Elliott inspired thousands of other readers with his work, and his friend KatieG gives the perfect introduction to that community spirit: "Please tell anyone you know, be it writer, fan, professor, student, politician, who wants to get involved, please get in touch with me, Steve, or volunteer. We're going national baby! We will find ways for people to help. There is MUCH to be done before November, friends..."
Stephen Elliott is building an army of politically-aware readers, the perfect kind of writer for my deceptively simple feature: Five Easy Questions. In the spirit of Jack Nicholson’s mad piano player, I run a weekly set of quality interviews with writing pioneers—delivering some practical, unexpected advice about web publishing.
Jason Boog:
In your John Edwards profile in the Village Voice, you wrote about a particularly empty-headed press conference: "None of it matters and no one cares. The reporters are uninterested in their own stories." As a reporter, you wear your biases on your sleeve. Do you trust "objective journalism?" Do you think we need better, more empathetic journalists? Why?
Stephen Elliott:
I think journalists should report when someone is lying. I also think that reporters waste too much time on questions they already know the answer to... But I'm not terribly unhappy with the media.
I don't know if I consider myself biased. Or I may be biased but I'm honest, much more honest than say Bill O'Reilly. I mean most people have an opinion on whether or not the war in Iraq was a good idea.
Jason Boog:
Who are your favorite (political or literary) writers with a strong web footprint? Why do you like their work? How do you think the Internet will influence the campaign process in the future? How will the Internet influence the genre of political writing?
Stephen Elliott:
Well, Josh Marshall over at Talking Points Memo has really taken top-tier journalism onto the web in a big way. I also love Arianna Huffington's Huffington Post.
In the future most writing on politics will be on the Internet before the printed page. Books will be for collecting web essays into an easy to read format. Organizing and turnout we'll all take place over the internet.
The internet has already changed politics forever. But you knew that.
Jason Boog:
You predicted: "Books will be for collecting web essays into an easy to read format." I think that implies a scary shift in the writers' market. If all political writing happens on the web, how can the fledgling writer hope to earn money as a writer? What is your advice for the new writers who haven't published anything and are drowning in a sea of blogs?
Stephen Elliott:
Hey, forget about earning money as a writer. Nobody said anything about making a living. I have three roommates and we share one bathroom. That's after writing six books and editing two anthologies.
There was a time I lived in my car. Anybody that becomes a writer to make money is insane. I don't really have advice for writers that don't want to drown in a sea of blogs, but I do think that the most interesting stuff rises to the surface.
You know, I published my first three books without an agent. I believe strongly in the slushpile.
» Politically Aware Creative Writers from ThePublishingSpot
Visual by www.PDImages.com "Writing and politics are my two loves. So of course politics influences my writing, as it's part of my makeup and what comes out on the page is me," wrote Stephen Elliott in our Five Easy Questions... [Read More]
Tracked on: April 11, 2006 1:13 PM | Permalink to Trackback