Writing a sports story

[ksu_jeff]

[answered]

 

[PTOWN]

My guess is that you haven't written very many sports stories or columns by the questions you are asking. My advice is to just start writing dude. Give yourself plenty of time with regards to a deadline, and just crank out as much copy as you can. Then read over it once or twice and get rid of what sucks.

 

[Overrated]

#2 - Is there a certain program that you like to use? Do you simply write into Word? or do you have another software? Do you prefer the pen/paper method?

I usually write my stories on a cocktail napkin at the bar using ash from spent cigarettes and have my secretary transcribe it afterwards.

 

[DyePack]

#1 - If you are given a sports topic to write about -- and it has to be about 1,500-2,000 words -- how do you approach it? What steps do you take? Research steps, statistical analysis, step-by-step, determining the lead? Describe the process you generally take.

#2 - Is there a certain program that you like to use? Do you simply write into Word? or do you have another software? Do you prefer the pen/paper method?

#3 - What specific pre-writing steps do you take before you attack an assignment (let's just say it's a 1200-word column about Albert Pujols). Do you write out a detailed outline? Do you separate topics into groups? Or do you just start writing?

#4 - Overall -- just describe the process and the length of time it takes you (in general) ... to sit down and write a 1,500 word column.

Thanks! Looking forward to hearing some of your different styles!!

Let's not trash the guy just yet.

If you're writing a column, you need a hook. Try not to make it too obvious or too narrow.

There's not much point in outlining a piece as short as 1,500 words.

Banging out 1,500 words these days would not take a lot of time, unless there's considerable research involved.

 

[Ace]

Find an angle. If you are writing 1,500 words about Albert Pujols, what can you write that will be different that what has already been written.

Do your research and homework. Dig deep into past stories, stats, etc., to find nuggets that may spark an idea or a question.

If you have lots of great stuff, pare it down and focus. You don't have a good story if you aren't feeling bad about the great quotes or angles you can't get int. Try to cram everything in and you'll ruin it.

Word is fine.

 

[greenie]

Uh, 1500 words is 40-45 inches. That's an awfully long story. We'll have maybe 15 or 20 that long in our sports section all year.

This sounds like a term-paper assignment, which is a lot different than a newspaper story.

 

[Angola!]

Uh, 1500 words is 40-45 inches. That's an awfully long story. We'll have maybe 15 or 20 that long in our sports section all year.

This sounds like a term-paper assignment, which is a lot different than a newspaper story.

In my five years, I've probably only written like three or four 1,500 word stories. That is an insanely long story and if you are writing something that long you should really think about putting subheads in to break it up.

 

[Montezuma's Revenge]

That's "insanely long" only if you don't know how to tell a story.

 

[SF_Express]

Well, not to split hairs, but if we're actually talking "column" then it's nowhere near 1,500 words.

 

[joe king]

Insanely long? That's average to short for a magazine piece. I do a story a month that long for a mag and a 1,000-word column a week. It's enough space to tell a good story, but it ain't the great American novel.

 

[Angola!]

That's "insanely long" only if you don't know how to tell a story.

Thanks for commenting on my reporting.
Most small papers that are tight on space don't have the room to run 1,500-2,000 word stories. Sometimes, a good story deserves to be that long and if you are writing for a magazine then that is understandable, but for everyday stories 1,500-2,000 word stories are unacceptable in smaller sections.

 

[bdh02]

Agreed with above. Better be an extensive, unique and very interesting topic if you plan on writing that much with the hope people will actually read the whole thing.