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Beyond the inverted pyramid

Beyond the inverted pyramid. Narrative structure. Telling a story. More creative approach vs. inverted pyramid. Use detail, dialogue, observation. Foreshadowing – tell readers a bit about what is coming. We are a visual society – paint a picture in the reader’s mind through words.

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Beyond the inverted pyramid

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  1. Beyond the inverted pyramid

  2. Narrative structure Telling a story. More creative approach vs. inverted pyramid. Use detail, dialogue, observation. Foreshadowing – tell readers a bit about what is coming. We are a visual society – paint a picture in the reader’s mind through words.

  3. Show, don’t tell Gather information with all your senses – sight, smell, touch, hear – experience it for your readers. Describe that experience. Don’t tell readers a subject is funny or angry (that often comes off as opinion.) Instead, show them through description, quotes, anecdotes, interesting details.

  4. Dialogue Letting the subjects of the story speak directly to readers. Be careful if you haven’t directly witnessed dialogue. In those cases, it’s probably best to avoid re-creating direct quotes. Instead, paraphrase.

  5. Anecdotes Stories embedded in your story. Can inform and entertain, or provide a window into the story. Ask source for an example to elicit anecdotes.

  6. Contrast Sometimes a good lead can be built by contrasting something commonly accepted or not a big deal with something that is interesting or surprising. EX. It took John Jones 23 years to become a police officer. Then it took him 36 days to die.

  7. Focus structure Using one person or family’s circumstances to illustrate a larger issue. Lead and first couple paragraphs describe the situation. Transition to nut graph. Nut graph – this is a summary of the issue at the heart of the story.

  8. Focus structure, continued Foreshadowing – what else are we going to find out by continuing to read? So what – why should the readers care, how does this apply to their lives. To be sure – what are other aspects/sides of the story?

  9. The body of the story Use anecdotes, scenes, observations and dialogue to add color, weight and emphasis to the facts. As always, make sure to move smoothly from one point to the next.

  10. The ending Unlike the inverted pyramid, in these types of stories the writer doesn’t just stop. The ending is planned to give the reader a feeling of completeness. One way – the circle. End the story in the same place it began. Another – a good quote or anecdote. Could summarize or just be a good closing.

  11. Service journalism Stories that provide readers or viewers with useful, practical information.EX. Cash for clunkers – how to participate Refinancing your mortgage in the current economic climate. Tips for tailgating at CMU P. 154-155 of the book has some good info.

  12. Questions?

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