Steps to Creating News Stories for Local Newspapers

Many people assume that writing a news story takes hours of research. While there are stories out there that take research time and the ability to conduct interviews, there are also local news stories that are just perfect for your local newspaper. The key to developing and writing these types of news stories is knowing how to find a topic that might be of interest to not only yourself but to your readers.

Here are a few tips on how to find a news story for your local paper without having to spend hours finding a topic that might be of interest to yourself and your readers.

Create a List. Almost all writing starts with brainstorming and news writing is no different. Start by creating a list of things that you know about your local area. This can be hobbies that you engage in, organizations you volunteer for or events that your neighbors or you are hosting. Just sit down and create a list of everything that you know is going on around you in your local area.

Expand on the List. The next step is to expand on the list of ideas. Take each item on the list and try to think of areas that you can expand on. A great example of this is someone who plays softball through their local parks and recreation department. You could take that idea and expand it to talk about any new baseball fields, fundraising events, new uniforms or even hikes in fees to play the sport.

Start Your Research. After you have created expanded ideas from your list you can start your research. Try to think about local people that you can interview or ask questions as most people reading the local paper are interested in local people.

Take the Information and Write. Once you have the ideas and research you are ready to go. Just sit down and let the ideas flow. Sometimes creating a catchy headline works to inspire the story.

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How to Start Out Your News Story

News articles can take a lot of work. There is the need to come up with a story, do the research, conduct interviews and then write the story in an unbiased way that will not only inform readers but will catch their attention. Many people who write news articles have a tough time figuring out how to go about writing their news article. These people generally have the topic and research but do not know how to go about getting the words on the paper. If you are one of those people here are some tips that will help you write a great news article.

Do Extensive Research. You cannot write a great news article without researching the piece first. The problem many writers run into is that they did not research the article enough and therefore do not hold enough knowledge to create an article that is informative and important to the readers. Make sure that you get as much information as possible on all aspects of the topic that you are writing about. This will help you when it comes time to write the story. Remember you can never have too much research.

Create an Approach to the Topic. Many writers have a hard time writing a news article because they do not know how to tackle the topic that they are covering. It is important that you take a few minutes to figure out how you are going to approach the topic. Make sure that you determine how you want to present information, what you want readers to get out of the article and how you want the article to flow. All of this will help you once you go to write the article.

Write Eye-Catching Leads. Readers like to read stories that have great leads this is why a great eye-catching lead is so important. Many writers spend most of their time creating great leads that will grab the reader. It is always a good idea to write several leads to a news story so that you can create a great news story.

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How the Inverted Pyramid Structure is Used for News Stories

While it might appear to the casual news article reader that there is no logic to the information that is presented there is. Many news writers who write news stories for the major newspapers use a strategy known as the inverted pyramid to present their news stories. Here is a look at the inverted pyramid writing structure.

Imagine a pyramid that is standing on its tip. That is structure that many news writers use. The idea of the inverted pyramid is that all the important information is available to the reader at the top of the article. The headlines, leads and first paragraphs all contain everything that they want to know. However, as the reader continues to read the article the information becomes less important, until the article ends.

Here is an example of a news story that would be structured and written in a style that uses the inverted pyramid.

There as a tragic double murder in the local apartment complex. A news writer that was using the inverted pyramid structure would start out the story with a headline that reads “Tragic Ending For Two Apartment Dwellers”. This headline grabs the attention of the readers and makes them want to start reading the news article.

The first sentence of the news story would read something like “Two residents living at the local apartment complex were murdered last Thursday. They were found dead by their neighbor”. Under the inverted pyramid structure this presents all the information that a reader could want to know about the news story. If the reader were to talk away from the article they would know all the important facts.

The rest of the article would focus on the murder but could talk about evidence that might have been found, suspects, who was involved or even an interview with the local police chief. While these facts have to deal with the story they are not as important to the reader or the story.

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Ideas to Defeat Writers Block

A blank page can not only be very disturbing, but also very uninspiring. Instead of letting the blankness of the page intimidate you, opt for the attitude found in the Tao’s un-carved block. The sky is the limit to the creativity you can put on a blank page. It has no boundaries except for that which you give it. Many people have their own methods for defeating writers block, but here are some ideas if your methods fail you. Hopefully, you haven’t tried all these yet.

Just Write

Some people get started by just writing whatever pops in their mind. It helps to play some instrumental rap music to get some rhythm going as that’s how rap artists free flow, but if you are writing prose, you may find yourself writing in rhyme by accident. Your first statements might be things like, “blue, fly, annoying you know what annoys me is when the husband…” Eventually, you will start making some sense, hopefully, and you can run with an idea from that.

