Mon
Oct
27
As a freelance writer, one of the most essential components to getting published is the actual writing of your story.
You may want to make an outline for your story. Decide if you will be writing a soft lead or hard-news story. Then, based on the perspective style, format your information appropriately.
Writing and Reporting News:A Coaching Method, the textbook for MMC 2100, states that “The three basic tools of storytelling are theme, descriptive writing techniques and narrative writing techniques.”
Thus, you must first demonstrate your theme and why readers need to know about your story. Writing and Reporting News:A Coaching Method also declares that “All news stories are developed around one main point—a focus. The rest of the story should contain quotes, facts and information to support the main focus.”
Make sure your story answers quesions of: who, what, when,where, why and how?
Use attribution when needed and pay attention to grammar and punctuation. After you have finished writing your story, re-read and revise it carefully.
Source: Rich, Carole. (2007). Writing and Reporting News: A Coaching Method. 5th ed. Belmont, CA: Thomson Higher Education.
Fri
Oct
24
Once you’ve got your sources aligned for interviews, it’s time to conduct your interviews. In order to work most efficiently, there are a few things to keep in mind.
First and foremost, before you begin interviewing, confirm the spelling and titles of your source. You don’t want to publish a story with mistakes in spelling and grammar.
During the actual interview, make sure you listen attentively. If you are taking notes, be sure to put quotation marks around the specific statements made.
To collect as much information as possible, try to ask open-ended questions. If your source hesitates before answering a question, give them time to gather their thoughts.
At the end of your interview, discuss the overall facts obtained from the interview. Clarify any statements that might have been unclear. Following these simple rules will allow to you conduct successful interviews!
When creating a story for publish in a newspaper or magazine, sometimes it is difficult for people to “get a story.” In a world where life is constantly changing, it is not always easy to decide what to write an article about.
However, with some tips from Dr. Julie Dodd’s MMC 2100, you will learn how to find story ideas with great ease. The first vital thing to do is as follows: Acknowledge what issue is important to your community.
If a plethora of your local residents are discussing a certain issue, a related story might warrant more interest in your article. Additionally, make sure you monitor national news and how it affects you on a local level.
By localizing news, you can create a relevant and intriguing publication. Subsequently, determine if your chosen topic will enable you to interview people and use them as sources.
If you have attainable sources, you can begin to conduct your interviews and create a wonderful story!
