the writing process - welcome â€“ blackboard learn is a process. although there is not one...

Prewriting Stage | Drafting Stage | Revising Stage | Editing Stage

The Defense Information School, Fort George G. Meade, Maryland

Basic Public Affairs Specialist CourseFeature Writing

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Every writer, no matter how experienced, grapples with the fear of writing. At some level we all fear that we’ve already produced our best work and we don’t have one more ounce of creative juice left in us to write another story. Some say a good dose of this fear is necessary in order to produce well-written stories. But in order to achieve our writing goals, we have to learn to control this fear to our benefit. One of the best ways to control this fear is to understand that writing is a process. Although there is not one clearly defined process, most writers agree there are at least four stages: prewriting, drafting, revising and editing.

The writing process

Writing Principles Feature Writing

The Center of Excellence for Visual Information and Public Affairs2

Home | Prewriting Stage | Drafting Stage | Revising Stage | Editing Stage

Prewriting stage

In previous lessons you learned about developing a focus, planning your story, developing questions and interviewing. These all fall in the first stage of the writing process, the prewriting stage. Believe it or not, this stage of the process is the most difficult. This is the stage many writers fear. It involves making important decisions about the direction a story will take. Without a strong focus, a story is destined for failure. Without planning and asking well-crafted questions during interviews with subject-matter experts, you run the risk of boring your readers. When writing a story, most of your time should be spent during this stage.

Prewriting stage y Developing a focus y Planning your story y Developing questions y Interviewing y Most difficult stage of the writing

process y Involves making difficult decisions y Most of your time should be spent in

this stage

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The Defense Information School, Fort George G. Meade, Maryland 3


Drafting stage It is during the next stage of the writing process, drafting, where writers get to have a little fun. This is where they get to show readers about what they’ve learned.

If the prewriting stage is conducted properly, you will end up with a pile of information you have to sift through and organize in some way that will make sense to your readers and be interesting at the same time. At first, this seems overwhelming. If you properly laid the groundwork during the prewriting stage, you should have a strong outline to give you some direction.

Once you have found some structure, it’s time to start writing. But where should you begin? Although every writer approaches it differently, there are some common writing techniques.

For example, most experienced writers agree there is no need to write a story from beginning to end. One approach is to write what interests you the most or write about aspects of the story you most clearly remember. You could even start writing the story in the middle or at the end if you feel it makes you more comfortable. Because many experienced writers acknowledge the importance of the lead, they may save it for last. The nutgraph, on the other hand, should be one of the first things you write. The nutgraph clearly defines what the story is about. It not only puts the readers on the correct path, it also puts you, the writer, on the correct path and helps define your focus.

Writing in chunks

If you choose to write your stories in bits and pieces instead of from beginning to end, it is known as “writing in chunks.” Basically this means you focus on one chunk at a time in no particular order. Some writers find this less daunting than trying to visualize the entire story at once.

Tell-a-friend method

Another common practice writers use to get started is the “tell-a-friend method.” This does not mean you have to actually tell a friend your story. Instead, visualize the information you have, and if you were telling a friend about your story, how would you describe it? This technique is also helpful during the prewriting stage when you are trying to find the focus of your story. For example, if your friend asked you “What’s your story about?” explain your story in one or two sentences.

Another version of the tell-a-friend technique is rehearsing. Many reporters begin the writing process long before they sit down at their computers. Once they gather the information, they begin to think about their stories and “rehearse” them in their heads. They scan their notes and look for key words or ideas. Then they code their notes, marking just the material they intend to use in their stories. Often the material makes up only around 5 percent of the notes they took.




Properly using notes

While we’re talking about your notes, let’s take a closer look at how you should use them.

First, the story is not in your notes; the story is already in your head. Don’t scrutinize your notes, and don’t try to remember them. To write an interesting story, rely on your memory. Remember, this is the drafting stage. Use your notes to help jog your memory and get key ideas. During the drafting stage you should resist looking at your notes frequently. It may only slow you down. This also applies to recordings of your interviews.

Finally, you should try to avoid transcribing every word of your notes or your recordings. This could be an enormous waste of time.

Get it on paper

During the drafting stage, your goal is to get your ideas on paper as quickly and effectively as possible. Don’t worry about such things as grammar, spelling or transitions. More than likely, you will write under deadline. With the overall deadline in mind, some writers set internal deadlines or time goals to help them get their stories on paper in time. For example, set a time goal of 30 minutes. During this time, don’t allow yourself to do such things as take a break, talk to co-workers, or use the Internet. Just write. As you are writing, when you get to a sentence or paragraph that doesn’t sound right, write “fix” next to it or follow it with question marks to indicate that you want to return and polish it. Don’t get slowed down by perfectionism as you draft your story.

