How an understanding of narrative structures can help you write for different platforms and formats, from shortform (Twitter) to news articles and longform features. The second part of a presentation to the Civic Journalism Lab at Newcastle University - you can find the first part at https://www.slideshare.net/onlinejournalist/narrative-and-multiplatform-journalism-part-1

2. Chapter 2:
How structures can
help you write
quicker, better

3. Martin Cortazzi 1993

4. For example
1. Jack and Jill went up the hill (abstract)
2. To fetch a pail of water (orientation)
3. Jack fell down (complication)
4. And broke his crown (evaluation)
5. And Jill came tumbling after (result)
(no coda?)

5. For example (2)
1. The rhino is one of the rarest animals (abstract)
2. CDY National Park is situated... (orientation)
3. Poachers are hunting the rhinos (complication)
4. The police are trying to catch them (evaluation)
5. A poacher is caught/escapes (result)
6. It is expected that rhino numbers will take years
to recover (coda)

6. For example (3)
BBC

7. For example (4)
1. I was getting to grips with Snapchat (abstract)
2. Previously journalists had 1 platform (orientation)
3. Now we have to adapt to many (complication)
4. You can use narratology to adapt (evaluation)
5. Here’s the… (results)
6. [Look out for the coda to come!]

8. Inverted pyramid
1. Something happened, where/when [ABSTRACT]
2. Context/more details: age/location; following X or leading up
to Y; latest of Z etc. [ORIENTATION]
3. Reaction or meaning [COMPLICATION/EVALUATION]
4. More context/background/reaction - alternate
End: A quote, or what happens next [RESULT/CODA]

9. For example: someone has been injured
Do you start with “Last night at 11pm...”? (Orientation)
Do you start with “On Broad Street in Birmingham...”?
Or…
Do you start with: (Abstract)
“A man has been injured...”? (And fill in the when/where after)

10. An alternative
A brother and sister have been injured after falling
down a hill. (abstract)
The incident took place on Water Hill in Moseley.
Jack and Jill Smith were fetching a pail of water
when they slipped. (complication)
Jack suffered a head injury and was rushed to
hospital. (evaluation + result)
He is expected to make a full recovery. (coda)

11. Tip: make a list:
1. What’s the abstract? (the story in a nutshell)
2. What’s the orientation? (Where, who, when)
3. What’s the complication?
4. What happened next? (evaluation)
5. What’s the ultimate result?
6. What might you need for a coda?

12. https://www.gurmanbhatia.com/talk/2021/03/09/stories-structure.html

13. The ‘inverted trapezoid’
“There’s some narrowing of import from the bang of the lead to
a quieter, more speculative conclusion, but it’s not the pointy
whimper of the pyramid. The trapezoidal story introduces
compelling material throughout. If readers depart after the
first 150 words, though, they’ve still gotten the gist.”

14. The ‘inverted trapezoid’
● What happened and in what context?
● Why does it matter?
● Answers to burning questions, such as:
○ How does it work?
○ Who did it impact?
○ Why did it happen?
○ What’s the backstory?
● What’s next?

15. The drop intro
1. A teasing first paragraph [ABSTRACT]
2. What led up to this [ORIENTATION]
3. ‘But’ - the new thing [COMPLICATION]
4. Quotes, context to that [EVALUATION]
5. Where we are now, e.g. experts [RESULT]
End: Back to anecdote/incident/what happens next [CODA]

16. https://www.theguardian.com/media/2022/feb/01/incredible-wordles-welsh-beginnings-to-the-new-york-times

17. WSJ Feature Formula
1. Anecdote (case study) or incident [ABSTRACT]
2. The ‘big picture’ it is part of [ORIENTATION]
3. The problem, or obstacles [COMPLICATION]
4. What was done to tackle those [EVALUATION]
5. Where we are now, e.g. experts [RESULT]
End: Back to anecdote/incident/what happens next [CODA]

18. SFGate
Anecdote
Orientation -
aka nut graf
Man (2011).

19. * Source

20. https://training.npr.org/2017/12/06/the-journey-from-print-to-radio-storytelling-a-guide-for-navigating-a-new-landscape/#section4

