ColumnsAdvice or Otherwise

Column V. Article

• A column is longer, 750 – 1250 words.

• It has story structure, a beginning, middle, and end.

• A theme is set up, developed, and paid off.

• Pay special attention to spelling, grammar, and even have the AP Style book to use as reference

• You have an editor

• Use of correct English

Writing a Good Column

• To write a good column requires more than just the ability to articulate an opinion.

• Your opinions must make sense, provide insight and be convincing.

• And you must do all this in an entertaining way.

The Analogy

• It requires you to be almost like a lawyer.

• Through your arguments, you will need to convince the jury (your readers) that your client (your viewpoint) is right.

• Shaping a powerful argument takes practice and requires both breadth and depth of knowledge as well as the ability to critically analyze a particular issue.

Your Audience

• Column writing is very different from other forms of writing because unlike straight news and feature writing, columns have dedicated readerships.

• A columnist develops a following because his readers feel they can gain knowledge, insight and entertainment from reading his writings.

• It’s a great honor to be given a regular column but remember, to do it well requires a great amount of dedication to the craft.

Reality

• Be ready for criticism.

• If you can dish it out, you’ve got to be able to take as good as you got.

• When you take a strong stance on anything, there’s bound to be someone offended by what you wrote.

• And they will write to you – often in less than polite language - to let you know exactly what they think of you and your opinions.

• It goes with the territory.

10 Tips

• 1. Write with conviction: Put forward your opinion as something you truly believe in. Argue your case with conviction. Come down hard on one side of an issue. Be unequivocal. Never ever sit on the fence.

10 Tips

• 2. Maintain your focus: Make your column about one thing and one thing alone. Don’t muddle the message. Maintain your focus. That’s the only way to make a strong impression on your readers and to convince them that your point of view is correct.

10 Tips

• 3. Understand opposing viewpoints: Be mindful of the opposing argument. Anticipate objections to your point of view and deal with them convincingly with sound reasoning. If you’re not familiar with the opposing view, you will not be able to argue your points well.

10 Tips

• 4. Refer to facts: Your arguments, however logical, will not carry much weight unless they are accompanied by facts that support your position. Don’t overdo this and inundate your readers with statistics and figures. But do make use of facts from reputable sources.

10 Tips

• 5. Use analogies: Analogies are useful for illustrating a point, especially when the topic you are writing about is somewhat complicated or technical. Using a simple analogy from everyday life makes the issue more understandable and relevant to the reader.

10 Tips

• 6. Be critical: People like reading columnists who dare to criticize real life people – not just nameless concepts and policies. Naming names might create a bit of controversy but as long as you do not libel anyone and don’t go overboard in your criticism, it works well to make your column an interesting and exciting read.

10 Tips

• 7. Do reporting. It’s possible to write columns without doing any reporting but the best columns typically involve some form of reporting. When you report, you get on the ground and you gain a better sense of what’s really happening. When you write from an ivory tower, it shows.

10 Tips

• 8. Localize and personalize: Localize your story whenever possible. Also tie it to some personal experience – yours or that of someone you know. This makes an otherwise esoteric and distant topic more real, relevant and memorable to the reader.

10 Tips

• 9. Be passionate: Generally, people don’t like to hear a soft or passive voice when they read a column. So be aggressive – even arrogant, to an extent. People want to see passion. They want to feel energized. If the issue doesn’t seem to excite you, the writer, it’s certainly not going to excite the reader.

10 Tips

• 10. Provide a solution: Last but not least, don’t just raise an issue. Have the conviction to suggest a solution. Columns that criticize certain policies but offer no solutions are useless. People read columns because they want to gain insight and answers. If you don’t provide those, you’ve failed as a columnist.

Advice Column Together

• Dear Mrs. Web,

• There was a terrible crime in our community last year and it is now coming to trial. I cannot believe that people can treat each other so inhumanly. It seems as though more people, especially young and troubled kids, are lashing out against anyone or anything they can catch at a disadvantage: children or animals, religious icons or racial differences. Why are these kids doing this?

• Dear Mrs. Web,

• I had a polite disagreement with an older relative. She believes that the Social Security program is a worthwhile, compassionate, almost paternalistic, government benefits program for seniors. I disagreed.

• I argued several details of the plan that I think are a poor buy. I feel the system is just a way for the government to obtain cheap, long-term financing from the taxpayers. I have I told her, as far as I was concerned, the 3% rate of return on SS was unsatisfactory. I told her that the same 7.65% of her paycheck if invested into her own IRA or 401k, would make her wealthy at retirement.

• I almost seemed to offend her. Was I wrong? Do you think that my logic and reasoning were wrong?

• Dear Mrs. Web,

• I just joined a great company but I have found one flaw: a co-worker who works no more than 3 hours in an 8-hour workday. She spends time at lunch, shopping, personal phone calls, and chatting with other workers. Her behavior makes me think she has no respect for her fellow co-workers. I have to take up the slack. She has been here for two years and I just don't see how she keeps her job.

• Should I make waves and complain about her performance, or go with the flow?

• Dear Mrs. Web,

• I always give a lot to my relationships, my husband, family members, and friends. I am starting to resent this because I don’t get much back. I hardly ever get what I really want. What should I do?

• Dear Mrs. Web,

• Our baby is due next month, and we know that is will be a Down’s baby. We have been preparing for her for the past month, we have mourned the baby we aren’t getting, and we are waiting for her arrival. Our immediate family knows, of course, but how do we prepare friends and acquaintances?

• Dear Mrs. Web,

• My name is Steve and I have a question regarding men's hairstyles. I am balding and decided four years ago to shave my head completely bald for a cleaner look. I received a lot of positive attention from women at the time.

• However, over the last year or so I have noticed more men with longer hair and women paying less attention to bald-headed men. Are bald-headed men out and longhaired guys in?

• Dear Mrs. Web,

• How do I know you will not know who I am?

• Dear Mrs. Web,

• Do you have a good brownie recipe?

• Dear Mrs. Web,

• My sister-in-law is seventeen. She is six months pregnant and living away at her grandmother’s house a few states away. My husband and I and family members have been talking about having us adopt the baby. We have one three year old and could take the baby. Her parents would like to see us have the infant, and my sister-in-law has said she would want us to take it too. She lives in another state and we usually don’t see her except at large family gatherings. Although we would be more than willing to open our home to this baby and keep it in its larger family we are unsure of whether this is the right thing to do.

• Dear Mrs. Web,

• I have a friend who collects. Everything. She has sets of everything from salt shakers to the latest plates from all the mailings. It is like she can’t buy one thing if she knows there is a series out there. She seems to be getting a little odd about it. Her family is beginning to look worried. I am too.