Talk to strangers. Make freaky friends. Ignore important people. Give everyone your phone number. Work holidays.
Sound intimidating? Scary? Hard? That might be true. But those tips for finding great stories are among 20 offered by 2009 Pulitzer Prize feature winner Lane DeGregory, who reports for the St. Petersburg Times. (Read the rest here)
I’m going to add another tip: READ. A LOT.
The very best news stories can send chills down your spine, force laughter to bubble up through the deepest part of your gut, and send you for a box of tissues to mop up your tears. They’re as good as novels, and better than whatever is playing at the local movie theater. The best news stories burn images into your head – images that never go away.
The bad news: Writing is hard work.
The good news: Good writing is a skill that can be learned. And one of the most effective ways to learn is to study. If you’re an aspiring news writer, you should be on a constant look-out for the best stories. Notice similarities. How do writers develop characters? What do they quote? What do they paraphrase? How is the story structured?
Take notes. When you discover techniques that work, incorporate them into your own stories.
Here’s one of the best in recent memory to get you started. Lane DeGregory earned the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for feature writing for this piece, a haunting tale of a forgotten little girl.
PLANT CITY — The family had lived in the rundown rental house for almost three years when someone first saw a child’s face in the window.
A little girl, pale, with dark eyes, lifted a dirty blanket above the broken glass and peered out, one neighbor remembered.
Everyone knew a woman lived in the house with her boyfriend and two adult sons. But they had never seen a child there, had never noticed anyone playing in the overgrown yard.
The girl looked young, 5 or 6, and thin. Too thin. Her cheeks seemed sunken; her eyes were lost.
The child stared into the square of sunlight, then slipped away.
Months went by. The face never reappeared. (Read more here)
More sources for good stories:
Where do you go to find good news writing? Tell us! Leave a comment below.
