{"id":48,"date":"2002-09-28T21:47:33","date_gmt":"2002-09-29T05:47:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/journalismthatmatters.org\/ogunquit\/?p=48"},"modified":"2002-09-28T21:47:33","modified_gmt":"2002-09-29T05:47:33","slug":"writing-stories-that-readers-will-read-to-the-end","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/journalismthatmatters.org\/ogunquit\/2002\/09\/28\/writing-stories-that-readers-will-read-to-the-end\/","title":{"rendered":"Writing Stories that Readers Will Read to the End"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1><span style=\"color: #444444;line-height: 24px;font-size: 16px\"><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\">Convener<\/span><\/strong>:\u00a0 Lance Johnson, The Day<\/span><\/h1>\n<p><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\">Participants<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Tom Heslon, Providence Journal<\/li>\n<li>Lisa M. Pane, Associated Press<\/li>\n<li>Mark Peters, Record Journal<\/li>\n<li>Margaret Walter, Portland Press Herald<\/li>\n<li>Giselle Goodman, Portland Press Herald<\/li>\n<li>Terry Ryan, Patriot Ledger<\/li>\n<li>David J. Kessler, consultant<\/li>\n<li>Lisa Arsenault, student, UNH<\/li>\n<li>Wayne Phaneuf, Springfield Union News<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Others who stopped by at various points<\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\">Discussion<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cPut a face on the story.\u00a0 People want to read stories about other people, people like them.\u201d Other similar comments were:\u00a0 \u201cWe need stories about real people\u201d \u2026 and \u201cmake new friends\u201d \u2026 in other words, don\u2019t go back to the same sources time and time again.\u00a0 Develop new contacts &#8212; <em>new faces<\/em> &#8212; to write about.\u00a0 Margaret Walter: \u201cEvery once in a while, throw the old Rolodex away and start over.\u201d \u201cValue real people\u2019s ideas\u201d \u2026 instead of always depending on the same \u201cofficial sources.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>We must learn to think outside the box:\u00a0 Lisa Payne, AP<\/p>\n<p>To really impact writing or storytelling at a newspaper, the message must come from the top.\u00a0 The culture of the whole newsroom must change.\u00a0 This takes a lot of conversation within the newsroom: Tom Heslin.<\/p>\n<p>Wayne Phaneuf of the Union News said that it\u2019s important to pick the right form for the story.\u00a0 Some stories deserve storytelling, and some are simply articles that carry facts that readers want.\u00a0 Both are to be valued, but a decision needs to be made on what the story is, and the effort required.<\/p>\n<p>David J. Kessler said people want the same things from our stories that they want from the books that they read:\u00a0 Characters that you care about, and a plot that interests you.<\/p>\n<p>Phaneuf said that reporters and editors need to look at the fruit of research in the same way they do a kaleidoscope, letting the results drive what the story will be, and not the initial assignment.<\/p>\n<p>The art of interviewing is essential to good story development, and probably most important is the ability to listen, to hear: Lance Johnson.<\/p>\n<p>Create stories that people will talk about, the \u201cHey Mildred!\u201d stories:\u00a0 Margaret Walter.<\/p>\n<p>Capture the conflict and complexity of stories. What does the story mean?\u00a0 Make it clear. Write in plain English.<\/p>\n<p>Editors should encourage reporters to take risks, and to support the reporters when they do. Trust between reporters and editors needs to be developed and nurtured.\u00a0 Editors also need to help reporters make decisions about stories, so the stories can be shaped &#8212; so that a newspaper\u2019s stories become so good so often that they create a demand among the newspaper\u2019s readership.\u00a0 Making no decision is making one nonetheless, and often it\u2019s a bad one because the story suffers.<\/p>\n<p>Stories, according to Heslin, should be parables.\u00a0 \u201cSet the scene\u201d with great, telling details.<\/p>\n<p>Mark Peters asked about developing contacts within the Hispanic community, where the \u201cleaders\u201d are not as obvious.\u00a0 He was advised to seek out the community organizations, such as the churches, and to stop by some front porches, or the equivalent, for chats with residents.\u00a0 This will develop trust and a network of sources for stories.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSatisfy the reader\u2019s need for information.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The key to getting access to the people who can make a story come alive is to not give up.\u00a0 Be persistent..<\/p>\n<p>Find the right reporter for the assignment.\u00a0 Take ownership of the assignment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Convener:\u00a0 Lance Johnson, The Day Participants Tom Heslon, Providence Journal Lisa M. Pane, Associated Press Mark Peters, Record Journal Margaret Walter, Portland Press Herald Giselle Goodman, Portland Press Herald Terry Ryan, Patriot Ledger David J. Kessler, consultant Lisa Arsenault, student, &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/journalismthatmatters.org\/ogunquit\/2002\/09\/28\/writing-stories-that-readers-will-read-to-the-end\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-48","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-session-notes"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/journalismthatmatters.org\/ogunquit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/journalismthatmatters.org\/ogunquit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/journalismthatmatters.org\/ogunquit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journalismthatmatters.org\/ogunquit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journalismthatmatters.org\/ogunquit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/journalismthatmatters.org\/ogunquit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/journalismthatmatters.org\/ogunquit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journalismthatmatters.org\/ogunquit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journalismthatmatters.org\/ogunquit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}