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Interview with Doug
Powers
How did you get your start as a writer? Back in high school, in the early 80s, I had a creative writing class. My teacher at the time saw that I seemed to have a knack for coming up with and conveying on paper rather quirky ideas. After that I just tinkered around for a while, then began writing humorous fiction and some nonfiction. After a few years, and some minor successes, I was asked to join a group of internet humor writers called the NetWits (www.thenetwits.com). A hilarious Bay area comedian, writer, and fellow NetWit, Ian Wolff (www.ianwolff.com), then recommended me to the people running a company part-owned by George Carlin called Laugh.com, that at the time was in need of topical jokes and other short material. That was my first real paying job in writing. I kept writing columns as well, and it went on from there. I understand you've just made a deal with WorldNetDaily.com to do a weekly humor column. How did you get this gig? Persistence combined with pretty good material. I'd send them every column I
wrote. They accept very little outside content, but one day they decided to run
one. Then, a month later, after I'd sent them four more, they ran another one.
Soon after that, my phone rang and they offered me a regular column. Writing "political" humor from a libertarian/conservative perspective as I do, they were the closest fit for what I did. Not a perfect fit, but as close as I could get at the time. It was really just a little "search and submit" effort I made one day, and they seemed to like my stuff. It was a little different from the usual utter seriousness that goes on at most news and opinion sites. Basically, I just sent them some samples, and said, "If you like it, run it." And they did. I was committed, and still am, to simply staying visible. Put what you consider to be quality material out there, even for no money if necessary, and soon somebody may notice. You live in Michigan, yet you write a weekly column for a newspaper in Florida. How did you select this newspaper? It selected me. I'd been focusing on developing a readership first via the internet, so I'd have some ammo with which to pitch print magazines and newspapers. Well, a reader of mine wrote to this particular paper and asked if they'd carry my column, and so they are. Hopefully more come on board as this thing goes along. Since my column has more of a national/world focus, it was and is a tough
sell with my local paper, since they only tend to want local issues written by
local writers. Mostly born with. Take a comedian, for example. He or she can be taught
cadence and timing, to a degree, but I don't think it's possible to teach
someone to write a funny joke to tell. In writing, you can teach someone
structure, punctuation, grammar, form, etc., but it's awfully hard to teach
which words to use. I think that funny people tend to know that they're funny,
but couldn't for the life of them tell you why. It's kind of like trying to get
a dog to tell you how come it knows how to swim. I check with some friends and family for punctuation and spelling before I
send them in for publication. Thankfully, they don't try to correct the
material. "Comedy by committee" would make for the world's unfunniest
humor. They help out by catching my spelling errors, etc., which is actually
just as important as the material itself. The house you're selling may be nice
and well-built, with a solid foundation, but but if it has a lousy paint job,
people may just drive right on by without stopping. Very important if you're just starting out, especially. It's a place where potential publishers, syndicators, editors, and readers can go to find all your material in one place, or at least linked to from one place, as mine is. As much as some writers hate to admit, we're in the sales business more than
the art business. Your website is your advertisement for your work. The great
thing is that you're not confined to 30 seconds. I was surprised at first, but most of the letters of disagreement come from people who are at, or farther to, the right of me on the political scale. You'd think that if you write some scathing bit on, say, Hillary Clinton, that you'd hear from angry Hillary fans, but that doesn't seem to be the case. I'd hear from all those who think I wasn't hard enough on her. That much being said, the vast majority of my mail is positive comments from people nice enough to take the time to write. I realize that combining political opinion with humor is walking a tightrope without a net, but that's what makes it fun. They're two completely different fields, and can be tough to mold together. When they do come successfully together though, it's a great feeling. And then there are the people who are tough to respond to-- the people who
just plain don't get it. The tight-sphinctered bundles of seriousness with the
quadruple-digit blood-pressure who haven't cracked a smile since Nixon resigned.
The type of people that, if you began a knock-knock joke, they'd get up to go
and see who was at the door. The world needs people like that, though. All
Costellos and no Abbotts would make for a boring skit in the comedy of life. Boredom. I've written dozens of fictional stories, real-life accounts on
raising a family, etc., and I just wanted to branch out a bit. I'm a big
follower of the news, and have always had an opinion, so I just tried to find an
entertaining way to express it. Most writers have opinions, but if they're not
careful in expressing it, the column can read like any standard 'letter to the
editor' in the Paducah Bugle. I didn't want that to happen, so I combined humor
with opinion. The thinking was, maybe incorrectly, that even if you disagree
with the opinion, at least you may get a laugh. Sort of the way the price of a gallon of milk is determined. The store doesn't fully determine it, the customer doesn't fully determine it, but it's rather the combination of how thirsty the customer is matched up with how badly the store wants to get rid of the milk. In writing, your columns and stories are the milk, and you're after a thirsty editor. The problem with what I do, which is topical material, is that the milk spoils quickly. I have a different view than some on what is "payment." When I was
just getting rolling, I took into account the provision of a massive amount of
readers as a form of payment. Even though I wasn't getting a check in the mail,
I was getting readers, and without them, there never ever will be a check. A while back, my mother mailed me a quote from Calvin Coolidge that I think just about nails it: "Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will
not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will
not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is
full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.
The slogan 'press on' has solved and always will solve the problems of the human
race." I'd like to thank you on behalf of all of us writing fools out there for the great resources your site provides us. It's really an assistance on a number of different levels, and I'm sure you've helped save many a writer a lot of time and loss of what's left of our sanity. Visit Doug's website at www.dougpowers.com. |
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Text on this site Copyright © 1998-2007
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Doug Powers is
one of the funniest writers I know. He's a fellow member of the NetWits,
and writes a weekly humor column called "The Powers That Be." He
lives in mid-Michigan with his wife and three children.
