Map out your story on Ann's roller coaster grid The best stories show, then tell, then show, then tell, again and again and again. And the best pieces mix up their concrete details with stories, statistics, scenarios and more. How does your story shape up against that standard? To find out, use this grid to map out your story. On it, note which kinds of concrete … [Read more...] about Show and tell
Story structure
Three’s company
Compare & contrast positions The Portland, Ore., mayoral race is boring, pundits say, because you can't tell the candidates apart. To bring a little life to the proceedings, Willamette Week held a fake mayoral smackdown in which it pitted local favorites against each other — a bacon maple bar, for instance, and a Paul Bunyan statue. The bacon maple bar won two rounds … [Read more...] about Three’s company
Boxes and arrows
Hybrid story forms go beyond news and features “When you have news, report it,” advises Roy Peter Clark, Poynter Institute senior scholar. “When you have a story, tell it.” But what if you have both? Some stories don’t fit into the traditional boxes and triangles of the inverted pyramid news structure or the feature-style story structure. That’s where hybrid story … [Read more...] about Boxes and arrows
Alphabet soup
Alphabetical structure isn’t as easy as ABC I find myself once again on Weight Watchers. (Sigh. Why can’t I make that brie-on-brioche diet work for me?) Which means that I often find myself amused by the structure the company uses to organize information. First, some food for thought Weight Watchers, for those of you who aren’t members-for-eternity like I am, is essentially … [Read more...] about Alphabet soup
Template your story
Create fill-in-the-blanks story forms An old friend was kvetching recently about his lousy job. After working for a series of magazines, he’d landed at the metro daily, where he was editing a daily page of tips and tricks for the lifestyle section. "My passion is for the long-form narrative," he said, sniffing at the prospect of being reduced to writing nibbles and bits of … [Read more...] about Template your story