Saturday, May 5, 2007

Narrative writing tips from the pros

Dan Golden of The Wall Street Journal, Stephanie Banchero of The Chicago Tribune and Douglas McGray, who has written for West and The New York Times magazines, were all very humble about their narrative writing skills during Saturday's first post-lunch session at the annual meeting.

But all three offered some practical tips for reporters.


Here are a few:


    Choose great characters for your narrative. McGray, who as a magazine writer does have more time than most newspaper reporters to work on his pieces, said he interviewed, or screened as he called it, about 30 potential main characters to find the one for the story that EWA will honor him for at tonight's banquet. (Both Banchero and Golden will be honored too.)

    Remember that reporting a narrative piece-- which should have scenes and characters just like a work of fiction-- is even more important than the writing of it.

    Make sure every word and every scene relates back to the one-sentence theme of the story.

    Be transparent with your sources. Prepare them as much as you can for what they will see in print, including the tone of the story. All of the writers on EWA's panel said they stop short of showing their entire story to sources. They do check facts and direct quotes.

    When dealing with reluctant subjects, let them know how their story relates to the national or even international story of many other people. Let them know the story is much bigger than them. If they still have issues with being involved, try to find out exactly what they are worried about and resolve it, Golden said.


Read superior writing. Banchero recommended theNieman Narrative Digest for finding good examples of narrative writing.

Enjoy!

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Amiable fill someone in on and this fill someone in on helped me alot in my college assignement. Gratefulness you on your information.

Anonymous said...

Opulently I acquiesce in but I about the post should prepare more info then it has.

Anonymous said...

good day friends. I'm honestly into shoes and I have been looking for the sake of that particular model. The prices as regards the sneakers were around 310 bucks on every site. But completely I base this area selling them for the benefit of half price. I in reality like those [url=http://www.shoesempire.com]prada sneakers[/url]. I will absolutely purchase those. what do you think?

Anonymous said...

good morning people. I'm honestly into shoes and I was digging allowing for regarding that singular model. The prices seeking the velcros were approximately 300 pounds on every page. But finally I found this locate selling them for the benefit of half price. I in reality like these [url=http://www.shoesempire.com]gucci sneakers[/url]. I will probably order those. what can you tell me about these?

Personal Narrative Essay  said...

I love to write narrative essays, stories and other type of content. I have noted all these suggestions and I will try practically next time during my writing activities.