21. Source

22. Source

23. Phineas & Ferb
1. “I know what we’re going to do today”: exposition
2. “Where’s Perry?”: The assignment (subplot)
3. Initial incident: Perry vs Doofenshmirtz
4. Rising action - Candace/P v D/P&F
5. Climax: Mom is about to see.../Perry to be defeated
6. Falling action: Perry defeats Doofenshmirtz...
7. ..evidence of P&F plan disappears: resolution
8. Denouement: any final comments

24. The lawyer who takes the cases no one wants
1. “Two or three times a month…” exposition
2. Initial incident: Andrzej calls
3. Rising action - Peter from Nigeria; Teresa Gudanaviciene
4. Climax: “In Court 68, appeals were being heard…”
5. Falling action: “There was more of the same the next day…”
6. Resolution: court found against them
7. Denouement: Andrzej, Peter, Gudanaviciene status

25. Source

26. https://onlinejournalismblog.com/2019/07/22/the-5-stages-of-a-longform-story-and-how-they-can-help-you-identify-sources/

27. ● Many structures are standardised and generic. They
help us and readers to organise information
● The inverted pyramid is one: useful for stories about
events, press releases: tell us what’s new/unique
● Alternate between quotes, facts and background to
maintain movement
This is what you should know.

28. You can tell a story in 140 (or 280) characters

30. Intro and twist

31. Intro and twist

32. “A small amount of editorial effort
was the difference between one of
the best tweets of the year and a
headline from print that was less
effective in the context of social
media”
http://www.niemanlab.org/2014/01/if-a-tweet-worked-once-send-it-again-and-other-lessons-from-the-new-york-times-social-media-desk/

33. (Memes often use a similar narrative structure)

34. Action, Hook, and Resolution!

35. Standfirst/cue-style

36. The call to action (CTA)

37. http://www.niemanlab.org/2014/01/if-a-tweet-worked-once-send-it-again-and-other-lessons-from-the-new-york-times-social-media-desk/
The “what happens/it means”

38. https://stories.buffer.com/if-don-draper-tweeted-22ea0da5dd9a

39. Chapter 3:
The longform challenge

40. Spoiler alert
Longer stories present specific challenges to keep the reader
engaged
While a news story leads on ‘what’s new’, longform needs a
‘hook’ to catch the reader

41. Mieke Bal’s definition of a narrative
Should contain an actor and a narrator*;
3 distinct levels: the text, the story, and the fabula;
Contents should be “a series of connected events
caused or experienced by actors.”
*Actor and narrator can be same; narrator can be ‘effaced’

42. For example...
Snow White has a series of elements [fabula]: events,
characters, places, times
Multiple stories can be created by choosing and ordering
those in different ways (content) (BBC, BuzzFeed, Sun)
Multiple texts can be created by telling any story using
different media, etc. (film version, book, animation, audio)

43. How to use this as a storyteller...
Characters: do we want to know more?
Setting: where does the action take place? (Umwelt)
Movement: characters and settings provide movement,
e.g. chemistry/conflict; switching scenes

44. Finding a story in an issue
Map the characters: where is there conflict?
Chemistry?
List potential settings: could you tell a story
about/through some of those?

45. For example… environment
● Character/types: protestors, regulators, CEOs,
inspectors, MPs, victims, families
● Settings: protest, boardroom, factory, bedroom
● Movement: protestor vs police; lawyer vs lawyer;
employee turns whistleblower/marries protestor; CEO
changes policy; MP campaigns for new law

46. For example: Athlete A
Characters: athletes, parents, trainers, authorities
Setting: competitions, clinic, police station, court
Movement: ambition, reporting, arrest, prosecution,
meetings

48. Connecting events
Use ‘therefore’ and ‘but’ between events - this helps
you identify why something happened, and where events
are unexpected (newsworthy)
E.g. “a crime was committed, therefore police
investigated” OR “...but police did not investigate”

49. ...And a point.
Ira Glass on storytelling

50. https://onlinejournalismblog.com/2019/07/01/here-are-7-story-types-that-can-be-used-to-help-organise-investigations/

