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Topic: Man Makeovers...
| Author | Message |
| tiffstar22 | Posted – 6/26/2007 10:08:40 PM | show profile | email poster Ever got your boyfriend or huband to change something about himself for his own good? I'm writing a piece for a major national magazine and need more women to reveal how and why they got their guys to make an about-face (it's my first freelance assignment that requires a lot of sources, so I'd really appreciate help!). And no, we don't want to make it seem like women should treat their men like children--I'm looking for stories like "I got him to take motorcycle safety courses" or "I talked him out of getting my name tatooed on his chest." Even "I got him to stop dressing like a frat boy and he finally got the job he wanted." If you have a funny story about something in bed, that would be great, too. Also, if you know any other sites that are good for collecting sources and anecdotes, please let me know. Thanks! |
| seeattleme | Posted – 6/26/2007 11:50:05 PM | show profile Okay. Tiff. I really don't mean to be bitchy, but come on. Don't contact other media people for astory like this. You can do better. You can do it.. Get a pencil and a piece of paper and go out to your local college campus or gym and ask people for thier anecdotes. Type some words into the search engine on your computer (like man makeover or male improvement) and see what you come up with. Just talk to some gals. Talk to gals who aren't media pros. Who don't live in the tri state area. We are tired of hearing from women from the tri state area. We live different lives out here in other parts of the country. And by the way, the whole idea of changing him--most educated women and women over the age of 35 will tell you that's something that can't --and shouldn't --be done. Good luck. |
| Village Gal | Posted – 6/27/2007 7:26:48 AM | show profile I agree with dog lady on this one. This topic is so easy you should not have to rely on the internet to collect anecdotes. It's not like you are trolling for expert sources. Cast among your friends/ family/colleagues and ask them to do the same. What do you think we did before the internet ? . |
| mailbag | Posted – 6/27/2007 9:39:23 AM | show profile | email poster Go down to your local mall -- and chat up some women shopping during an off peak time. |
| Daisy Chestnut | Posted – 6/27/2007 10:32:57 AM | show profile | email poster If Tiff can get a few sources here ... then good for her. Really, what's the big deal? In the past, I've found a few people here as well as at the mall, grocery store, and Times Square. Tiff, you may even find a few non-experts at profnet.com, too. Good luck on your first big gig. |
| tiffstar22 | Posted – 6/27/2007 10:47:31 AM | show profile Thanks, Daisy! Appreciate the encouragement and will hit the mall today. |
| seeattleme | Posted – 6/27/2007 1:22:53 PM | show profile Because, Daisy, at least where I have worked (newspapers,anyway) we were discouraged from going to other media people for quotesand anecdotes. As journalists and reporters we are supposed to be getting perspectives from other people out there, not from those who have the art of the quote and the anecdote down as part of our job. Any reporter can get a polished quote from another reporter. But it takes a pro to get the right quote from someone who doesn't often talk to the media. Not to mention more representtaive of what's really going on out there. Part of the problem with magazines today is that they're all interviewing all their friends and not checking to see what women who have nothing to do with the business think. And I was thinking the exact same thing, Village. I started in this business long before the Internet. We never had this stuff, we did it the old fashioned way and backthen business was just fine. Better. Mademoiselle was a great mag that discovered Michael Chabon and ran relevant articles. Glamour, Spy, Seven Days--they all came up without any Internet help. The best Esquire and GQ issues were from the mid-late eighties eaerly nineties. The Internet has made reporters lazy and kept them out oftouch. You can't put a face to an email. part of reporting is recording gestures, all that stuff, to get the real story and the ral quote and the real situation This is a tangent I know--a longwinded way of saying reporters who use theInternet all the time can get lazy. |
| Stressed | Posted – 6/27/2007 1:36:01 PM | show profile If a magazine is going to print the city/state where an interviewee lives it would look a tad odd if they all came from Frigid, Minnesota or Coleslaw, Indiana etc, which might be the case if you used your friends and family all the time. I find websites like this and a couple of others I use are a good source of geographically diverse quotes. |
| seeattleme | Posted – 6/27/2007 3:28:04 PM | show profile Sure--as long as they're not all writers/editors/reporters. |
| seeattleme | Posted – 6/27/2007 3:32:11 PM | show profile And there are other ways to contact groups in other states. You can use the Internet to find women's groups in other states --like Womenon Weights or something at YMCA gyms all over the country, or ask to speak to personal trainers, explain who you are and what you are working on, and usually they are very good about getting a client or two to call you back. But when it comes to the interview, you pick up the phone, you call, and you have a discussion with the person. EVery article I've done has included women from different states and different U.S. regions--which I'm able to get by phoning friends and not using them, but asking if they know anyone who might want to participate in the story. You don't interview friends for a story you're working on, if you do, you have to disclose that this is the case. And even then, it's lazy. |
