Sharpen your vision to find best point of view

By Kevin McGrath

Writing news stories from a point of view — telling the story through the eyes of one or more people involved — remains one of the most effective storytelling tools available. Yet writers often struggle to find the right character, and sometimes wind up with characters who offer more lip-flapping than insight.

For those writers, here’s a tip: Whenever possible, seek out the person living the heart of the story.

It can be a challenge. A lot of characters can show up at a breaking news scene, but not all have lived the event. Many voices can weigh in on a trend story, but not all have a stake in which direction the trend takes.

But if you find the person living the story in some way, you also find a kind of magic ingredient: the voice of experience. A voice readers will relate to, listen to and most likely believe. More than that, a voice that’s inherently interesting.

It takes is a bit of thought and practice. But it gets simpler if you remember that good point-of-view characters fall into two categories.

The first is the person who’s causing something to happen, whether by intent or by accident. Here’s an example of the latter from the Vidette-Times in Valparaiso, Ind.:

Viv Rittel only wanted to create enough smoke to control the bees in his backyard honey-making operation.

He inadvertently created enough smoke to worry a large portion of Union Township’s residents.

His smoke machine accidentally started a fire about noon Wednesday that blackened acres of rural land and threatened to destroy numerous homes in a square mile area.

Rittel emptied what he though were cooled ashes from his smoke machine. But seconds later, the ground around him was ablaze.

“Oh, God,” was his reaction as he saw the high winds whip the fire northeast through the field, away from his home.

That story was also peopled with firefighters and upscale homeowners who watched the flames march toward their subdivision, and all were interesting in some way. But none could match poor Viv Rittel’s “Oh, God” experience.

His point of view was easily the best for the opening.

The person who acts heroically fits this mold too, and can lead to some fascinating stories. Here’s one from The Times of Northwest Indiana:

Emmett Hollmon didn’t think twice Wednesday before running into Kathryn Budjac’s smoke-filled apartment and carrying her and her three children to safety.

He didn’t think about his two tours in Vietnam, dodging explosions and mortar fire only to return home to be called a “baby killer.”

He didn’t think about the fiery crash six years ago that killed his wife and two small children on their way home from a trip to Disney World.

For the first time in his life Wednesday, Hollmon emerged from tragedy not as a broken man, but as a hero.

“I didn’t think about it — I just did it,” said Hollmon, 46, who was walking by the back alley of Budjac’s two-flat apartment when he saw smoke rolling from the windows.

The second type of person to watch for is the one being affected by an event or trend. In breaking news events, they can put readers at the epicenter, as did this story from the Times:

David Varney didn’t stand up until he felt the wave of pressure pass over his body.

The oil inspector was just coming off his shift when, at 7:08 a.m., an explosion ripped through the finishing mill of Beta Steel Corp.

Varney can’t remember whether he dropped to the ground or was pushed by the force of the blast. But when he stood up, the only light in the cavernous mill came from the two holes in the ceiling.

“At that point, things started falling from the roof and people were scrambling for the exits.”

Because it was shift change, the company estimates 50 to 60 people were in the building. Seven workers were injured and three were killed.

In trend stories, the person being affected by events can make us wonder how we’d react in the same circumstances, or can simply speak what we’re all feeling. Either way, our connection is immediate. Consider this gas price story last past spring in The Wichita Eagle:

Larry Williams lifted the nozzle from a convenience store gas pump on west Street Monday afternoon, slipped it into the gas tank of his white Chevy Blazer and started fillin’ her up.

“This,” he announced, bracing himself against a strong south wind, “may be the last time.”

He loves his Blazer, he said, but “it sucks gas.” And that’s no small detail as gasoline prices continue to soar and show no signs of leveling off.

The writers could have opened with any number of points of view: cabbies, oil producers, shipping company owners, car dealers, even industry analysts.

They wisely chose the one with whom we’d most identify: another driver.

Finding the best point of view for a story is about recognizing who has the most insight on an event or trend and who we would most identfiy with.

Sometimes the choice is obvious in the field; other times you won’t see it until you organize your notes or start writing. But when you hit the bull’s-eye, it elevates your writing from formula to the realm of reporting the human condition.

So sharpen your vision and your aim with practice, and keep your eyes and ears open. Good characters are out there waiting to help you take your writing beyond the ordinary.

McGrath is communities team leader at The Wichita (Kan.) Eagle. He can be reached at kmcgrath@wichitaeagle.com