Now that we’ve taken a look at the first two stages of the writing process, let’s look at how you can take your draft and improve it during the next stage of the writing process – revising.

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Revising stage Many experienced writers say the key to the revising stage is to step away from your story. Revision demands distance. This means when you are finished writing your draft, take a break if time allows. Go do something that has nothing to do with writing. When you return, your eyes and brain will be rested, and you will read your story in a different way.

Revising doesn’t mean just going back and cleaning up the spelling, grammar and style. Approach your draft as an editor would. Try to discover the problems with your story. Some writers use the four C’s method during the revision stage.

Conceive: Is the idea well focused? Should the story be developed around another angle?

Collect: Does the story need more information? If so, return to your sources for follow-up interviews or conduct further research.

Correct: Did any problems occur in the earlier stages? Are any minor corrections necessary to improve clarity or grammar? Are the sentences brief? Can you tighten them up?

Construct: Does the order work? Is it logical and interesting? Does the story flow smoothly from one topic to another?

It’s necessary to tie phrases, sentences and paragraphs together so the reader can move logically from one thought to another. This is achieved through the use of transitions. Transitions can be words, phrases, clauses, sentences

or even paragraphs. These help readers move smoothly from one idea to another.

One of the easiest ways to tie two paragraphs together is to find a key word or phrase from one paragraph and echo it in the next paragraph.

Example:

DINFOS saw an increase in student attendance in every academic department last year, leading to a greater need for new instructors.

Due to this need, the school’s leaders decided to hire 20 civilian instructors who work for a Virginia-based contractor.

Example:

Diane Matthews became a guest at the Fisher House after her son, Senior Airman Shane Matthews, lost his left arm following injuries and complications from a December 2002 car accident.

The accident happened in Houma, La., and then he was flown to New Orleans for treatment.

Another simple way to lead readers from one idea to another is to use a “sign post” word or phrase.

Example:

College students who attend classes on campus must meet at regularly scheduled times several times a week.

By comparison, students who participate in online classes have greater flexibility and meet on campus only when they have to take tests.Example:




Most shelters give strays vaccinations, test them for rabies and ringworm, and neuter or spay them before new owners take them home – usually for a relatively low fee. The Fort Meade Veterinary Treatment Facility charges $50 for all these services, plus an identification microchip.

On top of that, shelter workers usually get to know the animals well and can help families find pets with personalities that will make them all happy, said Bruno.

Show don’t tell: This writing principle applies to being specific and using anecdotal information. Don’t be judgmental. If you tell your readers that someone is professional, friendly, or determined, the reader may get some idea of what you mean, but adjectives and adverbs mean different things to different people. So show the reader. Show the professional interactions the source has with his customers, or the smile, or the furrowed brow, or the distant stare.

Examples:

Tell (weak)The airman looked happy when the commander announced his name.

Show (better)The airman’s eyes widened, and he jumped out of his chair with an open hand thrust into the air when the commander announced his name.

Tell (weak)Taylor said he knew he was an alcoholic after he had the worst morning of his life.

Show (better) Taylor said he knew he was an alcoholic after he woke up in a bath tub face forward in a pool of his own vomit.

Write short paragraphs: Generally,

feature paragraphs should not exceed four sentences. Paragraph length should be alternated to give variety. Also, be aware large paragraphs can intimidate readers. They prefer nuggets, not boulders.

Use strong verbs: For example, instead of writing, There were hundreds of people along the street to see the runners pass, write, Hundreds of people lined the street to see the runners pass. Simple changes give your stories more punch.

Examples:

y Sprinted vs. ran y Scrubbed vs. cleaned y Triggered vs. started y Stomped vs. walked y Shrieked vs. yelled

Avoid wordiness: The rewriting should shorten the story while improving the clarity.

Example:

Verbose: Such preparations shall be made as will completely obscure all Federal buildings and non-Federal buildings occupied by the Federal government during an air raid for any period of time from visibility by reason of internal or external illumination. Such obscuration may be obtained either by blackout construction or by termination of illumination. This will, of course, require that in building areas in which production must continue during the blackout, construction must be provided that internal illumination may continue. (Draft of a public statement to President Franklin Roosevelt during World War II by James Landis)

Concise:Tell them in buildings where they have to continue working put something across




the windows. In buildings where they can stop working for a while, turn out the lights.

Use figures of speech: Figures of speech are often used and crafted for emphasis, freshness of expression or clarity. Be careful, however, because figurative language can also create clarity problems.

