DEVELOPING STRUCTURE
Building an Article from the Ground Up
REVIEWING THE
ASSIGNMENT FOR TODAY
You were asked to do all the research,
interviews and other preparation for an
article—but not the writing. Today, you
should have with you all of your notes and
any photos or drawings or other items you
may need once you begin to actually
write your article.
VISUALIZING YOUR STORY
Instead of asking you to create a traditional outline or to follow old patterns
such as the five-paragraph theme or the inverted triangle, what we are
attempting today is a visual and tactile approach to laying out a storyline.
SEEING YOUR
NARRATIVE
The
point of this exercise is to move you
away from reliance on words in creating the
flow and accents of your story through
constructions with haptic and visual
elements. Later, you will use the
photographs you take of your creations as
you move back into the element of words
for your final product.
You
will divide your notes into categories
and then will build and photograph a
representation of each category. This can
be of an action, a place, a concept or
even a person. Then do it again for
another situation relevant to you story.
And again. Take notes explaining each of
the things you build, identifying each item
included and providing a title for each
model as you photograph it. Later, you will
use the photographs as an ordering tool
for your story, sorting them in various ways
until a viable pattern appears. At that
point you will start writing again.
WORKSHOPPING YOUR STORY
After
you create—and photograph—a
“board,” show the board, along with your
notes and the board’s title, to your factchecker/editor. Allow that person to
make changes and then photograph the
board again from the same angle along
with notes justifying or explaining the
changes. Then compare the two in
concert with your editor, making
changes (or undoing them) when the
two of you agree.
EDITING AND
REVISION
Good
journalism, today, uses more
than then words that once conveyed
the heart of the story. Working with
images to create your story allows you
to strengthen your work—and puts you
in a better position when integrating
images into your final product. You
need to do that as you write, to be
determining what images you need to
use with your final story, and why.
When
you are writing your story, write
with your notes and photographs in
front of you, making sure you look at
them constantly as you compose.
WRITING ISN’T ALL ABOUT WORDS
THANKS,
DR. PATRICK
CORBETT
AND
DR. JASON ELLIS
City
Tech’s own professors, Patrick
Corbett and Jason Ellis, created this
project. We’re simply applying it to
journalism. If you end up with stronger
stories as a result, give them a nod!
GOOD LUCK!
Now
go build
a story!