopefully improved the next time out.

 

Yes, read Gregg's columns. Big fan of his.

 

When I helped run an internship, I used to ask who their favorite authors were, and 99% of the time it was "Bill Simmons." Worse was when it was some TV/Radio personality that hadn't really written in years. That was always the first thing I tried to change, and a lot of the names on this list were greats I would point people to.

Mike Tanier (SoE), Steve Rushin (SI) and Frank DeFord (SI/NPR) were always recommendations as well.

I also thing it's really important to point young writers at non-sports writers. Good writing can be intrinsically good—even on a topic one doesn't care about, and I think that's an important lesson for young writers to learn. Getting stuck in a niche of *only* reading NFL/NBA/etc because that's what you like is a sure sign that it's not the writing that you're appreciating.

 

I'd qualify as a young writer. Personally, I really enjoy writing these writers' work/have been told to read:

- Chris Jones.
- Wright Thompson.
- S.L. Price, Gary Smith. I also read Richard Deitsch's media column -- he always lists great non-sports/sports pieces from that week, and it's a pretty good list.
- Eli Saslow.

I remember reading this piece of his about the life of a family that lost its youngest son in the Newtown massacre post-media craze. Four or five months after the fact, when there's less and less talk of what happened on a national level, what is life like for the family?

The Nieman Lab broke down why the story was so good. This is great to read if, like me, you want to understand how writers like Saslow piece together the story/reporting.

http://www.niemanstoryboard.org/2013/06/10/whys-this-so-good-no-78-eli-saslow-and-into-the-lonely-quiet/

- For beat writing, I read Baxter Holmes' coverage of the Celtics for the Boston Globe. Full disclosure: I don't enjoy watching the NBA at all. He's a damn good writer, though.
- Tim Rohan. The guy's only a few years older than me but is already doing great work with the NYT.
- Sam Borden is the NYT soccer writer. Enjoy everything he writes.
- Columnists? David Carr of the NYT (non-sports). Bill Plaschke LAT. Bernie Miklasz of STL Post-Dispatch. I don't read sports columns as much as I read other sections' columnists. Kevin Cullen of the Boston Globe's Metro section is probably my favorite. So much has happened in Boston within the last 13 months (Marathon bombing, Whitey Bulger trial, Aaron Hernandez murder), that it's difficult not to read. Before he became the Globe's editor, I really enjoyed Brian McGrory's columns.
- On that note, Eric Moskowitz, David Filipov of the Globe-- both great writers. David Abel wrote this terribly sad piece about the family of the child who died in the bombing...two-part series.

http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2014/04/12/loss-and-love/a19pcWz6WF5nNozPPItwYI/story.html

What I read is obviously a little skewed toward Boston area media because of the paper I read every day. I'd still defend any of the aforementioned Globe writers (Holmes as pro sports beat, Cullen as columnist, Moskowitz/Abel/Filipov's Marathon coverage) nationally.

Aside from only reading good writing, just read. Stay informed on current events. Be curious about what's going on in the world. Floods in the Balkans. Russia and the EU's take on Ukraine. The killing isn't slowing down in Syria. The number of friends I have at school who can't hold a conversation about important current events is frustrating. Just read.

 

Apologies for the lengthy post above, but in regards to column writing I forgot Dan Wetzel. If you're going to read sports columns, Wetzel's writing is excellent.

...I'm done for now.

 

"Somebody Told Me" is a fine collection of Rick Bragg's news features from The New York Times and other papers.