52. * Source

53. * Source

54. Listen: S-Town
https://stownpodcast.org/chapter/1

55. https://onlinejournalismblog.com/2019/08/12/longform-writing-how-to-write-a-beginning-to-hook-the-reader/

56. When do stories start with setting?
How Flint poisoned its people

57. The hotel door was the dividing line: inside, a
first world fantasy of starched uniforms, low
voices, and crisp cool air; outside, color and
heat, vendors selling knickers, groundnuts and
sunglasses along cracked sidewalks.
place as metaphor

58. http://behindthebigissue.wordpress.com/ / Jonny Jacobsen

59. Follow the Money

60. https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/children-hidden-home
Start with a detail

61. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLZ1LT0kd-4

62. http://numbersbehindbars.wordpress.com/
Start with a curiosity

63. Start with action
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/may/30/als-after-the-ice-bucket-challenge

64. Epilogue:

65. No, I’m not abandoning the term ‘storytelling’

66. No, I’m not abandoning the term ‘storytelling’

67. Broersma 2008
“Genres are like the instruments in an orchestra, producing different
effects, impressing different audiences, inspiring different reactions
and thoughts. The art of journalist … is to combine them rationally.”
“The instruments in an orchestra”
Erik Neveu 2017

68. Question yourself
Are we just picking the easiest story to tell?
Are we letting generic formats dictate how we tell
those? Do characters become archetypes - cliches?
How do we prioritise the right story to tell - and tell it
well?

69. The “Law of narrative gravity”
“The more widely accepted (or massive) a
narrative, the more it attracts and shapes the
perception of facts.”
Grosser 2017

70. “In the case of the “Migrant Crisis”, the overarching metanarrative - that the
number of refugees entering the UK constitutes a “crisis” - dictates the type of
media which is produced on the issue.
“Barthes described this phenomenon as the creation of “de-politicised speech”
(2017:4), whereby the language used by the media (e.g. “Migrant Crisis”)
“achieves the status of myth [and] their political context falls away” (2017:5).
Ultimately, whether or not migration constitutes a “crisis” is a matter of
subjective political judgement.”
Nathan Clarke, Research in Practice assignment (2021)

71. 1hr50m: “That’s the story”
[Nightcrawler: Script, Analysis]

72. “The Blame Frame affixes responsibility on human agents and foregrounds the
pursuit of punishment and justice. The Explain Frame takes responsibility away
from human agents and describes the tragedy in terms of natural or quasi-natural
processes. The study argues that social identities of “prospective” agents predict
the difference in framing: “deviants” and “aliens” are held culpable while local
elites are deemed innocent, although these identities are themselves social and
draw on prevalent cultural beliefs. Ultimately, both frames serve to reproduce
social boundaries and reinforce the status quo.”
Shahin 2015

73. Crime & terrorism stories
“Use values that favour conflict over clarity and
opinion over explanation.
“The desire ... to tell a story may end up so
disregarding statistical patterns that they end up
misinforming our view of the world.”
Cushion, Lewis & Callaghan 2017

74. From 16:00 on…
https://open.spotify.com/episode/1r2GZ9nwzDuCBvqPhdd119?si=la7oWdZDQt2bXjbE79ca3A&context=spotify%
3Ashow%3A3vikAuFxKVNe2GBZC61IYD&t=960&nd=1

75. But we still need stories
“In a direct comparison with expository text, narrative
text was read twice as fast and recalled twice as well,
regardless of topic familiarity or interest in the content
itself” (Dahlstrom 2014)

76. “[Personified] stories and stories with photographic
images stimulated the strongest emotional impact,
while use of mobilising information (telling audiences
how they could act to make a difference) and statistical
information were found to have only a small effect on
reader reaction. The straight “just the facts” story
elicited the weakest reader response of all.”
(Maier 2016)

77. ‘Melodrama’ “increases recall” (but “not
comprehension”)
‘Narrative news’ “elicited stronger affective and
cognitive involvement” (but not recall); made “better
informed” young readers (but lower satisfaction)

79. ● Narrative concepts help break down the problem of
telling a story — and identify new challenges
● Look for characters, setting and movement in your
subject, to provide ideas on how to tell the story
● Anticipate and address the problems of storytelling
— both yours and your sources’
This is what you should know.