Assign Yourself an Exercise

You can search online for different exercises writers often assign themselves such as different forms of poetry, writing in a certain style, or adding to a famous quote.

Google

Sometimes the mind just goes blank on what to write about, and if you have a broad topic in mind, enter that or any specific topic that falls under that for which you don’t want to write about, and browse the web for inspiration. Sometimes, you can find inspiration in images, links, advertisements, etc.

Outline

Sometimes you know the narrowed topic which you want to write about, but you just don’t know where to start. This is where an outline might come in handy. Create headings for Beginning, Middle, and End, and outline what material you want (and expect). It helps to think from the view point of the finished product first and then work backwards.

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Six Basic Writing Tips

Show, Don’t Tell

Use actions and research to make your point. What you stand for should speak for itself.

Utilize all Five Senses

Many stories are based on observations made from sight; however, a blind man’s version of the same story will be very different. Do not use all 5 senses to describe one thing as that would be overly descriptive.

Use an Active Voice

An active voice is when the subject is accomplishing the verb “The three types of conflict are…,” or “The bear ate the food.” On the contrary, a passive voice is when the subject is not directly performing the verb like “There are three types of conflict…” or “The food was eaten by the bear….” It’s okay to use a passive voice, especially when the subject is unknown, but many times it’s wordy and less emphasizing. Did you notice the previous sentence was passive?

Provide Conflict or Contrast

When placed next to each other, contrasting colors stand out. Writing and ideas are no different. In fiction, conflict makes the plot a little more exciting and gives it more purpose. The three main categories of conflict are man vs. himself, man vs. God, and man vs. man. In non-fiction, contrasting ideas sometimes make for a great means to remove bias and get to the truth in addition to creating a compelling masterpiece.

Focus on your Nouns and Verbs

Use adjectives and adverbs sparingly. Instead, find a better noun or verb to describe what the adjectives and adverbs are modifying. For instance, replace “loudly walk” with a “stomp” or “tap dance.”

Use Proper Grammar

Some rules of grammar are meant to be broken, but the more you allow yourself to get into the habit of breaking all the rules like you are texting, the harder it’s going to be on you when it comes time to write on a professional level, whether it be for school or for work.

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Create Fascinating Characters

Humans are designed to socially connect with each other, and some of your best loved works resulted from most loved characters. Who are the Muppets without Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy? Which Disney character is quick to act and lose his temper? “No one, but Donald Duck.” Not only do we humans enjoy falling in love with characters, but we equally enjoy hating characters and psychoanalyzing characters.  Here are some basic tips for creating those fascinating characters you love and hate.

Avoid Overly Describing Your Characters

Leave some of the description to the reader’s imagination. Many times, they may see a character to resemble people they already know, which is an easy way for readers to feel that instant connection. In addition, most people do not want to read a bunch of paragraphs that sound like a social networking “about me” quiz. Only describe what is necessary to the story, and unfold details through action and dialogue.

Give Them Personality

Take a few personality tests in character. Write out some of the answers that you feel most compelled to bring out in the story. Of course, don’t exactly say, “Kari is your average introvert,” but something more like, “As Kari walked into the chaos of the large party, she kept her head low looking to the ground as she made her way to the shadows behind the punch bowl to stand alone and observe the Mad Hatters frolicking in their protective egos.”

Test Them

Readers not only like to connect with the characters, but they also like to see what the characters are going to do when faced with moral and ethical concerns. What if Kari finds a wallet on the floor? What if the wallet belonged to a person she hates?

Give Them Easy Names

It’s difficult to connect to a character with a name you aren’t sure how to pronounce let alone remember when you walk away from the story.

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Rhetorical Uses in Writing Persuasion

Rhetoric is the art of language where effective persuasion rests in catering to the three appeals of the audience:  Logos, Pathos, and Ethos. Popular with Aristotle and Plato, its primary goal is not to discover truth (like Socrates’ Dialectical Method), but to persuade people.

Logos

Logos is the logic and reason of the information. This is prevalent in the academic environment such as school papers, journal articles, and so forth. This would include inductive and deductive reasoning, research and citations, definitions, statistics, expert opinion, analogies, and relevance of facts.

Pathos

Pathos is the emotion of the information. Advertisers use this method primarily because logic is intended for argument whereas no one really argues emotion. Imagine a mother scolding her child for breaking into the cookie jar. If the child responds with logic, “but mom, you said I wasn’t allowed a cookie yesterday, but you didn’t say anything about today,” generally the mom is going to argue back.  However if the child responds with emotion, “sorry mom, I wanted a cookie to try to cheer me up,” mom most likely is going to feel a little sorry for and be a little easier on said child whether she gives in to the cookie wish or not. Ways to achieve pathos include emotional stories or examples, vivid descriptions, figurative language such as similes and metaphors, and tone. Pathos pushes people to not only read and comprehend, but to take action.

