[CTQ Smartcast] Finding stories and telling them well, with Akshay Sawai
Akshay Sawai is an award-winning sports writer and the Consulting Editor for moneycontrol.com with over 20 years of experience as a journalist. He is known for his creative writing style, and the ability to bring to you unusual and interesting stories from what would seem like really small and trivial encounters. He is also known for delivering super-witty headlines under cut-throat pressure.
In this Smartcast conversation with the CTQ team (and hosted by Sanasi Kelkar) we talk to him about the nature of writing, finding stories in the mundane, the art of talking to people and the future of writing. There are also hilarious anecdotes, audience questions and behind-the-scenes look at some of the world’s best athletes.
Prefer an audio version of the Smartcast? Listen below.
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Some of the things we spoke about
Tips to help you improve your writing
What elements make a story unique
Tips on getting rapport going for interviews
How being interested in multiple things benefits your writing
The art of giving headlines
Dealing with writer’s block
Taking feedback from strangers and social media
PLUS AKSHAY’S MEMORABLE ENCOUNTERS & INTERVIEWS
What it’s like to sit down for an interview with Mike Tyson
Cold calling Imran Khan in Pakistan (and talking to him about match-fixing)
Experiences from Boman Irani's script writing workshop
How Sachin kept a diary and respected his vocation
PV Sindhu's discipline off court
AND TAKEAWAYS FROM TWO DECADES IN JOURNALISM
Lessons for everyone from watching the work ethic of elite athletes
Akshay’s top picks for the authors and books he has loved
Two sports biographies that Akshay thinks should be written...
Links to books, people, articles, websites mentioned in the Smartcast
Writers
Books
Playing for Keeps, the Michael Jordan biography by David Halberstam
Into Thin Air, a personal account of the Everest disaster by Jon Krakauer
On Writing by Stephen King
Newspapers & Magazines
Akshay’s Articles mentioned in the Smartcast
The Brief History of a Friendship (between Sachin Tendulkar and Vinod Kambli)
Others
Roger Federer As Religious Experience by David Foster Wallace