Oblique rules for journalists (Patreon)

Just a little experiment. Probably a draft more than anything.

Over time, I've come up with a few silly, counterintuitive demands from my fellow reporters. They might resent me for it, as well they should, but I stand by some of these demands. So here's a short list of rules I think every reporter should abide by. If you're not a reporter, that's fine -- these rules might be useful to you anyway.

1. Every journalist should be obsessed with at least one novelist

Possibly the most important rule. Having one novelist (or more!) whose work you know inside out shows you how a writer changes and matures over time. It helps you to develop your own voice -- every good writer steals all over the place, and a reporter's job is telling other people's stories. 

Folks know me best for Tolkien at this point (I should return to Nowhere and Back Again, shouldn't I?). Milan Kundera is the novelist I've most recently been fixated on. These aren't recommendations of writers you should read as such (although you should definitely read them) so much as examples.

Supplementary rule: follow some filmmakers closely too.

2. Be an expert on something you don't cover

Spend an afternoon on a Wikipedia deep dive. Read several books on one obscure subject. Talk about that subject at the dinner table while your partner(s) say "that's nice, honey." Someday it's going to come up in your work. You'll thank me.

3. Know at least one town extremely well

This one seems obvious, but it's worth turning it into a conscious effort. You can learn everything there is to know about people from knowing every corner of a town, whether it's a hamlet in the Shenandoah Valley or the entire City of London. Have a conversation with a waiter at your local breakfast place every week. You'll get several stories just from that. And then you'll visit another town and everything you know about the world will be proven wrong.