Ethos

Ethos is the credibility of the writer. Examples of ethos include doctors recommending a health product or a politician trying to destroy the credibility of an opponent. Students find it particularly difficult to achieve credibility when writing persuasive papers because their reputation isn’t always predefined at that moment, but you can still achieve ethos in other ways like using credible sources within research, properly using grammar and vocabulary, writing to the level of the intended audience, and removing bias.

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Joy to the World

Spaceship Earth (Epcot)
Image via Wikipedia

The shot of my two kids by the tree, the whole family in front of Spacehip Earth from this summers vacation to Disney or that cute shot of the kids with the dog at the beach? Which one should I use for my holiday card this year? And what do I write? How do I personalize them? How do I make every person on my list feel special without spending an eternity poring over each individual card?

Sending out holiday cards is the seasonal plague of veteran writers and stay at home moms alike. How does one outdo ones self year after year, especially as the kids get older and therefore less “cute”? And how does one even know which type of card is best to send? Do you send out seperate cards for all your friends who celebrate Hannukah, Christmas or Kwanzaa? Is a card fits all “Seasons Greetings” good enough or does it smack off political correctness and conformity.

Many online photography sites such as Snapfish and Kodak Photo Gallery offer photo templates in a variety of styles and colors. They have one that suits every holiday and occasion. Make each one of your children into a jingling bell, let every member of your family be a flame in the menorah or make your dog the star on the top of your Christmas tree. Luckily these websites offer many creative and artistic choices.

Unfortunately, none of them can come up with the text for you. How to wish uncle Mike a randy and rowdy Christmas without offending grandma? Aaah therein lies the rub. Whatever text you choose will be seen by all your friends and loved ones. Maybe next year one of these sites can offer an option where some of your holiday cards have generic messages and others have personalized ones. In the meantime, Seasons Greetings it is.

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The Mommy Blog

Who amongst us has not come home from work and been greeted by a house full of screaming kids, a too demanding spouse and a sink overflowing with dirty dishes. Who amongst us hasn’t wanted to tell their next door neighbor to invest in some new drapery or their mother in law to go shove it. We all need to vent from time to time. We all make up dialogues in our mind about what we’re going to say to “that person” the next time. The problem is we don’t say it the next time either.

The perfect solution to this problem may be the mommy blog. A blog where women can write about their everyday lives and say what they really want to say, but do so anonymously. Women can use pseudonyms when blogging here as well. In a mommy blog a woman can write about how disgusting she finds it that the neighbor’s kid picks her nose and eats it without the risk of having to explain herself to that neighbor the next time she sees her at Shop Rite. In a mommy blog a woman can write about just how many times she’s contemplated smothering her snoring husband with a pillow without having her husband calling a divorce lawyer.

Therapy is expensive. Girlfriends are a wonderful thing, but some of them don’t know how to keep their mouth’s shut. Besides sometimes you need to vent about your girlfriends. Don’t even think about venting to your mother. You’ll forgive your husband long before she ever does and I assure you that she can do a better job raising your kids than you can. A mommy blog could serve as sounding board. A way to get things off your chest without humiliating anyone. Maybe some of us should make it a New Years Resolution to get together with some girlfriends and start one.

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Term Paper Season

It’s that time of year again. It’s term paper season. The time when millions of high school and college students have to churn out that last hurrah: the term paper. As much as we’d like to think that all of these students are honestly doing their best to produce a quality paper, it is rarely the case. Unfortunately it has become increasingly easy to buy a term paper online.

Websites such as freelancer.com will let people bid on writing your term paper for you. The majority of these bidders are from countries outside the United States. This gives the term outsourcing a whole new meaning. It is even possible to pay someone to take a whole online course for you. One can even purchase a term paper on Ebay or Craigslist. Silly me, I thought these websites were for purchasing used books and selling old baby furniture.

When I was in school Cliff Notes were the big thing. Now if you want to blow off your project there are a plethora of options to choose from. And, with so many options, it is increasingly difficult to get caught. Many school use a variety of computer programs aimed at rooting out plagiarism, but with an ever growing menu of options for cheating students can the schools ever keep up? I doubt it.

What is a teacher to do? Some teachers have decreased the amount of research papers they assign. Others have turned to projects as assessments. Unfortunately, although some projects may be wonderful, there is a lot to be gained from actually doing research and verbalizing your findings. One hears all over the news how poor American students math and science skills are, but literacy is important too. Unfortunately, we as a nation, are becoming less and less capable writers. If we devalue writing as a skill then it will be lost to us forever.

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