Notes from the writing workshop with Utica Observer-Dispatch sports columnist John Pitarresi:
Leads:
- Leads should be succinct. There is no hard and fast rule, but see if you can keep your lead to fewer than 20 words long.
- Leads should be the most interesting part of the story. You can start with a quote or an anecdote from/about a person who is featured in the story.
- You do not need to get the who, what, where, when, why, into the first sentence of a story. You can contextualize the lead in the second or third sentence.
- Example of a BAD lead. DO NOT WRITE THIS: On Monday, Feb. 23 at 7 p.m. in the Chapel, Professor X from the University of Y gave a presentation on his new book about the fundamentals of journalism.
- Better lead for the same story: Writing a good lead is not an easy thing to do. That is why Professor X of the University of Y is writing a book on the fundamentals of journalism. On Monday, Feb. 23 he gave advice on leads and more to Hamilton students gathered in the Chapel at 7 p.m.
Stories:
- Be your own best editor. Read your stories before you submit them to an editor.
- Avoid one-source stories. For some stories you may only need one source, but for most you should have at least two sources. If you are writing a story on the new alcohol policy, don’t just get a quote from the dean of students. Also get some quotes from students, the ones who are affected by the new policy!
- Try to bring in a quote close to the beginning of a story. As with the lead, this serves to get people engaged in your story as soon as possible. Don’t force it, but if you have a good quote it should take precedence over the boring, explanatory quotes. Those can come after your good quote.
- Be concise. Are there words the story could do without? Do you explain the same concept too often in different words? Take out redundant phrases if they don’t need to be there for clarity.
- Do your homework. If you’re going to interview the dean of students about her thoughts on how the new alcohol policy is holding up, you should have read the previous Spectator articles about the new alcohol policy. Don’t walk into that interview asking her what exactly the new policy is. If you’re interviewing a visiting lecturer, at least Wikipedia them, if not read something they’ve written. Sometimes doing your homework can write half the story for you.
- Be tight, be bright, be right.
- Be tight – Be concise
- Be bright – When possible, use the active voice and use action verbs
- Be right – Check your facts
