f2f Meetings w/ El Peez

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Sign Up For Monday f2f w/ Peez

NewsHounds:

I’ve posted a signup sheet for f2f meetings on Monday on my office door. Sessions are 15 minutes (sign up for 2 if you want), starting at 10 a.m.

If you can’t find a time that works, email me and we’ll work something out.

The agenda for this meeting is anything you want.

BUT, I want you to come prepared to tell me what you want to do for your final two stories, including the focus, the So what? The sources and the kinds of angles you're looking for. Think about what you want the nut graf to be—this will answer the So what? question: why a reader will want to read it.

To reiterate:

An issue story focuses on a significant social/cultural/political issue, and finds local sources as a focus. For example, the mega issue might be huge—teenage pregnancy, our carbon footprint/air pollution, a disease (AIDS, emphysema, obesity, acne....), mortgage failures. These are subjects about which much already is known on a macro level, and your job is then to explain the issue on a more human, local, micro level by finding local sources/experts/examples on which to focus, weaving in the big-picture info. In your pile of stories from last week, the New England farming and babies having babies stories are examples. Find experts or analysis and example sources for color/human interest.

The feature story may be either an in-depth feature or a personality profile. The
feature is a more in-depth treatment of many of the kinds of topics you’ve already attempted—the Special Olympics, a flea market, a funky business or store(Wiggin It, the Persian Peacock, Sweet Peas, etc.), a Big Brother/Big Sister club, demolition derby, etc. The object is to paint a “word picture” of your subject through both description of the scene and people, and plenty of interviews and good quotes.

A profile is an in-depth feature story focusing on an interesting individual who has a story to tell—someone with an interesting job/hobby (the guy who slaughters cows for Elaison's, an emergency room doc, a sheriff's deputy, the animal control officer, a professor who spends her time in Peruvian jungles, a Mountain Man, a hot air balloonist. As we've discussed, anyone who is passionate about something can make a good story. You need an articulate and interesting source who will spend some time with you. Observe the individual and interview her/him, of course, but also interview everyone you can think of who knows him/her to get a well-rounded picture of what makes her/him tick. These should NOT be only testimonials—who wants to read
a story about someone who everyone says is a saint? Boooorrrrr-rrring.

These stories are longer (about 5 pp. double-spaced), more in-depth, and include more description and narrative.

For instruction and inspiration, you might also (re)read some of the text: Ch 8 (Writing to be Read), Ch 9 (Alternatives to the Inverted Pyramid). Or see the Pulitzer website and look at Explanatory and Feature categories for some great writing.

See you Monday (or before).