Why All Writers Should Start In Sports

David von Drehle in an email to Roy Peter Clark before last week's Sports Journalism Summit:
1. Because the building blocks of narrative are the building blocks of sports:
– Conflict

– Struggle

– Testing

– Honor

– Teamwork

– Self-reliance

– Character

– Set-back

– Fear

– Pain

– Triumph

– Loss
2. Because these building blocks become ready made in sporting events, so you can stop searching for them and start working with them, as opposed to, say, school board meetings, where you can hunt all week for a narrative.
3. Because if you start out as a school board writer, you will shape yourself into a writer of process stories; if you start out as a politics writer, you will become a writer of cynical stories; if you start out as an investigator, you will vanish down a deep hole. But if you start out as a sports writer, you might turn yourself into David Remnick or John McPhee or Dan Jenkins or Sally Jenkins or Gary Smith or …
4. Because you will learn to shape stories and write them on deadline. Not 4-hour deadlines; 15-minute deadlines.
5. Because your boss doesn't care so much. You won't get yelled at for trying something new.

1. Because the building blocks of narrative are the building blocks of sports:

– Conflict

– Struggle

– Testing

– Honor

– Teamwork

– Self-reliance

– Character

– Set-back

– Fear

– Pain

– Triumph

– Loss

2. Because these building blocks become ready made in sporting events, so you can stop searching for them and start working with them, as opposed to, say, school board meetings, where you can hunt all week for a narrative.

3. Because if you start out as a school board writer, you will shape yourself into a writer of process stories; if you start out as a politics writer, you will become a writer of cynical stories; if you start out as an investigator, you will vanish down a deep hole. But if you start out as a sports writer, you might turn yourself into David Remnick or John McPhee or Dan Jenkins or Sally Jenkins or Gary Smith or …

4. Because you will learn to shape stories and write them on deadline. Not 4-hour deadlines; 15-minute deadlines.

5. Because your boss doesn't care so much. You won't get yelled at for trying something new.