JO 403B1 Magazine Writing and Editing: Fall 2009
Instructor: Professor Phyllis Karas Email:PKKaras@aol.com
Tuesday, 4-7 room 214
Fax: 617-639-9329
Office Hours: Tuesday 3-4
Phone: BU: 617-353-7726
Office: room 220D 640 Comm. Ave
(home phone) 781-631-8312
Course Description:
JO 403 is an intensive introduction to magazine writing.
Writing assignments will consist primarily of five magazine pieces, the longest and first one, 1000 words, a profile on someone who, in any way, takes care of someone else.
Students will be expected to read the assigned materials and come to class prepared to discuss them. Since keeping abreast of the news is vital in conceiving salable magazine ideas, it is also critical that you read at least one daily Boston paper, plus the Sunday New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and as many magazines as you can squeeze in among your other assignments. We will focus on one particular magazine each week, and you will be expected to put on my blog (http://pkkarasblogspot.com) a one-page summary of each magazine touching on the following subjects: Who is the audience? What is the tone of the magazine? What kinds of topics do they cover? What story might you propose for that magazine? What do you like or dislike about the magazine? What writers appeal to you? This should be blogged by noon of the day the summary is due.
Also, once during the semester, you will be required to find an exemplary magazine article, whose URL address you put on the class blog for your classmates to read a week before your presentation. It will be your job to point out specific examples of why this magazine story succeeds in captivating the reader and why it is an appropriate fit for the magazine in which it appears.
It is also required that you read every article that your fellow classmates select, as well as those assigned from New York Stories: Landmark Writing from Four Decades of New York Magazine ,and contribute to the conversations about these pieces. You need to write a short reaction paper with a few comments about each story on the class blog: http://pkkaras.blogspot.com. This blog must also be added before noon on the day of the assignment.
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There will also be frequent guest speakers with expertise in several areas of publication. They join us at their own expense. I expect you to engage the speaker with questions and answers during the semester, so that you can gain insight about the inner circle of the magazine industry. You are required to bring in 2-3 questions for each guest based on his/her work.
Required Readings:
NEW YORK STORIES: LANDMARK WRITING FROM FOUR DECADES OF NEW YORK MAGAZINE. Foreword by Tom Wolfe
Suggested Readings: THE ELEMENTS OF STYLE by William Strunk and E.B. White
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS STYLEBOOK AND LIBEL MANUAL
Prerequisites:
Newswriting and Reporting I and II (JO 721 for graduate students) or consent of the professor for students with demonstrated experience in newsgathering, research, interviewing and news writing.
Key Deadlines and Grading Policy:
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September 22: Query for profile due; 250 words. Pick a magazine or website as the intended market for your profile.
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October 6: First draft of profile due. 1000-word piece aimed at a particular publication, which must be named. Submit seven copies, six of which will be given to classmates to edit.
October 20: Return edited drafts to classmates; 20% of
grade determined by edits.
November 3: Final draft of 1000 profile due; 25% of grade
November 10: Opinion or back page, 750 words due.
Bring in three copies. 15% of grade
November 17: Restaurant, book or movie review due, 750 words. Bring in three copies. 15 % of grade.
December 1: Color piece, 750 words, due. Bring in three copies.15% of grade.
December 8: Last day of classes
The remaining 10% of your grade is determined by how you edit your classmates’ profiles, your magazine story reactions, your magazine analyses, your visitors’ questions, and your class presentations. Additional smaller assignments may be made. No late papers accepted.
Evaluation:
READINGS: NEW YORK STORIES :LANDMARK WITING FROM FOUR DECADES OF NEW YORK MAGAZIN
Sept. 15: Foreword by Tom Wolfe, pp. XI-XXIX; “The $2000-an-Hour Woman”, pp. 491-509.
Sept. 22: Query for profile due; 250 words.
“I Run to Win”, pp. 241-254; “Woody and Me”, pp. 234-240; “Unanswered Prayers: The Death and Life of Truman Capote”, pp. 215-232; “Sid Vicious and Nauseating Nancy: A Love Story”, pp. 522-534. Nut graphs and ledes, rewriting of a lede from a published story. Guest speaker: Melissa Ludtke, Editor of the Neiman Report.
Sept. 29: “The Memory Addict”, pp. 192-205; “Hard to be Rich”, pp. 165-182; “Tribal Rites of the New Saturday Night”, pp. 255-272; “Bess Myerson is One Tough Customer”, pp. 206-215; in-class dialogue assignment. Guest Speaker: Megan Lisador, Editor, Improper Bostonian.
Oct. 6: First draft of profile due; 1000 words. Bring 7 copies.
Guest Speaker, Casey Sherman, author of Rose for Mary: The Hunt for the Boston Strangler; writer, Boston Magazine,.
“Comedy Isn’t Funny”, pp. 147-164; “How Not to Be Humiliated in Snob Restaurants”, pp.74-81; “David and His Twenty-Six Roommates”, pp. 82-91; “Night Shifting for the Hip Fleet”, pp. 255-272.
October 13: NO CLASS. Columbus Day
October 20: Return edited drafts to classmates; “Radical Chic: That Party at Lenny’s”, pp. 3-46. Guest Speaker, Judy Stoia, Producer WGBH
October 27: Guest Speaker: Janice O’Leary, editor of Boston Common Magazine
“In Your Heart, You Know He’s Nixon”, pp. 535-536; “Wallace Agonistes”, pp. 536-539; “The Luck of Spiro Agnew”, pp. 540-542; ; “Jerry Ford and his Flying Circus: A Presidential Diary”, 543-548; “Bill Clinton: Who Is This Guy?”, pp. 549-551; “Oh, The Humility”, pp. 551-555; “The Meme Prisoner”, pp. 555-559; “Is John McCain Bob Dole?” pp. 559-562; “Dreaming of Obama”, pp. 562-565. Transitions, Terts.
November 3: Final draft of 1000 profile due.
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“The Headmistress and the Diet Doctor”, pp. 477-490; “The Boo Taboo”, pp. 321-330; “My Breast: One Woman’s Cancer Story”, pp. 418-433. Pitching a story. Guest Speaker, Chris Farraone, Phoenix.
November 10: Opinion or back page due, 750 words.
“The Crack in the Shield”, pp. 459-476; “Hollywood’s Brat Pack’, pp 183-191; Guest Speakers, Ezra Dyer, Improper
November 17. Restaurant, book or movie review due, 750 words. “The Dead Wives Club or Char in Love”, pp. 346-366; “Race: The Issue”, pp.374-387; Colette Phillips, president of Colette Phillips Communications.
November 24: “Namath All Night Long”, pp. 139-146; “The Secret of Grey Gardens”; pp. 92-119; “How To Do a Crossword Puzzle”, pp.336-345.
December 1: Travel piece due, 750 words; “Wiseguy”, pp.510-521; “Say Everything”, 400-414; “The Price of Perfection”, pp.110-119.Color piece due, 750 words. Guest Speaker, Kevin Weeks, criminal-turned-author
December 8: Last Class.
MAGAZINE ASSIGNMENTS: (Subject to Change)
Sept. 15: Boston Magazine
Sept. 22: Improper Bostonian
Sept. 29: New Yorker
Oct. 6: People
Oct. 20: Rolling Stone
Oct. 27: Boston Common
Nov. 3: Time or Newsweek
Nov. 10: Any sports magazine
Nov. 17: Atlantic Monthly or Vanity Fair
Nov 24 Esquire
Dec. 1: GQ
