How to get better at storytelling

[Patrick Murphy]

Howdy everyone. I had a discussion with my editor yesterday. One of the topics that was stated was that my storytelling was rudimentary. I was just curious about something. How can I get better at storytelling? Also, how much time do you spend on re-reading your article before having it published?

Thanks for helping. Here is one of my latest stories: Trampus Butler, Dante Caldera win Beau Pré Memorial 4-Ball championship flight - Mississippi's Best Community Newspaper

 

[ADanielPandR]

Howdy everyone. I had a discussion with my editor yesterday. One of the topics that was stated was that my storytelling was rudimentary. I was just curious about something. How can I get better at storytelling? Also, how much time do you spend on re-reading your article before having it published?

Thanks for helping. Here is one of my latest stories: Trampus Butler, Dante Caldera win Beau Pré Memorial 4-Ball championship flight - Mississippi's Best Community Newspaper

Hi Patrick,

Looking at the sample you linked, I have one suggestion right off the bat: Liven up the lede.

The lede is to a print story what the opening statement is to a speech, and as my high school public speaking teacher said, your opening needs to be a sound "attention getter." The way to ensure that is to be unique. Instead of laying out a couple of basic facts and figures that most devoted readers - especially those devoted to the subject at hand - already know, try cultivating and articulating an intriguing anecdote.

If you were at the event yourself, create a visual with a description of the sights, sounds and atmosphere and by colorfully describing a key and/or underrated occurrence in the competition. Use your privilege of access and pull the readers in by making them feel like they were there themselves.

And for this and any story in general, to relay one more word of advice I never forgot from my public speaking teacher, always strive for smooth transitions from sentence to sentence, paragraph to paragraph and topic to topic. (The exception to that would be a comprehensive notebook where boldfaced subheadlines mark the jump from one subject to another.)

Hope this helps.

 

[Patrick Murphy]

Hi Patrick,

Looking at the sample you linked, I have one suggestion right off the bat: Liven up the lede.

The lede is to a print story what the opening statement is to a speech, and as my high school public speaking teacher said, your opening needs to be a sound "attention getter." The way to ensure that is to be unique. Instead of laying out a couple of basic facts and figures that most devoted readers - especially those devoted to the subject at hand - already know, try cultivating and articulating an intriguing anecdote.

If you were at the event yourself, create a visual with a description of the sights, sounds and atmosphere and by colorfully describing a key and/or underrated occurrence in the competition. Use your privilege of access and pull the readers in by making them feel like they were there themselves.

And for this and any story in general, to relay one more word of advice I never forgot from my public speaking teacher, always strive for smooth transitions from sentence to sentence, paragraph to paragraph and topic to topic. (The exception to that would be a comprehensive notebook where boldfaced subheadlines mark the jump from one subject to another.)

Hope this helps.

Hey Daniel. Thank you for letting me know about that lede. I actually did not write the story. I just merely obtained the quotes and took the photos for the story.

 

[ADanielPandR]

Hey Daniel. Thank you for letting me know about that lede. I actually did not write the story. I just merely obtained the quotes and took the photos for the story.

No problem, Patrick. I did notice the joint byline on the story, though it didn't seem to indicate who did what on it. Regardless, I assume you will author plenty of stories yourself down the road, so I hope my advice helps a little then. And certainly interviewing is a key part of procuring the substance you need to enliven your work, so keep pressing. The more you do this, the more your productive habits become second nature.

 

[FileNotFound]

Best advice I ever received: To be a better storyteller, be a better listener.

Don't just ask questions. Listen to the answers, and leave space in the conversation to encourage the subject to keep talking, and leave space for yourself to process the answer, to ask follow-up questions, and to let the story form itself.

 

[swingline]

A conversation is spot-on.

 

[ChrisLong]

Back when I was still on the Friday night prep football desk, every gosh darn lede was the same, and it's the same one used on the OP's sample story above.
Podunk High coach Yell Louder said before the game that his team needed to run the ball effectively to beat rival Rural Tech on Friday night.
Blah blah blah.
At least a dozen stories started out that way. Tell me what happened in the game, not what happened before the game.

 

[ADanielPandR]

Back when I was still on the Friday night prep football desk, every gosh darn lede was the same, and it's the same one used on the OP's sample story above.
Podunk High coach Yell Louder said before the game that his team needed to run the ball effectively to beat rival Rural Tech on Friday night.
Blah blah blah.
At least a dozen stories started out that way. Tell me what happened in the game, not what happened before the game.

In fairness, if a town paper is on a tight deadline for its print edition (I haven't reported for one of those lately but I'm pretty sure some are still lingering) a reporter's hands may be tied on that front.

That said, every publication can have an online edition, so for that, definitely exercise your freedom of time to make a distinctive lede and game dispatch in general.

 

[SoloFlyer]

Hey Daniel. Thank you for letting me know about that lede. I actually did not write the story. I just merely obtained the quotes and took the photos for the story.

Then why did you say that it was one of your latest stories in the first post? And why are you just getting quotes and photos, and not actually writing the story?

Only way to get better at writing is to write.

 

[Azrael]

Howdy everyone. I had a discussion with my editor yesterday. One of the topics that was stated was that my storytelling was rudimentary. I was just curious about something. How can I get better at storytelling? Also, how much time do you spend on re-reading your article before having it published?

Thanks for helping. Here is one of my latest stories: Trampus Butler, Dante Caldera win Beau Pré Memorial 4-Ball championship flight - Mississippi's Best Community Newspaper

I'd start with this: what do you think is right or wrong with the story?

Do you agree with the comment that the "storytelling" is "rudimentary?"

What would you do to improve it?

And how much time do you spend reading/editing/re-reading a piece before filing it?

 

[MNgremlin]

From a quick glance at the article, it does a good job of telling the reader WHAT happened but not necessarily HOW it happened. Not just talking about play-by-play either, but try to describe the action.

If this is a yearly event, try to get some historical data if you can. Sometimes, you can find trends or records that people might not otherwise know about. I love covering events where you essentially can get fairly detailed history, results and statistics given to you by the event coordinator/host before or after the fact. That allows me to focus attention during the event on ancillary details. Maybe the two teams in the championship flight had a friendly rivalry or had an interesting exchange that could be used as part of the lede? Maybe you can tell the story of how the last stretch unfolded hole by hole?

Ancillary details will catch more eyeballs. Play-by-play or end result recaps can get excruciatingly boring. Give the readers info that they probably won't find anywhere. If you know these things before you interview your subject, it could also create some better interview soundbites.

 

[swingline]

When I covered a junior college many moons ago, several players I'd covered in area high schools played for the juco. Pretty easy to do a featurized gamer that had little to no play by play. The girls, especially, were great interviews. It was neat to reconnect with them at a different level.