Let’s look at four figures of speech: similes, metaphors, personification and hyperboles:

Similes compare two unlike things, typically marked by the use of “like” or “as.” Examples:

y The new recruit was as nervous as a cat on a windy day.

y Her vocabulary was as bad as, like, whatever.

y Playing chess with him is like trying to outsmart a computer.

y Her cookies taste like lumps of sand.

Metaphors are implied comparisons.

Examples:

y A comfortable sofa is fertile soil for the couch potato.

y He is a pig. y That man reeks of sarcasm. y Time is a thief.

Personification is figurative speech that gives inanimate objects or animals human traits and qualities. Examples:

y The tree by the river wept under the weight of the storm.

y The house stared down at her with

empty glass eyes. y The latch bit his finger with metal

teeth. y The computer mocked her by

deleting her work.

Hyberbole is a figure of speech in which statements are exaggerated. It may be used to evoke strong feelings or to create a strong impression. It is not meant to be taken literally.

Examples:

y The clutter on his desk was piled to the ceiling.

y Her wrinkles weigh more than she does.

y The base is so isolated even insects won’t live there.

y I think of her a million times a day.

Use anecdotes: One of the best ways to make your stories more interesting to readers is to use anecdotes. An anecdote is a small story that might run in length from a couple of paragraphs to an entire page. Anecdotes can be funny, sad, poignant or whatever. They are stories because they contain characters, action and description. Generally there are four good uses for anecdotes. Anecdotes introduce the subject to the reader. They illustrate to make a point. Anecdotes can also help condense a long story. Finally, they can be used to conclude a story.

Example:

“One day Calvin wanted me to tell him how I looked. He was about 6. They were doing something in school for Mother’s Day and the kids were drawing pictures of their mothers. He wanted to know what I looked like, and that upset me because I didn’t know how to tell him. I thought, ‘How am I going to explain this to him so




he will really know what I look like?’ So I tried to explain to him about facial features, noses, and I just used touch. I took his hand, and I tried to explain about skin, let him touch his, and then mine. And I think that was the moment when Calvin really knew he was blind.”

Example:

On March 7, 1966, Pitsenbarger’s crew flew off to rescue a South Vietnamese soldier who lost his foot in an old minefield. Nobody could figure out how to extract the wounded soldier without tripping the unstable mines.

Pits piped up, saying, “No problem, just lower me down on the penetrator, I’ll straddle the guy, pick him up, and then you can lift me up.”

Simple, right? But everybody, including Pitsenbarger, knew the helicopter’s violent propwash could trigger the mines, setting them off like tumbling dominoes, but Bill remained resolute. And he was successful.

Avoid slang and jargon: You’re writing for people, in many cases, who are barely interested in your subject, and they certainly don’t want to learn a new vocabulary. Always consider your audience. Although slang and jargon may have a place in verbal communication, it has no place in your writing.

Slang is the use of informal words and expressions to describe an object or condition. Slang is vocabulary that is meant to be interpreted quickly but not necessarily literally. Jargon is terminology that relates to a specific

activity, profession or group. Much like slang, it develops as a kind of shorthand, to quickly express ideas that are frequently discussed between members of a group. In many cases a standard term may be given a more precise or specialized usage among practitioners of a field. In addition to general military jargon, you also have to be on the lookout for job-specific terms unfamiliar to your readers. For example, in the Basic Public Affairs Specialist Course, you learn to write news stories, headlines and features. Would most readers understand what news stories and headlines are? Yes. However, most readers don’t know what a “feature” is. In this case, you must clarify that a feature is an article that is not meant to report breaking news but to take an in-depth look at a subject.

Example:

An all hands meeting is slated for Defense Information School personnel Monday at 10 a.m. in the post theater. Sailors at DINFOS would certainly understand what “all hands” means. However, members from other services might not.

Example:

“He is the most ate up soldier I ever met,” the drill sergeant said. In this example, “ate up” could mean different things to different people. To a Marine, a person who is ate up is one who is always lazy, in disarray and unsatisfactory. To someone in the Air Force, a person who is ate up is one who is an overachiever or who “bleeds Air Force blue blood.”




Example:

Although he was a slick sleeve, he knew what he was doing. Sure, some of us know what a slick sleeve is. It means a service member in the pay grade of E-1. He has no stripes on his sleeves. However, would someone unfamiliar with military terms understand what “slick sleeve” means?

Minimize adjectives: The use of adjectives often weakens or bogs down a story. Instead of using adjectives, try to use specific details.

Examples:

Weak: ancient windmillBetter: 200-year-old windmill

Weak: large class of studentsBetter: 48-student class

Read aloud: If you struggle with parts of your story that don’t sound right, read them aloud. Often you’ll hear the cumbersome parts your eyes didn’t catch. Also, read your entire story aloud after you finish writing it.

