Becoming a Storyteller, Not Just a Reporter

The Storytelling Process

Traditionally journalists operate in a linear fashion, involving distinct processes and skills: You come up with a story idea, you gather the information, you write the story, then (maybe) you rewrite. Try to view storytelling as a single process, in which you are constantly reshaping the story idea, writing and rewriting as you gather information.

Begin writing as soon as you have your idea for the story. It may just be a paragraph to yourself or your editor. It may be a few paragraphs, already starting to resemble a story. It may be more a plan for pursuing the story.

If you can, write after each interview. Don't just transcribe your notes, though that would be better than not writing at all. Start writing the story. Work on a lede if you can. If you think the interview might produce just a couple paragraphs for the story, write them. Writing while the interview is still fresh ensures accuracy (especially if your handwriting is bad or if you have trouble reading old notes). You will be more likely to remember important details about the setting and the speaker's mood and mannerisms.

As early as possible, start writing the story, as though you might have to turn it in right away. Work on a lede, on organization, on transitions and flow. Maybe this won't end up being your lede, but your story will read better if several paragraphs reflect as much effort and polish as your lede.

Writing as you report helps you identify holes in your reporting. It helps focus the reporting that remains. It helps you identify what bases you've covered thoroughly and which need more information.

Each time you return to the story, read through what you've already written, and rewrite as needed. This will put more polish on your story. It will help launch you each time, cutting down those long blocks of time staring at the screen waiting for momentum to happen.

Think of the story as you interview and gather information. Identify pieces that will bolster your lead, illustrate your main points, etc. Start writing the story in your head or aloud as you drive back from an interview. Write down important passages or phrases in your notebook as they occur to you.

Watch for the surprise. Your story idea may change a time or two as you gather information and discover the true story.

Story Elements

Don't limit your inquiry, or your thinking, to the basics of journalism: Who, what, when, where, why, how. Think in terms of story elements: setting, character, plot, conflict, climax, resolution, dialogue, theme.

The story elements shape not only your writing but your reporting. For instance, "who" can be answered with a name and some basic details, perhaps age, hometown, occupation: Steve Buttry, 45, an Omaha reporter. However, if you're developing a character, you seek and find considerably more: Air Force brat, Eagle Scout, preacher's kid, Yankee fan, cancer survivor, novelist wannabe, lousy athlete, father, husband, former editor, game creator. "When" may be a place on the map, "where" a point on the calendar or clock. Setting demands description. It demands relationship in time and place to other events and places.

Story elements may help you write your lede. Which is the most important element for this story? Perhaps that belongs in your lede. What is the climax? Perhaps that's where you should open the story.

Treat quotes as dialogue. If a quote is just giving the reader information, perhaps you should do that in your own words. Use quotes if a character is speaking as a character, telling her own story, giving his opinion, using colorful or distinct language.

Sometimes in a news, feature or issue story, you can make a character of something other than a person. In a medical story, a disease might be the primary character. In a religion story, a church might be a character. Or you can create a mythical "average" character to bring statistics to life. I wrote a story once using statistics to show the difference between life for blacks and whites. I made a mythical average black baby the primary character, and told how this baby's outlook differed from the average white baby, in terms of health, education, pay, housing, crime, life expectancy, etc.

General Storytelling Tips

Read your story aloud. If you're embarrassed to read aloud to yourself in a newsroom, call a colleague over and read it to her. (No reporter ever looks strange talking on the telephone.) Or call a friend, spouse or lover and read it over the telephone. Give me a call (402-444-1345). If you have to, call your own voice mail at home, or time and temperature, and read it to no one, so you can just listen to the sound of your writing. Good writing has a voice, and the writer must listen critically to that voice. Do you have to pause for breath in the middle of a sentence? Break it into two sentences or at least structure it so that a comma gives you the pause at the right place. Do you hear a rhythm to your voice? If not, play around a little and see if you can give the story a rhythm. Rhythm doesn't mean sing-song or repetition. You might want to vary the rhythm, putting a critical fact or an important moment in a short, 4- or 5-word sentence that will almost stop the reader, thus emphasizing that moment. You might want to build a crescendo to that moment with some sentences with parallel construction and similar sound.

