In the shadow of the footbridge, dwarfed by the dam that holds Lake Norfork captive, I have apprenticed in the art of catching trout. Though I've been slow to see it, I have also learned about writing. I have learned to give my audience some corn.

My lesson started the day an old timer pulled a 12-inch rainbow trout from the depths by the bridge footing. When I asked about his bait, he held up a bag of canned corn, saying it reminds the trout of their feed at the hatchery upstream.

I tried it the next morning and duplicated his catch. Now, when I leave the in-laws' house for a day of fishing, I may use worms for variety, but I'm tossing corn in the water. It's what my audience wants, time and again.

I write much the same way as I fish - stubbornly. Or perhaps timidly is the better word. I cling to skills developed so long ago, to my studied use of triplets, parallels and contrasts, and resist urges to try something new. But when I try, I find the something new really works.

Many writers likewise resist the new, listening to the internal critic tell them that no one - not the reader, not the editor, certainly not other writers - will like their work if they inject color, texture, the sights and smells of life, into their stories. They refrain from weaving a narrative fabric that pulls the readers in and holds them, like a fish well hooked, even on breaking news stories.

But we need to recognize that, like trout hovering in the current, readers need a reason to rise to the bait. Whatever fails to pique their interest simply floats past.

Stretch a bit

CEDAR LAKE - A Cedar Lake man was electrocuted Sunday afternoon while working on a boat in his back yard.

Brian M. Stiller Jr., 52, a lawyer and labor organizer, was pronounced dead at 3 p.m. Sunday at St. Anthony Medical Center in Crown Point, a spokesman with the Lake County coroner's office said.

Stiller suffered burns to his chest and left hand and died from apparent electrocution while working on his 23-foot blue sailboat "Fanta-c" in his back yard at 8100 W. 128th Ave., authorities said .

Such writing is clear, fact-laden and to the point. And devoid of the emotion and drama inherent in such an event. It's safe.

Enter the "corn"; story. It looks for the opportunity to stretch, to lure and hold the reader, to use emotion, telling detail, strong quotes. And that's exactly how staff writer Tracy Hayhurst wrote it:

CEDAR LAKE - Brian M. Stiller Jr. finally made time for a hobby, and it was sailing. He hoped next month to get his boat into the water and a marina slip he rented in East Chicago.

But on Sunday afternoon, something went wrong as the 52-year-old lawyer and labor organizer worked on his 23-foot blue sailboat "Fanta-c" in his back yard at 8100 W. 128th Ave. in Cedar Lake.

He was pronounced dead at 3 p.m. Sunday at St. Anthony Medical Center in Crown Point, a spokesman with the Lake County coroner's office said. Stiller suffered burns to his chest and left hand and died from apparent electrocution.

Sharon Stiller, his wife, said she talked to her husband shortly before 2 p.m. about lunch, then went inside to sew some drapes for his boat. She came out to check on him about 20 minutes later.

"I opened the door and called out to him," she said Sunday evening. "He was only about 15 feet away. I didn't get an answer and thought maybe he had a radio on. I climbed on the ladder and saw he was laying flat, and I knew."

All it took was the gumption to call the victim's wife. The result: great deadline storytelling. The same news, the same facts, the same information. But told with power.

The rewards

Do yourself a favor and stretch a bit. Put down old tools and try something new.

Do your readers a favor, and give them some corn. They'll gobble it up.

And you'll be a more effective writer.

McGrath is the writing coach for the Munster (Ind.) Times. Call him at 800/837-3232, ext. 3239 or e-mail him at mcgrath@howpubs.com.