Last Updated: May 20, 1999
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Good Writing
Trying to include too much information — or trying
to use information without organizing it — leads to messy writing; coaching
and teaming these reporters can help
Every newspaper has at least one of these characters: the great reporter
who can't write, the deep digger who turns in messy stories late, the fabulous
investigator who can't organize, or all of the above in the same body.
Most newsrooms also have reporters suffering from the same problem, but
without any visible signs. They turn in deeply reported, well-organized
stories on time, but they agonize needlessly.
Both result from the same faulty procedure: throwing the net widely
and deeply, and keeping every fish that lands in the boat. To mix my metaphors,
the reporter then drowns in the deckfull.
Editors usually solve these problems by disregarding them; they like
swashbucklers, so they simply put up with them. Some papers team the ace
digger with a master writer, or with a patient rewriting editor. Some newsrooms
turn the problematic investigator into an editor, which causes worse problems.
Good editors are diplomats and managers; diggers have no patience with
either.
Coaching the drowning
The helpful editor can deal with these problems by coaching or teaching.
A coaching editor helps the disorganized reporter by talking before
the reporting — briefing — or between the reporting and the typing — debriefing.
Briefing involves brainstorming about the story and its potential before
the actual reporting begins, or very early in the gathering stage. Reporters
mostly think about sources at that point, but the coaching editor steers
the conversation toward the outcome as well as the process. Organized people
imagine the final product from the very beginning. Tennis champion Jimmy
Connors thought about receiving the trophy, as well as his next shot.
In a briefing session, the reporter and the coaching editor spin out
possible structures for the story, its sectioning, its major themes, its
likely conclusions, knowing full well that good reporting will supersede
whatever they imagine. Brainstorming itself helps, regardless of its eventual
accuracy.
Some diggers benefit from coaching during the reporting. They call in
and unload what they've found on an editor. As in briefing, magic questions
project the reporter's attention forward in an imaginative way, such as,
“If you had to write right now, what would the sections be?”
The coach might suggest narrowing the reporting at that point. The reporter
continues tossing the net, but only keeps red fish, pitching the other
colors — and turtles and starfish over the side.
Debriefing, done between the end of reporting and the start of typing,
firms up those earlier projected structures, or produces new ones. Key
questions organize the material, such as, “What's this story about?” “What
point do you want to make to the readers?” “What would be a possible headline
and subheads?”
Sometimes reporters drown so deeply that they can't see the story at
all, so the coaching editor “milks” them, with other key questions, such
as, “What happened?” “What strikes you in this material?” “What did you
find that affects our readers' lives?” As the story emerges, the coach
turns to organizing questions from the paragraph above.
Teaching the drowning
Finally, many excellent reporters simply don't know how to organize
any materials, much less masses of them. I can teach a reporter the essentials
of story structure in 90 minutes, and most editors could manage it in one
afternoon. You can also pair your digger up with your best organizing reporter,
and let them teach each other. Or you can invest in a paperback copy of
Bill Blundell's mistitled “Art and Craft of Feature Writing: Based On The
Wall Street Journal Guide” (New York: New American Library, 1998). It is
the master text on organizing by the master digger-organizer.
Fry, an affiliate of the Poynter Institute, works as an independent
writing coach out of Charlottesville, Va. Call him at 804/296-6830 if you
have questions about helping your writers.