Write a simple outline. Organize your notes the same way you outlined the story, using a different color than you took the notes. If a quote or fact deals with the police, for instance, you might mark it with a red P. This helps you put related material together, and it helps weed out possibly redundant material. Revise the outline as the story evolves through your discovery efforts.

Write as much as you can without your notes. Yes, you'll want to go back and use your notes to ensure accuracy. But write what's in your head. Chances are you'll remember the most important things and write better without the distraction of notes and documents.

Tell someone (editor, friend, colleague, spouse) about the story. The first thing you tell about it orally may be the most important or interesting item, and thus becomes the lead or the focus. Did you omit some facts in telling the story? Maybe they're not that important.

If you're having trouble getting started, write a simple declarative sentence: "This is a story about the history of newspapers." Yes, it's boring. But leave it there. Move beyond the beginning and tell the rest of the story. Before you're finished, the best beginning probably will become clear to you. Sometimes the lede is the last thing you'll write.

Editors have a congenital need to be told the ending of the story in the first paragraph or two. Storytellers have a congenital need to put the ending at the end. The editor wants to tell the scanning reader immediately what happened. The storyteller wants to build some suspense and interest. Storytelling in newspapers demands some negotiation and communication between the editor and storyteller. If you're writing on deadline, you have less time for negotiation and less time for trying an approach out on an editor. You need some accommodation. Both sides are right. Readers do scan and the newspaper ain't Grimm's Fairy Tales. On the other hand, newspapers are too dull, and readers will stop and read a well-told story and then talk with their friends and co-workers about that story. Work to develop a storytelling style that gives just enough of the news early to satisfy the editor and the scanning reader and saves enough of the story to make a good yarn that will carry the reader to the powerful ending. If you're pushing it, try to give the editor an early look at your approach. Hopefully, your writing will sell the approach. If it doesn't, maybe the editor is right. You need to either make your approach better, or use the editor's approach, or accommodate your approach more to the editor.

A story doesn't have to start at the beginning. You can start at a key moment, or with a telling observation, then in a paragraph or two tell the essence of the "news" to satisfy the editor (and the scanning reader). Then you start at the beginning (or some other appropriate point) and proceed in a narrative.

A story has an ending. It should be your goal. Have an ending in mind when you've finished the lede, and make sure every word, every sentence, every paragraph moves the reader toward that end. If something sidetracks, ask whether it needs to be in the story. If it's important, maybe it should be handled as a sidebar or included in a graphic.

A story demands strong detail. That doesn't mean lots of detail. It means telling, important detail. For each detail you use, ask yourself what it adds to the story. Does it help the reader develop a mental image? Does it make the characters seem a little more human and real? Does it present a little irony or humor? Does it help place the reader at the scene? If it just adds a fact you had in your notebook, don't use it. Be demanding of your details.

Double-check every fact. This doesn't mean check it twice against the same source. See if you can find two sources to verify each fact. Regard each number, date, name or title as a potential blow to your credibility. Check even the things you think you know (unless you're never wrong).

Help the reader envision the people and actions about which you write.

Before you write a story, identify a weakness in your writing. Address that weakness in this piece. Make it a strength just this once.

Just because you collected a fact doesn't mean you have to share it with your readers. Use the facts that help tell the story, and only those facts.

With each quote or fact, ask if it's unique. Ask if it advances the story. Ask if it repeats something you've already said. Can it be said better in a paraphrase?

When you write and rewrite, ask yourself "reader" questions. Why should I care about this? How it this going to affect me? Make sure you're answering the reader's questions. If not, you need to answer them, or consider removing the sections that raise the questions, or explaining why they can't be answered.

Don't write one more word than you need to.