Just a quick thought as I work to finish my latest news story. I’ve been pondering the writing process. It is rare for a story to spring, fully formed, from the keyboard. What you usually have are various key points either from the press release or other source material. Getting these parts to come together in a cohesive story is a lot like making pastry.
Bear with me if you’re unfamiliar with the process. You start with flour and fat together in a bowl and with your fingers start rubbing the flour into the fat. After a while you end up with flour-coated pieces of lard – it feels as though it will never become a pie. Keep going, however, and the mixture ends up resembling bread crumbs. Add water and suddenly the individual crumbs come together into a lump of pastry.
Somehow writing is the same – keep plugging away, re-hashing the facts and arranging the different key points and eventually something coherent emerges. I’m not sure how it happens (with words or food) but it is very satisfying when it does.
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Motoring journalists have it easy, right? A life of fast cars, fine food and exotic locations. Maybe. But first you've got to get yourself established. From time to time I'll cover the things I'm doing to try to boost my career. The rest of the time I'll be doing what I love, which is writing about cars.
About Me
- Fourwheelsteer
- I've got a "proper" job, which is great but I've always wanted to be a motoring writer. Now that side of things has started going somewhere; writing regular news stories for The Car Enthusiast (see link below).
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