Chasing views

Some thoughts on writing content and being content with writing

I recently came across an intriguing article by a former colleague, Kevin Nguyen, about the impact that Game of Thrones had on the journalism industry while I was working full/part time as a journalist for places like io9 and The Verge. It’s hard to understate just how good the series was at driving traffic towards the pantheon of nerd-adjacent news sites, something that’s revealed in the sheer number of places that dutifully wrote out episode recaps over the show’s run.

It’s had me thinking a lot about the work that I did over the years, and how it’s evolved over time. I’ve written my fair share of recaps for a bunch of shows — The Expanse, Dark Matter, Killjoys, Foundation, and a bunch of others — and looking back, I’m marveling at just how empty some of that effort and coverage feels now. I shared the article with another former colleague and we spoke a bit about that moment in journalism looks like in retrospect: a lot of throwing stuff at the wall to see what worked well with readers, but how very little had any real, lasting impact. Most of it was just reacting to stuff. There’s one piece that sticks out in my mind as a good example of this: a senior editor demanded late in the day, long after my shift had ended, that I write about how Patriots coach Bill Belichick threw a Microsoft Surface after a play, and how we quibbled over whether or not he was “angry” when he did so. I’m still not entirely sure what the purpose was for writing that.

Over my time writing for those places, my approach toward writing these sorts of culture stories was always to try and add context. If I was hitting a story about a new adaptation, I’d write about the background of the book or the author, taking a prompt I’d picked up from a professor at my grad school by asking “why”: why is it important that readers know about this or that? My rule of thumb was that I should be able to add at least 2-3 grafs of that supplemental material, otherwise, why was I bothering?

But it still feels now a bit empty: either written because there was a traffic incentive, or because I needed to write 3-4 articles a day to earn a decent enough paycheck to keep a roof over my head. Nowadays, I’ve settled into less of a news pattern, preferring to drop links into this newsletter’s Slack channel to discuss the various adaptations or news of the day, while still writing out the stories about things that I’m genuinely interested in, and of which I think TO readers will also want to know about. Thinking back to some of those more consequential stories that I wrote for my various sites, I think back to a piece I wrote about Vermont’s Front Porch Forum, or a look at the cranberry industry and how it’s farmers were were utilizing new technologies to keep in business. Those pieces were pretty few and far between, whenever I could find time between writing and editing those shorter pieces.

It’s taken me a long time to unlearn some of those habits, where I’d aggressively chase after stories to be the first to get it up on to the site before our competitors. I’m realizing how destructive it was on my mental health: an endless rush that left me burned out and exhausted for years afterwards. I still sometimes miss that work: I like putting those sorts of stories together and being the first to tell it, but I don’t miss the stress. I much prefer writing this newsletter, where I can ignore press deadlines and take the time to really let a story take shape and breathe, where I can find the right angle and approach and tell it properly. I have a couple of those in the works, and the time that I’ve taken to think the stories through will help them, I think. Still, I get a twinge of irritation when I see a competing story beat me to it. I still have some things to unlearn.

I don’t regret that work in any real sense; that flood of work helped me learn how to write with discipline, how to tease out a story and figure out what’s working in the background (and what the bigger story is), all of which I’ve found to be really useful. But the stories that I think back about and which stand out for me? They’re fewer and farther between, especially when I look at what I’ve written for this newsletter. I think it’s a good lesson and reminder that it’s important to not forget passion and interest and curiosity when it comes to putting pen to paper.

Currently reading

For once, I don’t think I brought enough books with me on a trip. I finished Fonda Lee’s Untethered Sky, an intriguing novella about a woman who is part of a royal military using giant birds to hunt manticores, and then moved on to start Robin Sloan’s sublime Moonbound. I’m reading and listening to it now, and I’m really loving it, but I’m going to finish it soon.

It’s been a little while since I’ve done a roundup, and I’ve finished a handful of books in the weeks since. I read Martha Wells’s System Collapse, Jeffrey Toobin’s Homegrown: Timothy McVeigh and the Rise of Right-Wing Extremism (A happy read, if ever there was one), Michael Crichton’s posthumous novel Eruption (finished by James Patterson), Austin Grossman’s Soon I Will Be Invincible and Fight Me (stay tuned for more about those soon), Veronica Roth’s When Among Crows, Katherine Arden’s The Warm Hands of Ghosts, and Lev Grossman’s The Bright Sword (also excellent, and stay tuned for more about that.)

On the to-read list? In addition to Moonbound, I brought Challengers by Adam Higgenbotham with me, which I’m excited to continue. It’s excellent so far. I’ve also got Nuclear War by Annie Jacobsen, Blood, Sweat and Chrome by Kyle Buchanan, Stories are Weapons by Annalee Newitz, Those Beyond the Wall by Micaiah Johnson, The Icarus Plot by Timothy Zahn, and The Spear Cuts Through Water by Simon Jimenez that I’ve started. Paul Tremblay’s Horror Movie is also on the short list to start. I’m also planning on starting Paolo Bacicalupi’s upcoming book Navola, which I’m very excited to read.

More Middle-earth is on the way. In the form of a couple of new films, to be produced by Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh, and Philippa Boyens, with the first tentatively titled The Hunt for Gollum. It'll star and be directed by Andy Serkis. There's also a new season of Amazon's Rings of Power debuting later this fall: here's the teaser trailer.

Netflix has renewed 3 Body Problem. For an indeterminate number of seasons to finish out the story, which is a good bit of news for fans of the show.

New Books. Lots of books hit bookstores in May and June. Here are my lists: May 1, May 2, June 1, and June 2.

New short story!

I wrote a short story! The first one that I've published in a decade, and you can read it here:

Own part of SF History. One of the very first Hugo Awards recently came up for sale.

Review: Katherine Arden's The Warm Hands of Ghosts. This is an excellent read.

TED Talk. Here's a TED Talk by Annalee Newitz about how fantasy and speculative fiction can inspire people in the real world.

Currently reading

Further reading

New short story!