1 / 17

Week 6

Week 6. Profiles Part II. This week. Group Presentation: Michael Lewis! Chris, Michael Group Edits: Roya and Dana Profiles Part II lecture: Reporting Storytelling exercise Listening exercise…..Shouting across the divide. Profile pitches continued. Next week.

tamma
Download Presentation

Week 6

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Week 6 Profiles Part II

  2. This week • Group Presentation: Michael Lewis! Chris, Michael • Group Edits: Roya and Dana • Profiles Part II lecture: Reporting • Storytelling exercise • Listening exercise…..Shouting across the divide. • Profile pitches continued

  3. Next week • Read David Foster Wallace readings • Bring a 1st draft of your profile for a peer edit. • Group Edits: Ken and Lucy • Group Presentations: Roya, Nicole, Anthony

  4. Reporting your profile! • You need a strong subject. • Sometimes the story you think you are writing is not the one that is actually there. Don’t be afraid to switch angles. • Remember this is NOT a biography. A profile is also NOT a valentine. This is a story about a person, a story about a specific part of a person’s life.

  5. You need THREE sources • One of them is your profile subject. • One is an insider. Insiders are brothers, sisters, friends, mothers. Insiders are people who know the person on an intimate level. • One is an outsider. Outsiders are coworkers, fans, experts. Outsiders provide context for the person. • It is smart to interview insiders and outsiders first because they can turn you on to questions you wouldn’t have thought of on your own. This is BACKGROUND. • Who should your insiders be? Ask your subject to suggest someone!

  6. Peripheral Sources • Ask for specifics. Ask for EXAMPLES. • If the person says, “she’s kind of impulsive.” • Say, “How?” • Say, “Can you think of an example?” • Specificity from everyone is key. Details are telling.

  7. Always, always think about your scenes • Ask yourself, what is happening now that I can SHOW, that I can describe cinematically. • You MUST spend time with your subject or you’ll never be able to do this.

  8. Interviewing • An interview is necessary but NOT sufficient. If you can avoid it. Don’t interview in a neutral location. • Try to interview a person in their home or someplace the person frequents. This will reveal something about the subject. • PLAN your questions. START with background questions because they allow people to get comfortable. BUT….don’t get stuck there, keep moving.

  9. Asking questions • Ask questions that evoke a RESPONSE. • NO double questions. Any idea why? • NO yes or no questions. Any idea why? • OPEN-ENDED questions like: -what’s your greatest struggle, what do you like most, when do you first remember….?

  10. You aren’t stuck with the first answer! • TRY AGAIN. • Say: “I’m not sure I understand what you mean.” • Say “Can you elaborate?” • Say “How did you manage that?” • Say “What did that feel like?” • Say “What did you like about ___?

  11. If your subject says- “I want to buy a house.” Say, “what KIND of house?” • If your subject says – “I am so busy.” Say, “what would you be doing if you weren’t busy?” • Get the idea?

  12. ANECDOTES are your building blocks • Some anecdotes must be recreated. You can’t be there for everything. It will be a scene in your story. • You have to ask the questions that will evoke the story in a cinematic way. • Pay attention to your own boredom but don’t step on people’s sentences. • When you feel uncomfortable- blame your editor. 

  13. Recreated scenes • Get a LOT of details. • Say, “I want to understand what that was like.” • Say, “Can you lead me through it? • Ask questions to build it. Ask about dialogue. • Say, “Then what did ____say?”

  14. Notice EVERYTHING • What the person looks like. Paint a WORD picture. • Does the person walk with a limp, tap his leg etc? Notice body language. • What is the person wearing? • What are the surroundings? • What’s on the walls? • Is it messy, busy, quiet?

  15. Notice interactions with other people • Be a human tape recorder. • Make the reader feel like he or she was there • Get everything now and select what is important later • Stay with a person as long as possible. It is hard for a person to keep a mask on for that long. • Follow them! Blend in. • Put your notebook away. Sometimes, things come out.

  16. In the end…. • If your subject doesn’t have a story….YOU don’t have a story. • You have to select wisely.

  17. For next time… • Start reporting. • Write an outline. Sketch out the scenes. • Include some dialogue. • Bring in a rough draft of at least 2 scenes. • Next week we talk about writing….

More Related