JOURNALIST SPOTLIGHT: LAEL
Meet Laelâ our resident gremlin who regularly terrorizes the PR team with her stunts and surprises in pursuit of truth!
What can I say? Have to keep them on their toes, yâknow. âLael
If youâre a Dumarscht citizen, thereâs an 85% chance youâve run into her on the streets, conducting impromptu interviews with a series of surprising questions. Donât worryâ everything goes through our editorial and PR team beforehand, so any unseemly details would not be written down on our articles!
That said, itâs Laelâs turn to be the interviewee this time! Our loyal subscribers have submitted a few questions regarding her work ethics and article details.
Q: It seems like your articles donât really have similarity between each other, even the topics are different every time you publish something. From my understanding, donât Druidcraft journalists usually have their own topic specialty?
A: Youâre right, but I get bored so easily if I have a set of topic that I have to follow every time I write. You may have noticed that I used to write about local businesses for a while, but then the inspiration well dried up and I wanted to try interviewing politicians instead⌠on and on I went, until the editorial team gave up on me and just sort of gave me free reign of it all.
Q: What do the other journalists think about it? Doesnât it kind of count as favoritism?
A: Huh? Why do you think we have that topic specialty thing in the first place here? Itâs because having that kind of stuff makes it easier for journalists to find things to write about. Most people here just think of this as a job, but for me, itâs more like a passion.
Q: I noticed that your article about the prominent figure Red Swan was strangely short. Any reasons for that?
A: âŚno commentâ alright, I canât do this anymore. Stop asking about her, I get it that sheâs ranked as number three in the list of most popular entertainers of the year, but that article was not short! If you want more content, I suggest watching her interview videos instead. Those always run longer than intended.
Q: Have you ever gotten a behaviour report or hate mail? Itâs kind of a miracle youâre not banned anywhere with your interviewing style, no offense.
A: None taken. This may come as a surprise to you, but I get the most fan mails out of everyone in the office, bar Madam Sherry herself. As for banning⌠who said that? I got banned in multiple places and are not allowed to meet with several prominent figures. Such is the price for pursuing truth, eh?
Q: Any tips on managing burnout?
A: Be strong! Just kidding, I get that burnout is a serious issue for us all. I still havenât really found a fool-proof way to avoid it, but for me, balancing the time I spend by myself versus with other people usually helps a lot. I also avoid not doing anything in my off day, even if the temptationâs crazy strong.
Q: Any inspiration in terms of journalistic writing? I want to get into the industry, but I find that itâs so hard starting out as a beginner.
A: What a loaded question. For inspirations, I really like Madam Sherryâs articlesâ she avoids flowery language and goes into such details that by the end of it, I usually have so much more knowledge about the topic than I need. Another journalist I like is Finnian from the Aureum branch; his writing is very compelling and hooks you from the first sentence. I think it has something to do with his background in storytelling, but I could be wrong.
As for starting out in this industry⌠run, friend, you shouldnât enter⌠just joking. You can always take internships in the editorial department first, or submit an entry into the monthly article challenge. Druidcraft has that, but I think Wildegast magazine and Charmed also do if you want another kind of flavor.
Most importantly, you should hang in there and keep trying! I know that sometimes itâs kind of discouraging to see your efforts go unrewarded, but itâs also about timing and luck. In that aspect, best of luck to you, friend!
