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Good writing

Good writing. Media Writing I. Telling a good story. “There’s nothing to writing. All you do it sit down at a typewriter and open a vein.” Red Smith, newspaper sports columnist. Telling a good story.

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Good writing

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  1. Good writing Media Writing I

  2. Telling a good story “There’s nothing to writing. All you do it sit down at a typewriter and open a vein.” Red Smith, newspaper sports columnist

  3. Telling a good story • Most news stories are written, read and gone quickly, but that doesn’t mean that they should not be well written. • Quality, wit and knowledge will serve you well as a communications professional.

  4. Telling a good story • Begin with good information • Details • Concrete verbs and nouns • Senses • Smell • Touch • Taste • Hear • See

  5. Telling a good story • Get as much of a feel for the story as possible • Talk to more than just the main sources

  6. Good writing • Clear • Concise • Concrete • Shows rather than tells • Figures of speech

  7. Telling a good story • Precision • Use exactly the right word. Don’t guess. • Be suspicious of the Thesaurus on the computer • Don’t add bias • Not always “he” • Use gender neutral terms • Don’t allow your language to stereotype

  8. Telling a good story • Precision • Use exactly the right verb form • “The bill will make it legal” vs. “The bill would make it legal.” • Say what you are thinking! Don’t make your reader guess. • Make numbers real • Compare the unknown to the known

  9. Telling a good story • Clarity • Simplicity • Short sentences • Correct grammar and punctuation • Put the modifier and the modified together • Don’t split infinitives (watch where you put “ly” words)

  10. Telling a good story • Clarity • Write coherent stories • Chronology can be a trap • Start with what is most important • Support that point and work down the list in the same fashion • An outline may help • Illustrate the correct relationship between cause and effect • Transitions (but they can’t carry it alone) • Parallelism

  11. Telling a good story • Concrete examples • Tell how big, how loud, how difficult • Things you can touch, or see • Need details • Show, don’t tell • Good writing appears to more than one of the five senses • Set the scene • Don’t tell readers what to think, let them see it for themselves

  12. Telling a good story • Figures of speech • Analogy • Similes (like or as) • Metaphor (says one thing is another)

  13. Telling a good story “There are days when the result is so bad that no fewer than five revisions are required. In contrast, when I’m inspired, only four revisions are needed.” John Kenneth Galbraith, economist.

  14. Telling a good story Ernest Hemmingway wrote at least 1,000 words per day, and then edited the passage down to 100 words.

  15. Elements of Style • Enclose parenthetic expressions between commas. • These commas usually come in pairs • Never separate a noun from its restrictive term of identification • Billy the Kid • The novelist Jane Austen

  16. Elements of Style • Omit needless words in order to due to the fact that prior to it goes without saying Jewish rabbi hot water heater widow woman new record

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