3/6/13 storytelling and feature techniques. 3/6/13 storytelling and feature techniques a 10-part...

3/6/13

Storytelling and featuretechniques

3/6/13

Storytelling and feature techniques

A 10-part series about Karen Gregory's case detailed her murderand the man on trial for it. It was called “A cry in the night.” (St.Petersburg Times)

Readers ran out to delivery trucks to grab the next chapter in theseries.

Why?

Because it was written like this...

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The victim wasn't rich. She wasn't the daughter ofanyone powerful. She was simply a 36-year-oldwoman trying to make a life for herself. Her name wasKaren Gregory. The night she died, Karen becamepart of a numbing statistic...It was what peoplesometimes casually refer to as ᾿a little murder.῀

His lawyer called out his name. He stood up, put his handon a Bible and swore to tell the truth and nothing but. He satdown in a witness box and looked toward the jurors so theycould see his face and study it and decide for themselveswhat kind of man he was.

Did you rape Karen Gregory?῀ asked his lawyer.

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The entire series was written like a mystery novel. But itwas all true, based on interviews with more than 50people and 6,000 pages of court documents.

The writing style, called narrative writing, is a form ofdramatic storytelling that reconstructs the events asthough the reader were witnessing them as theyhappened.

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Reading to write

Good writers are good readers!

Journalists often think storytelling techniques are limited to featurestories, but you can apply this kind of writing to news about crime andcourts and many other news stories.

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Reporting tools

Writers must concentrate on what they observe and analyze whatthey observe.

During the reporting process, you don't always know what detailsyou will need when you write your story. Ask what were peoplethinking, saying hearing, smelling, wearing and feeling.

Be precise. Take notes when you hear dialogue that could enhanceyour story.

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Writing tools

Once you have gathered all of those details, what do you do withthem?

The better you are as a reporter, the more you will struggle as awriter deciding what information to use.

Thee basic tools of storytelling –• Theme• Descriptive writing• Narrative writing

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Theme

Before you begin writing a feature story, develop a theme – aconcept that gives the story meaning.

The theme is why readers want to read the story, not thenut graph required by many editors. To write somethingUniversal - death, life, fear, joy that every person canconnect to in some way is what I look for in every story, saidPulitzer Prize-winner David Maraniss.

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Descriptive techniques

Description should never be there for decoration. It should never bethere because you are showing off.

And when you do describe, you should never use more words thanyou need to trigger that mental image readers already have in theirminds.

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Avoid Adjectives – Write specific detail with vivid nouns andverbs, but avoid modifiers. When you use adjectives, you runthe risk of inserting YOUR OPINIONS into the story.

Emma Watson dazzled on the red carpet last night,looking effortlessly beautiful in minimalistic make-upand an elegant lace gown.

The ethereal looking beauty, oozed Hollywood glamour inthe subtle but stunning floor length frock, flaunting herflawless features with a dash of red lipstick and smoulderingeyes.”

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Use Analogies – A good analogy compares a vagueconcept to something familiar to readers.

How do you visualize the “world's biggest man?” He's acircus performer, weighing in at 891 pounds.

Now: 891 and climbing. That's more than twiceas much as Sears' best refrigerator-freezer a 26-cubic-footer with automatic ice and waterdispensers on side-by-side doors. That's almost asmuch as a Steinway grand piano.

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Limit physical descriptions – Use only when relevant content. These work well in profiles; in stories about crime, courts and disasters. They DON'T work when they are tacked onto impersonal quotes.

YESThe 50-year-old airline pilot who prosecutors say killed his wife by unknown means, cut up her body with a chain saw, and disposed of it with a wood chipper and testified with a voice and manner that was so calm it bordered at times on nonchalance.

NOThe study shows college students are becoming more conservative, the researcher said, blinking her blue eyes and clasping her carefully manicured hands.

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Avoid Sexist/Racist descriptions – Beware of biased writing.

Writers often describe men with action verbs showing whatthey are doing and women with adjectives showing what theywere wearing.

NO

Even Chandra Smith, busy being adorable in herperky non-runner's running outfit, actually looked at thetrack. A minute later, she was jumping around andyelling, along with most of the other 41,600 people onthe old wooden benches at Franklin Field.

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Show people in action – One of the most effective ways to describe people or places. (Teacher's first day on the job)

The future leaders of America sit silently, some of them slumped forward,staring into space through half-closed eyes. Over to the side sits a boy. He is wearing a crucifix, blue jeans and a T-shirt. On the front of the shirt is a big smiley face. In the center of the face's forehead is a bullet hole,Dripping blood...Around the room, students begin writing.Isn't this great? says Samsel. ᾿Just like real life forms andeverything.῀Smiley face looks at one of the sheets in front of him. He reads aloud as he fills it out.Please list medical problems.῀He stops.Brain dead, he says.

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Use lively verbs –

We report that a jumper died Monday when his parachute failed,instead of turning to action verbs such as plummeted or plunged orstreamed.

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Set the scene – You need to set the scene by establishing whereand when.

TIJUANA, Mexico – Shivering in the mud under a 2-foot highchaparral, Jose carefully lifts his head into the cold night mist tomonitor the movements of the U.S. Border Patrol.On a ridge above a small ravine, patrol trucks scurry back andforth while a helicopter above provides the only light, turning spotsof the nighttime terrain into day. In the distance, guard dogs growl,bark and yelp.

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Narrative techniques – Narrative writing combines show-in-actiondescription, dialogue, plot and reconstruction of an event as itoccurred.

This type of writing requires a bond of faith with the readerbecause attribution is limited.

You need to make it clear where you got the information, but youdon't need to attribute it repeatedly.

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Create tone – Hard news stories often have an objective, factualtone, mostly and absence of mood.

But in storytelling, you should create a tone or mood such ashappiness, sadness, mystery, excitement or some other emotion.

You don't need to tell the reader that the mood was festive ormournful.

You can show it by the images you create with your story.

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Human interest feature – It's the type of story you might do if youwork in a small community for a newspaper of TV station.

Chances are you will seek stories about people who are doinginteresting or unusual things in your community.

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Human interest story

He was hesitant to do it.But nearly 20 years ago, when his granddaughter asked him to help withher fifth-grade project on the Holocaust, Arthur Seltzer knew he had to share his story.The 88 year-old recounted personal experiences and vivid details of theHolocaust to Alyse, now 29. Of course, he said, she received an “A” on the project, which led her elementary school teacher to ask where she got her facts. Seltzer’s granddaughter told her teacher her grandfather had not only lived through World War II and D-Day, but also played an instrumental role inliberating thousands of people from the Dachau Concentration Camp in1945.From there, Seltzer was inspired to share his message with studentsthroughout the region in the hopes of passing on the stories of trial And triumph to the next generation.Too many people were saying this didn’t happen, Seltzer said.

3/6/13 storytelling and feature techniques. 3/6/13 storytelling and feature techniques a 10-part...

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