Quote:
Originally posted by David LaPell:
I have almost stopped reading Guns & Ammo magazine all together due to the fact it is nothing more than one review after another. I do get Handloader magazine from time to time, but thats really about it. I myself have tried my hand at gunwriting, and have had a couple articles published, but not in the more well known "big" magazines. It is very tough to try and break in to that business, every querie I have ever written was met with the response (if on the rare occasion that I even get one) that "we have a guy for those types of articles". What would these magazines be if new blood was transfused into their writing pool. Maybe better. The problem is, there are no Skeeters or Elmers anymore, and whether you liked him or hated him, Jeff Cooper sold print. I would say John Taffin, Mike Venturino, and Bart Skelton are the best reads right now, with Gary James writing about classic guns. I think alot of the rest is just trying to sell guns and magazines. I was hoping myself to try and put out an article on the Smith 27 5inch barrel, and then to see the same thing in this month's Shooting Times, whih instead turned into a review of the new classic version of the M 27 and had very little to do with the original version. Again, trying to sell magazines.
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David-
If you want to be a gun writer, or a writer at all, you need to learn better spelling and proofreading skills. Misspelling Garry James's name is a pretty good way NOT to get into gun mags! "Altogether" should replace your "All Together", and you have other errors. Good Lord, you can't even spell, "query"! If you want to write professionally, even in an opinion editorial for the local newspaper, watch your language skills.
I've written for gun and knife mags, and the editors tell me that I am one of the few whose prose needs no corrections, so I suspect that some other "writers" have the same issues that you do. Elmer Keith had to be edited heavily!
Try taking Journalism 101 at a community college. It will probably greatly assist your writing skills. I sincerely mean this to be a helpful suggestion.
The way that many spell on this and other gun forums is pitiful. What must non-gun people think if they check out gun forums?
I know how tough it is to sell to the big gun rags, which are indeed primarily shills for the industry. The late Don Zutz, one of the most knowledgeable gun writers of all time, once told me that, "Shooting Times" returned one of his manuscripts with little comment, and he doubted that they had even read it!
I agree that Jim Wilson, who was once actually a Texas sheriff, probably wanted to inherit Skeeter's mantle as chief gunwriter with a Southwestern flavor. He is no Skeeter, but he seems to know what he writes about. But he probably has to write some articles that are assigned to him, even if he has no real interest in the products that he reviews.
Another writer told me that he once tested three examples of a new Star pistol, and that none of the three was reliable. But that magazine gave it favorable coverage, including a cover shot! Ad dollars at work...(That gun evolved into the M-30 and the M-31, which were much better.)
If you want to read good writing, read books. One scribe whom I admire is David Lindsey.
www.davidlindsey.com Click on the right buttons and read sample chapters. If you can write as well as Lindsey, you would surely be an exception among gun writers! But you can pick up writing tips by reading his material, or that by such talents as Robert B. Parker, whose work is deceptively elegant, if terse at times.
However, the style of gun magazines doesn't lend itself overmuch to elegant language. One has always to keep in mind the market for a particular piece of writing.
Jack O'Connor was one of the very few gun writers who could practice other forms of writing sucessfully. Most simply lack the writing skills. Warren Page was another. Both were teachers before they became outdoor writers.
Some gun writers do still offer technical articles and know whereof they speak. Mike Venturino largely repeats his own articles and his books, but provides very valuable information not available elsewhere. He does need to gain more familarity with WW II weapons, his new enthusiasm, if he is to impart much that is new about them.
On the other hand, "Rifle" has one writer who makes at least one error in almost everything that he publishes. On the other hand, they have Brian Pearce and John Havilland. They are two of the few gun writers still worth reading.
John Barsness strikes me as a peacock, but he is knowledgeable. I don't know where he is now, or why he left, "Rifle." But they were dumb to let him get away.
I need to go do something useful. I hope that this actually interested someone.
David, study what I said. You may yet succeed as a writer, but learn to be your own worst critic, and improve your skills before offering material to an agent or an editor!
T-Star