MIT: "So, science writing?" Me: "WAH WAH WAH"
Seth Mnookin, for reasons best known only to him, decided to inflict me upon his Science Writing class at MIT. They asked great questions about getting into science writing, and doing it. I rambled. Seth transcribed. Here are the results, with some, er, director's commentary.
Big day for @MIT_Sciwrite seminar: Skype sessions with @edyong209 and @readmatter 's @jimgiles. We're getting spoiled...- Someone asked about balancing time spent on Twitter and other activities. My usual answer is that Twitter can be used to fill the interstices of the day, like time spent on the bus, or waiting for a phone call. But more broadly, don't see it as time-wasting. It's extraordinarily useful for journalists in many ways, including: pushing out your work, finding stories, making contacts, learning about critiques of your pieces, socialising, and...
- Twitter like eavesdropping, but "legally, without hacking into phone lines," says @edyong209.
- It's the new rummaging-through-sources'-bins!
Then someone asked about things that I would like to have known when I started. - Look at @Open_Notebook for "people in field, talking about your craft," @edyong209 tells @MIT_Sciwrite. Helped him "as complete newb."
- Or rather, would have helped me. But it's amazing. go read it http://www.theopennotebook.com/
- "I was an idiot about pitching," says @edyong209 (when he started out). (Somehow I find that hard to believe...)
- Pitching is exactly the type of thing that the Open Notebook would have helped with...
- Rules about how to write blogs "complete crap," similar to rules for writing novels or recording albums, says @edyong209.
"The internet rewards boldness,"says @edyong209. He says generic advice, like to 'keep things short', is crap. @MIT_SciWrite- And on Twitter:
- "Don't be cowed by all the weirdness on Twitter" -- hashtags, RTs, etc. "Map what you do there onto real life," says @edyong209.
- Mistakes on Twitter mostly have to do with being annoying, like immediatley tweeting at everyone telling them "look at me!" says @edyong209.
- That's the equivalent of going to party and shouting at everyone "Hey, I'm great." It's really annoying in real life & Twitter: @edyong209.
- A good question, next. I paraphrase: When you write, do you get worried that the same story has been covered by or will be covered by other people?
- Blog purely based on what interests me, says @edyong209. When you start off, need confidence that you can bring something to table.
- Whether it's that you can write really well, or you can write in an interesting or funny way, or that you can bring specialist knowledge, or that you can have fun with structure and narrative, or...
- "Being extraordinarily accurate with elevate you among a significant number of yoru peers," says @edyong209 to @MIT_Sciwrite
- Blog is like what I would write if I had no editor...because I have no editor, says @edyong209.
- ...so being able to find my own voice and style was important.
- "In journalism, it's much more important to be better than to be first." @edyong209
- "In journalism, much more important to be better than to be first," says @edyong209. (yes i sd yes i sd yes.)
- First is a position. It's not a sign of permanence or quality. It's a nice feather in your cap, but let's not make it more than it is. Better to write something that people will remember, or even come back to.
- "...impverished if only 1 journalist at 1 publication covered it." (i.e., don't overly worry about exclusivity) -- @edyong209 (2/2)
