Newspaper columnist - Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community

gdr2004 · 06-13-2004, 01:20 PM

Am I the only one who enjoys reading advice columns? I think that they often contain bits of insight and advice that I could never of. I think I would love to become one. Maybe it's because I saw that movie with Charlie Sheen where he becomes one. But I think it would be very What kind of credentials are needed to become a well known columnist?

Slims · 06-13-2004, 01:54 PM

I think they are, if nothing else, a good look at society.

Rodney · 06-14-2004, 04:55 AM

I've been reading them since I was 8. When I was very young, advice columns were a window into a world I hadn't seen yet. As I got older, they remind me both that 1) a lot of people have the some problems I have, and 2) some people have problems that I would _never_ have, and 3) some of the problem I thought I'd never have, I did end up having. So you learn a lot.

Being an advice columnist is easy. Being a "famous" advice columnist is not so easy. If you just want to do it, you can throw up an advice website, get people to link to it, and start answering letters on the Internet; hundreds have. You can even try your wings by commenting on people's problems on the TFP, particularly in Tilted Living and Tilted Sexuality.

In the real world, what usually happens these days is that somebody talks a newspaper into letting them write an advice column -- and it might even be a college newspaper or a local weekly, even -- and then tries to get it syndicated, or published in several other papers as well. (I don't know the mechanics of this.) Some advice columns in local papers are written by reporters or editors on the paper who do it as just another assignment, but there's always the chance to break in.

I don't say this would be easy, and you'd actually have to prove you could do it by, well, _doing it_ for free or no many in a campus paper or small-town paper. It'd also help, in this day and age, to have a specialty: aside from general advice, you could do advice to teens, advice to college-age or 20s people, dating advice only, and so on. Oh yeah, it helps to be witty, to say things clearly and directly and with some humor.

Just having common sense, a good writing style, and some wit will get you a long way. The greats, like Ann Landers, also know a lot or have great resources to turn to when answering a letter.

denim · 06-14-2004, 10:22 AM

I was bummed when Ann Landers died, and was psyched when her former editors made their own column. They have a more reasonable attitude than she ever did, IMHO.

And I read Dear Abby, especially now that the old "Abby" has officially retired.

la petite moi · 06-16-2004, 05:04 PM

I've read them since I was around 15 or 16. Of course, I'm only 18 now, but I love them in the morning or afternoon while eating.

06-13-2004, 01:20 PM	#1 (permalink)
gdr2004 Crazy Location: CA	Newspaper columnist Am I the only one who enjoys reading advice columns? I think that they often contain bits of insight and advice that I could never of. I think I would love to become one. Maybe it's because I saw that movie with Charlie Sheen where he becomes one. But I think it would be very What kind of credentials are needed to become a well known columnist?

06-13-2004, 01:54 PM	#2 (permalink)
Slims Eccentric insomniac Location: North Carolina	I think they are, if nothing else, a good look at society. __________________ "Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery." - Winston Churchill "All men dream: but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act out their dream with open eyes, to make it possible." Seven Pillars of Wisdom, T.E. Lawrence

06-14-2004, 04:55 AM	#3 (permalink)
Rodney Observant Ruminant Location: Rich Wannabe Hippie Town	I've been reading them since I was 8. When I was very young, advice columns were a window into a world I hadn't seen yet. As I got older, they remind me both that 1) a lot of people have the some problems I have, and 2) some people have problems that I would _never_ have, and 3) some of the problem I thought I'd never have, I did end up having. So you learn a lot. Being an advice columnist is easy. Being a "famous" advice columnist is not so easy. If you just want to do it, you can throw up an advice website, get people to link to it, and start answering letters on the Internet; hundreds have. You can even try your wings by commenting on people's problems on the TFP, particularly in Tilted Living and Tilted Sexuality. In the real world, what usually happens these days is that somebody talks a newspaper into letting them write an advice column -- and it might even be a college newspaper or a local weekly, even -- and then tries to get it syndicated, or published in several other papers as well. (I don't know the mechanics of this.) Some advice columns in local papers are written by reporters or editors on the paper who do it as just another assignment, but there's always the chance to break in. I don't say this would be easy, and you'd actually have to prove you could do it by, well, _doing it_ for free or no many in a campus paper or small-town paper. It'd also help, in this day and age, to have a specialty: aside from general advice, you could do advice to teens, advice to college-age or 20s people, dating advice only, and so on. Oh yeah, it helps to be witty, to say things clearly and directly and with some humor. Just having common sense, a good writing style, and some wit will get you a long way. The greats, like Ann Landers, also know a lot or have great resources to turn to when answering a letter.

06-14-2004, 10:22 AM	#4 (permalink)
denim Banned Location: Massachusetts, USA	I was bummed when Ann Landers died, and was psyched when her former editors made their own column. They have a more reasonable attitude than she ever did, IMHO. And I read Dear Abby, especially now that the old "Abby" has officially retired.

06-16-2004, 05:04 PM	#5 (permalink)
la petite moi Filling the Void. Location: California	I've read them since I was around 15 or 16. Of course, I'm only 18 now, but I love them in the morning or afternoon while eating.