WRITING THE STORY

KEY CONCEPTS

Grabbing the reader’s attention

Creating flow in the story

Organization styles

What to avoid

Copyediting and how it will save your rear.

GRABBING THE READER’S ATTENTION

Headline Succinct, no more than six words Word choice critical Telegraphic

Extra words omitted Local High School Wins a High State Rating in Academics School Wins High State Rating

Verb Tense Present tense to show immediacy: Tigers Defeat Tech 7-0 Historic stories can be past tense: Volcano Erupted 50 Years Ago Today Future events written with infinitives: 360 Seniors to Graduate Sunday

GRABBING THE READER’S ATTENTION

Leads The “HOOK” of the story Concise and well-written Important facts should appear in the first sentence AP Lead

Summarize main facts Lack creativity

Inverted Pyramid Lead The topic of the story is written as the lead

Quote/Question leads Offer little relevant information Should be avoided

CREATING FLOW IN THE STORY

Transitions Avoid ordinals (first, second, third; next, last, then, in addition) Repeat key words in paragraphs to show continuity of topic.

Mayor Sid Goldberg today signed over 40 acres of the Pine Ridge Forest Reserve for the grounds of the new Galileo Observatory.

The observatory, built with federal funds will provide astronomy research facilities for three area universities.

CREATING FLOW IN THE STORY

Transitions Avoid ordinals (first, second, third; next, last, then, in addition) Repeat key words in paragraphs to show continuity of topic. Explaining relations in time.

The battle eventually led to the establishment of the Interstate Commerce Commission for the regulation of rates.

But that was later. A discussion of Populist Revolt, a fascinating chapter in the state’s history, now seems in order.

CREATING FLOW IN THE STORY

Transitions Avoid ordinals (first, second, third; next, last, then, in addition) Repeat key words in paragraphs to show continuity of topic. Explaining relations in time. Mentioning the previous topic and the upcoming topic in the same,

compound sentence.

While many people blame the state's education crisis on a faltering government, focused on financial gain, another factor that could be influential is the decreasing amount of parental support students have in today’s dual-income society.

CREATING FLOW IN THE STORY

Transitions Avoid ordinals (first, second, third; next, last, then, in addition) Repeat key words in paragraphs to show continuity of topic. Explaining relations in time. Mentioning the previous topic and the upcoming topic in the same,

compound sentence.

ORGANIZATION STYLES

Inverted-Pyramid Style Lead with Major idea of story Progress to details that become less important to the story.

Story-telling Style Chronological Narrative in style

Hybrid Uses Summary lead with chronological story body

WHAT TO AVOID

Offensive Language Vulgar language Racist terms Sexist comments Disability bias Inappropriate remarks on age

Verbose writing Be succinct and to the point Eliminate unnecessary words

Simple Words Not everyone knows that assuage means to ease Be creative with common words

WHAT TO AVOID

Redundancy 2 a.m. in the morning- ‘a.m.’ and ‘in the morning’ mean the same thing. Spherical in shape- spherical, by definition means ‘round in shape’

Clichés Trite, overused expressions

‘free as a bird’ ‘since the dawn of time’

Fear of repetition It’s okay to repeat a word. Don’t use confusing synonyms

Passive Voice State WHO did WHAT no What was done by whom. If you can put “BY ZOMBIES” after the verb and it’s grammatically correct, it’s

passive voice.

COPYEDITING AND HOW IT WILL SAVE YOUR REAR.

When proofreading your own work, your brain will autocorrect it to what it meant in the first place. Having someone else look at your work will make mistakes stand out so you can fix them.

Accuracy Spelling Grammar Facts

Editing Conform to newspaper style Logical flow

Attribution Validity of sources Crediting sources

THE ASSIGNMENT

Please take out your 10-15 questions from yesterday.

Conduct your interviews over the weekend or Monday before class.

Take photos ASAP.

Once your interviews are complete, begin writing your story using the notes from today.

Turn in these notes now.