Back to Basics: Writing Across Media

Back to Basics: Writing Across Media IABC Fort Worth 2011

Basics of Good Writing
Good grammar, including sentence structure for emphasis—1,2,3 slots
Correct tone
Appropriate style
Good storytelling

What’s the story?

Determining Your Focus
Some stories start with a storytelling approach—anecdote about the person; news stories usually do not
Each story is developed around a main point (angle) or focus
To determine your focus ask two questions:
What’s the story about?
How would you tell the story to a friend?

How would you determine focus?

Storytelling 101
The key is detailed writing; a highly descriptive approach to writing
Takes readers to the scene and recreates it
Focuses on small details, which help portray the big picture
Describe, describe, describe—don’t analyze or conclude

The story is…

Tom Wolfe rules of descriptive writing
Create scene by scene construction of events
Provide a full record of dialogue in the scenes—usually employed by magazines only
Take the third-person point of view—generally used in all journalistic writing
Detail descriptive incidentals—minute details of source’s life in characterizing the person

Details, details, details

Text Writing Tips
Show, Don’t Tell
Human Interest Is Interesting
Make Sure You Understand Before You Begin
Put Good Quotes High
Put Anecdotes High
Use Concrete Nouns and Action Verbs
Avoid Adjectives and Adverbs
Avoid Opinion
Answer Questions
A Word About Said
A Word About Sentence Length
A Word About Transitions

Broadcast Writing Tips
Plan your questions to get good sound bites
Write in a conversational style
Read your copy aloud before recording it
Use short sentences; one idea per sentence
Use active voice—S-V-O
Use present tense when possible and appropriate
Give attribution first—tell who said what before telling what was said
Focus on the visual impact of the story
Use script style of writing rather than story style

Web Writing Tips
Determine what will be on your home page
Be concise with headlines and stories—think of Google (SEO)
Consider what multimedia elements, such as graphics, photos, audio and video, you want to include
Make it easy for your users to find what they want
Determine how often you want to update the page
Don’t forget hyperlinks, discussion boards, databases and blogs
Interactivity is key
People graze on the web; don’t write in a linear style

Back to Basics: Writing Across Media

by Kay Colley on Nov 02, 2011

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