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Story Structure. Chapter Six. Getting to the point. Newspaper readers spend an average of 15 to 25 minutes a day reading the paper. A Poynter study finds half of readers who start a story drop out before the end. The Inverted Pyramid.
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Story Structure Chapter Six
Getting to the point Newspaper readers spend an average of 15 to 25 minutes a day reading the paper. A Poynter study finds half of readers who start a story drop out before the end.
The Inverted Pyramid Arranges information from the most important to the least important. A lead for this type of story should cover: Who Where What Why When How
Also try to answer So what? What’s next?
After the lead • Introduce additional important information • Elaborate on information • Continue introducing and developing new material in order of importance • In general, use only one new idea per paragraph and keep paragraphs short
Model T Style Start with a direct lead, then move into any style that fits the story. http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/meet-wendy-daviss-running-mate T
Martini Glass Start with a direct lead and key facts. Follow with a chronology of events and kicker to finish. Good with crime stories or court stories where order of events is important. The kicker is often a strong quote to finish the story.
The Kabob Start with an anecdote and a nut graph that sums up the story. Layer on meat and finish by returning to the anecdote at the end. http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303491404579391200042676812?mod=WSJ_Ahed_AutomatedTypes&mg=reno64-wsj&url=http%3A%2F%2Fonline.wsj.com%2Farticle%2FSB10001424052702303491404579391200042676812.html%3Fmod%3DWSJ_Ahed_AutomatedTypes
Transitions Use transitions to flow from one idea to the next. • Play on something from the last paragraph • Use parallelism • Use chronological words
Show, don’t tell Be specific Use concrete examples Make comparisons that help readers understand
Use figures of speech Similes Metaphors Analogies