Beyond the inverted pyramid
Story structure
Giving an overall shape to writing
• The martini glass
o
Use for:
 Crimes.
 Disasters.
 Dramatic stories.
The lead
Key facts in invertedpyramid form
Chronology of events
Kicker
Story structure
Giving an overall shape to writing
• The kabob
Also called Wall Street Journal
formula or the Circle.
o Use for:
 Trends.
 Events where you want to show
actual people.
o
Anecdote
Nut graf
Meat
Meat
Meat
Anecdote
The world of features
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Popular feature stories
Personality profile
Human-interest story
Color story
Backgrounder
Trend story
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Reaction piece
Flashback
How-to
Consumer guide
Personal narrative
Which way to write it?
“Hard” news, “soft” news
• Relative terms that describe
topic and treatment of story.
Expect serious, timely events to
be written in inverted-pyramid
style.
o Items that are less urgent or
somber make up “soft” news.
o
Feature style
Some stories require a livelier, looser,
more literary voice
• Tom Wolfe dubbed it “New
Journalism.”
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Realistic dialogue.
Vivid reconstruction
of scenes.
Viewed through the eyes of
the characters.
o Recording everyday details.
o
Feature style
Successful feature writers…
• Helpful tips
Write tightly.
Vary sentence
structure.
o Match treatment to
topic.
o Don’t overdo.
o Avoid 1st person.
o
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Stay objective.
Learn shorthand or use a
tape recorder.
o Remember editors have
strong opinions.
o Read.
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Writing profiles
Good profiles reveal feelings, attitudes,
habits and mannerisms
• How to research and write
successful profiles
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Solicit your subject’s support. o Follow up with interviews
Interview and observe.
and research.
Find your focus.
o Structure your story.
Writing profiles
Sample story structures for profiles
• Anecdotal lead
o
Engaging, revealing small
story to lure readers in
• Nut graf
o
Summarizes why this
person matters now
• Scene #1
o
Observe subject in action
using dialog, details,
descriptions
• Chronology
o
Recap of subject’s past
Special leads
• A narrative, or anecdotal, lead draws a
reader into the story by putting them in the
middle of the action.
• Observation is a key reporting element for
this kind of lead.
• Sentences remain clear and somewhat
terse, but there’s more room for evocative
writing.
A narrative lead
• From the Daily Nebraskan at the University of Nebraska:
A red bandanna covers his long, brown hair. Blue
sunglasses hide his eyes. Tattoos cover his arms. Lowell
peers out over a ragged beard and waves three of his darkskinned children from the room as he settles cross-legged
on a couch.
A partially dismantled Honda 750 engine sits next to the
chair across from the couch.
“I’ve always been a biker,” Lowell says. He points to a lifesized poster on the wall. It’s a smiling Bobby Lowell at 5,
posing in a slightly too-large black leather jacket.
Special leads
• Even when you junk the inverted pyramid,
you still need a “nut graph.” Tell your
reader why they should care about the
story – and keep reading.
• http://www.washingtonpost.com/wpdyn/content/article/2010/09/26/AR201009
2603403.html?hpid=newswell
Special leads
• When using a narrative/anecdotal style,
structure your story to give the maximum
impact.
• Paint a picture with your words, but don’t
be schmaltzy.
Special leads
•
From the Orlando Sentinel:
WASHINGTON -- One by one, they are being laid to rest in the shadow of the
building where they perished.
The charred Pentagon looms in the background. A Navy Ceremonial Honor
Guard stands over caskets. A bugler plays taps with an aching slowness.
Thousands of white grave-markers stretch in every direction as three quick rifle
volleys break the silence. Wives and children and mothers and fathers receive
flags and hugs from officers in spotless dress uniforms.
At Arlington National Cemetery, it's time to bury the dead of yet another war -- an
almost unimaginable conflict fought with box cutters and commercial airliners.
On U.S. soil.
At Arlington, there are 25 funerals scheduled already, and there will be more. Of
the 189 people buried inside the Pentagon when a hijacked Boeing 757 airliner
hit the building's southwest side on Sept. 11, 50 were soldiers, sailors, airmen or
Marines.
So they are brought here -- to a patch of open space that will forever tie them to
the building where they worked and died.
Special leads
•
From the Baltimore Sun:
WASHINGTON - Sen. Arlen Specter is, by any definition, a survivor.
Brain tumors. Heart surgery. Primaries and general elections, sometimes when
the pundits predicted defeat.
And now, Hodgkin's disease, on the eve of the moment he's waited for all his
political life - a chance to gavel the Senate Judiciary Committee to order as it
considers the nominee to be the next Supreme Court justice.
Specter's head is nearly bald these days. He keeps a tissue close at hand, to
dab at his watery eyes and runny nose. They are symptoms of the
chemotherapy he receives every other Friday, a regimen that will end this
month.
But at 75, the Pennsylvania Republican's will seems strong - and his famously
agile legal mind appears raring to go.
"I'm ready," he said last week.
Nobody who knows him doubts it. "He's playing for the ages now, isn't he?" said
Philadelphia attorney Arthur Makadon, a longtime friend.
Writing the story
• Write from the first.
• Write after each
interview.
• Rewrite each time.
• Plan your ending.
• Save often, print
frequently.