Margaret and I were discussing what makes for good pop cultural critic writing, and we both agreed that folks who write in such a way that you can actually hear them speaking are the best. Many writers adopt a more staid approach and think they have to adhere to one style or another -- I notice this a lot when combing through submissions to Chicagoist -- and they write the way they think they're supposed to. If you read my stuff, it flows the way I actually speak, and if you think about it that's actually harder to accomplish than it seems. I was thinking of other local critics and realized many of them do the same thing. DeRo, Kot, Ebert, SuperBird, and Hopper are all local critics I enjoy reading and all of them write the way they speak.I'm certainly not saying that the ONLY way to write is like that, and Lord knows I've written in about a bajillion different styles when the occasion calls for it, but when it comes to pop culture I think a distinctive voice is crucial.
O.K., class dismissed for the day.
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