Story concepts that need to die

Very true.

It's not the concept that matters, so much as what you do with it.

 

1) Gas or oil hike stories which seem to occur days after a significant hike at the pump, as if it is fresh news.

2) Quit talking to those thinktanks on the economy and talk to real people about the potential impact of a bad economy.

 

Yes ... but. ... If editors are saying we need to send someone out to interview fans during the game or do a story on the heat or whatever tired assignment, they are not saying "And put our best guy on it, dammit!"

They just want something fast to fill a hole.

 

Uhhhhhhh, heh-heh, uhhhhhhhh ....

 

Uh huh. And if you do something creative and interesting with it, suddenly you're not the guy who has to go interview fans any more.

 

That's great if you do. Really. I think a writer who can try to find a fresh angle in any assignment is great.

I just don't like cookie cutter assignments.

 

All Christmas themed stories, and year end review stories. If they were important, I wouldn't need a reminder.

I also hate the athlete turkey drive story. Where was he when that guy was starving in August?

 

But that's why they hired <b>you</b> instead of the 30 other people who applied for the job. You can take the seemingly mundane and make it into something interesting.

Henry Aaron hit 755 home runs when people were trying to get him out. They weren't putting it on a tee for him.

 

Our shop thankfully killed the year in review stories. You can make a list if you must, but the copy is dreadful. It's to fill space and nowadays that's not that important anymore. Papers just are never that big. In the old days, you could write a 60 inch year in review and they'd get it all in with no problem. BORING.

 

That's true. I HATE Year in Reviews. Capsules, maybe, with short summaries, but not novel-like copy about every damn single event.

 

I agree with most of the stuff on this tread except the overcoming adversity stuff. If you can write it well (which we're supposed to do) it can make for some truly compelling reads.

Readers eat it up, and honestly, it makes me feel like a schlep for complaining when Dr. J forgets to bring up the laundry. I know we're not changing the world with these pieces, but we can take our minds off of our readers' crappy lives for a few minutes.