It’s been well over a year since I wrote Brexit Part I. Where has the time gone, my friends?
Even though we have since decided not to remain, the opportunities to write about Brexit do remain. In fact, I’d say they’ve grown. Had we voted to stay, I reckon they’d have declined. Some consolation, perhaps, for writer-remainers?
This time the focus has changed. It’s not about the upcoming vote and the uncertainty of ‘whether’. It’s about hard Brexit, or soft Brexit; it’s about uncertainty of ‘how’, and divisions, and fears, and opportunities.
Opportunities is a key word: as I said last time, you have opportunities for years to write about Brexit and its impact. Years.
Again, editors are unlikely to care much about your opinion.
An editor of a real life magazine is likely to care about a story concerning a Eurosceptic woman who gave birth to a boy on referendum day, who she christened Nigel, against the wishes of her Europhile husband, who in revenge underwent a snap vasectomy, to pre-empt any future conception of a child she would call Boris. Were I the editor of That’s Life!, I’d pay four figures for that exclusive, and I’m not joking.
Ideas like the one above are unlikely to simply land in your lap. You have to go out and look for them. (These days, online chat forums are ripe with ideas. Lurk and browse.) And in all likelihood, your ideas won’t be quite as jaw-dropping as that either – but they don’t need to be. As I said last time, speak to local businesses about the decision, and the impact it will have. Local magazines and newspapers love local stories.
But Brexit will effect everyone in this country. Find the angle. I often mention cat, dog and horse magazines on this blog – because there are several of them, we’re a nation of animal lovers, and they are excellent markets for new or new-ish writers of non-fiction. How might European vets working here be effected? Will there be new quarantine implications to consider post-Brexit? Find the stories. There will be some. Talk to owners; talk to breeders.
Then pitch.
Brexit: Further Reading
Some potential sources of ideas and inspiration:
All Out War: The Full Story of How Brexit Sank Britain’s Political Class, by Tim Shipman
Brexit: What the Hell Happens Now? by Ian Dunt
Five on Brexit Island, by Bruno Vincent
Brexit, no Exit: Why (in the End) Britain Won’t Leave Europe, by Denis MacShane
The Brexshit Book: A Remainer’s Self-Help Guide to Brexit and Leaving the EU, by Steven S Stevens
With everything that has gone on, I’m wondering why Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, and Liechtenstein are not in the EU? I haven’t lived in any of these countries or visited any of them, so I’m unsure how they fair with things the UK is worrying about. and I’m tempted to do some research and connect it to Brexit. Another opportunity perhaps?
I’ve written for Chat magazine, the advice I was given after submitting an article on the benefits of Shatsu, was to ‘dumb it down’ which made me laugh out loud. I haven’t looked at a copy for a long time but I’m sure you’re correct on the sort of thing they would be looking for…they pay quite well too!
Or indeed why the Channel Islands are not in the EU … which I’ve never managed to work out either.
The weeklies do pay well. I’m hoping you meant shiatsu!!!
Oops! Fat fingers, indeed I did indeed mean shiatsu, and I wasn’t aware the Channel Islands weren’t in the EU either. I wonder why none of the TV channels haven’t done a in-depth look at these places? Perhaps they like whipping up a hornet’s nest as it sells more papers?
It would be good to see a discussion on BBC Question Time about other economies, health care systems and education etc
Lots to write about there.
Exactly – lots to write about! I think it would take a certain type of person, but I reckon you could find yourself in great demand, earning well, if you were to specialise as a ‘Brexit writer’ for the next few years ….