Writing the story
It is time to actually
start writing the news story. We'll continue to have exercises throughout
the semester on editing and use of AP style, but let's get into writing.
Through the next series of lectures I want to introduce you to several
tools and thought processes involved in news writing. You've already
been exposed to the main one: the inverted pyramid style of writing.
We'll add more tools to your tool belt as we go.
But first let's review some formatting rules.
- When you
send me assignments send only one assignment per e-mail.
- Be sure
to title the subject line properly:
J20:
##--Your LastName -- slug.
- You can
write the story in a word processor program if you want, but paste
it into a message window using the steps defined earlier. No
attachments!
- Don't bother
indenting your paragraphs, just put an extra return between each
paragraph.
- Check your
spelling and style before submitting any story.
- Check the
spelling of all names before submitting a story. A misspelled
name will result in an automatic redo.
Okay, let's take a look at a story and how to put it together. Let's
start with Exercise 2.5 in your workbook.
First rule: Do not get locked into the wording or the order of the
material as it is presented to you in the workbook. Your job is
to massage the information into a coherent story. Sometimes you
may use a sentence word for word, other times you'll reword it or
combine two facts together into a new sentence.
Second rule: You do not have to use all the facts that are presented
to you. But ignore the instructions at the top of the assignment
thoughout Chapter Two. You will be writing the complete story, not
just a one-sentence lead.
Third rule: You can add thoughts that logically flow from the facts
presented, but you cannot make up things. For instance, in the exercise
we are going to look at. It says 1) the school will get $4, 2) the
school has been raising money and now has the $8 million it needs.
You can logically conclude that the school has raised $4 million
-
Fourth rule:
Even though the instructions may say "Write a one-sentence
lead," I want to see a whole story. Stories will only be three-to-five
sentences anyway.
The first step in any story is to review your facts and then summarize
what the story is all about. I like to imagine turning to an invisible
friend and in one simple sentence say what the story is about. In
your English classes they call this developing the thesis statement.
We'll call it figuring what the story is about.
Okay, review the facts:
-
- The school
is building a new residence hall. (news or not?
Not if they've been busy raising money; good chance we already
wrote about the plans, or should have)
- The school
has raised $4 million. (nice, but not something
you do overnight, so it is probably not our news peg*)
- The projected
cost is $8 million (important fact, but not newsworthy unless
it is an unusual number)
- The school
has asked the federal government for money. (the school did
this "earlier this year" so the fact is not new)
- Yesterday
(use a real day) the Northwest College board of trustees learned
something. (ahhh, something timely; we're getting closer to
the news peg).
- The government
is giving $4 million. (timely, new, consequence; hmmm, sounds
like our news peg)
- Construction
starts early next year (maybe more newsworthy as we get closer
to it)
- The name
of the architect is known. (nice that it is a local firm,
but the firm probably was chosen earlier in the process and we
probably covered it, or should have)
- Where
it will be built is known. (where is important, but again,
probably is old news)
- The building
will accommodate 400 students. (important fact, but not the
most newsworthy)
- * The news
peg is the fact or element on which the writer hangs the story.
What is it about this story that makes it news NOW? This is usually
a time element, but it can be a who (it is news because an important
person did it), or a what (something really unusual happens).
So what is our story about? Turn to that imaginary friend and tell
him/her.
I'm telling my friend that the story is about the school getting
the other $4 million it needs to actually build a new residence
hall on campus.
Next we write the story. Now, there are a lot of ways to write any
story and most would be acceptable. Rarely is there just one right
way to write a story. Some are better than others, though. Let's
look at one possible version.
Start with the news:
- The
Northwest College Board of Trustees learned Tuesday that the federal
government will give $4 million toward the building of a new residence
hall on campus.
-
The story is about Northwest College, not the federal government,
so we start with the college. Note that we merged information from
several facts into that first paragraph. Also note that if the reader
walks away from the story after just one paragraph he/she has the
most important information. We even got the big number into the
first paragraph.
-
-
The
college now has the $8 million it needs to start construction
of the 400-unit residence hall, which will be built near the
Chartwell Residence Hall.
That's
a sneaky way of saying the school has already raised $4 million,
but it works. We also got other facts merged into a flowing sentence,
including the number of students who will be served.
Construction
will begin early next year and the architect will be the local
firm of McKim, Oglethorpe and Dodge.
Again, more
merging. Also note that you don't have to be locked into the exact
wording in the workbook. People will understand the word "local"
in place of "Carolton."
No
questions to answer this time. Just send me a note verifying that
you read the lecture. Feel free to ask any questions regarding the
process.
rCameron@cerritos.edu
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