Write simple, short sentences: Don’t write to impress. Most readers appreciate simple sentences where the subjects and verbs are close together. Also, try to keep your sentences shorter than 25 words.

Fix clarity problems: If your readers perform a double take at any of your sentences, perhaps your writing is confusing. Always place yourself in the shoes of your readers. This is especially important when writing technical stories. One way of doing this is to pretend you are writing for a favorite aunt or uncle who has no connection to the military. Would she or he understand what you’ve

written? If not, rewrite and simplify for clarity. In other words, when you write something that raises a question in a reader’s mind, follow it immediately with information that answers the question or substantiates the point, either with quotes or facts.

Examples:

Problem:Funds obligated by the Department of Defense for military assistance as of Sept. 30 may, if deobligated, be reobligated. That sounds like a word puzzle. What exactly does that mean? In this case, rewrite the sentence to clarify.

Solution:Military assistance funds set aside before Sept. 30 by the Department of Defense for possible use on other programs may now again be used for military assistance.

Problem:The students who come to DINFOS are selected from aptitude tests. How is a student selected from a test?

Solution:Students are selected to come to DINFOS based on their aptitude test scores.

DINFOS photo




Use attributive verbs correctly: The best attributive verb is “said.” Some writers believe the word “said” is boring, so they try to replace it with more exciting words. Often, these replacement verbs are incorrectly used or sound silly.

For example, novice writers often try to point out how humorous someone is by using the phrase “he laughed” instead of “he said.” Can a person really laugh something?

Here’s an example: “He tripped over his rifle,” he laughed. Can a person really speak that line while laughing? Maybe, but it might be painful. Let’s try another one.

Now, let’s replace “said” with “hissed.” “Get out of my office,” she hissed. OK, you try it. Hiss that line. Finally, you should generally use the past-tense “said.” However, “says” may be appropriate in some cases. Check with your instructor.




Editing stage

Editing is the final process of preparing text for presentation. Although you may still improve the content of your story during this stage of the writing process, the focus is different. During the editing stage, your focus should be on mechanics. It doesn’t matter how well written a story is or how interesting it is if it is riddled with misspelled words and grammatical errors. During this final stage, you must become a perfectionist. Here is where you check for such things as grammar, spelling and style. You must also check the accuracy of your story. Are names spelled correctly? Are job titles and units correct? Are the dates and locations written in your story correct? If there is any uncertainty, don’t hesitate to call your sources to verify the facts.

Although the following list is not all inclusive, here are some tips for editing:

y Read your story backward. This forces you to look at each word. This technique may help you find spelling and style errors.

y At a minimum, use your spell checker and grammar checker as a first screening, but don’t depend on them.

y Force yourself to read the story slowly.

y Don’t edit for every type of mistake at once. For example, read through your story to look for misspellings, and read it again to look for style errors. Keep a list of your most common errors, and proof for those on separate “trips” through the story.

y Print it out and read it.

y Double check the spelling of proper names.

y Double check little words: “Or,” “of,” “it” and “is” are often interchanged.

y Double check whenever you’re sure something is right – certainty is dangerous.

y Does the text answer all of the questions you think it should? Highlight the sentence that best answers your questions, just so you can see if the facts flow in logical order.

y Check specifically for jargon and slang.

y If you have written about a procedure, perform the steps yourself.

y Write at the end of the day; edit first thing in the morning.


Conclusion

Basic Public Affairs Specialist CourseFeature Writing


As you begin to discover topics you want to write about, remember that writing is a process. Even the most experienced writer uses a writing process. It is this process that helps writers set aside their initial fears when a topic seems too overwhelming to write down on paper.



References


Hay, V. (1990). The essential feature. Columbia University Press

Williamson, D. (1975). Feature writing for newspapers. Hastings House Publishers, New York

Ruehlmann, W. (1978). Stalking the feature story. Writers Digest Books

Itule, B., & Anderson, D. (2002). News writing and reporting for today’s media (6th ed.). The McGraw-Hill Companies

Alexander, L. (1975). Beyond the facts: A guide to the art of feature writing. Gulf Publishing Company, Houston, TX

Patterson, B. (1986). Write to be read: A practical guide to feature writing. Iowa State Press

Harrower, T. (2005). The newspaper designer’s handbook. The McGraw-Hill Companies. *I could locate only 1997 and 2001 editions

Rich, C. (1999). Writing and reporting news: A coaching method. Wadsworth Publishing, Florence, KY.

Harrigan, J. & Dunlap, K. (2003). The editorial eye. Bedford/St. Martins, New York, New York 10010

DINFOS Policies and Procedures Manual (2008)

Feature writing handbook (2008)

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