I've been meaning to start writing about boxing as I want a career in the sport but struggled to find a good place too start until today. Following the death of Joe Frazier i've wrote a brief tribute blog about his career. I know some of you do a bit of writing yourself so if you could take a look and send me some feedback that would be much appreciated. I wasn't alive at this time so my references may not be 100 per cent so please don't take offence. http://www.adamsboxingview.blogspot.com/ cheers mightylondoner
It's not bad but the grammar needs work, specifically, you might want to use some commas next time...
Nice effort mate, Must say i'm really shocked and pleased to see many youngsters writing RIP Joe Frazier on there facebook status. Shows how much he and others transcended the sport to normal world.
Yeah the grammar's all over the gaffe! I sort of just boshed it out without thinking about punctuation. Cheers for the feedback China.
The thriller in the manilla was the first fight I ever saw back when I was about 8. My grandad had it on videotape and i've been hooked on boxing ever since! To be honest i'm surprised aswell how many people around my age knew of joe frazier, I thought he was the forgotten man amongst my generation 'cause everyone knows who Muhammad Ali is!
It's a hard one to balance here. Frazier is one of those guys who's really been eulogised since he retired, so the actual eulogy has been done many times over. You end up repeating a lot of clichés about the man rather than finding a new angle. But hey, it you're new to writing it would be a bit much to expect. That aside, your heart's in the right place and that enthusiasm is clear. If I could give some advice (eight years as a paid writer), it would be this: Be a lot more concise. Anyone can churn out 1,800 words of unfocused rambling. Mark yourself out by being short, sharp and direct. That 1,800 words should be cut down to 800. It was especially ironic since you put "brief" in the title. Work on the readability of your writing. Keep your sentences around 20 words. Avoid using long words unless they really add something to the piece. And shorten your paragraphs - they become a bit epic, especially in a single column blog layout. Spellcheck and proof-read. One piece of outright criticism: your spelling is awful and even a single spellcheck in Word showed up some really fundamental mistakes. Show your audience respect by proof-reading your work and making sure it all makes sense. The grammar is really atrocious too - these are easy things to improve and a lot of them will happen by shortening your sentences. Look for an angle that's different. Everyone is doing a quick history of Frazier and, honestly, yours says nothing new. If you can''t get access to a friend, family member, other journalist, etc, try and make it personal: what Joe meant to me or something along those lines. But keep it honest and simple - writing a love letter to a hero is painful without exception. Also, if you're not sure of a fact, don't include it unless you can verify it. It loses you credibility. More than anything though? Just keep writing. A lot of the above comes with experience and with constant feedback. Even when it hurts to take it, it's rarely given with any personal spite.
Really appreciate all of that. Exactly the sort of constructive criticism I was looking for. I had planned for it too just be a short article but got sidetracked down too many roads and before I knew it i'd wrote a career track you can find almost anywhere on the web. i'm going to be writing a few more up over the coming weeks so bare with me. I just wanted to get something out there and see if I could generate any interest.
Fraziers struggles after he retired and how he overcame them by getting back to his roots and the community he knew, that and his laid backs bluesy persona and sense of humour make him unique. Frazier is one dude I could always find time to listen to, will miss him greatly, a docu is planned and I hope Philadelphia put up a statue to him, he was the soul of philly boxing. Wish you all the best writing about Frazier, some great obituaries being posted, like I say Frazier sort of went from the ghetto to the millionaire lifestyule and back to the ghetto, and did'nt seem to mind, actually seemed to be enlightened by it, and at them end of his life he seemed like he had finally sussed life, I would love to gather up all interview of Frazier over the 20 years, he is the very essence of a great old pro.
