Ms. Anderson

 No detail is too minute.  Everything is valid.  Information gathering is the key to good journalism.  To be a good journalist, you have to hone your skills in all aspects of the field, and the process might as well start with opening up your senses to the world around you.

 Observation  Most often overlooked  Interviewing  Research

 What do the observations that I’ve made say about me?  They should let an outsider know something about you.

 Actions and images speak louder than words almost every time.  It is the ability to show and not tell that is the basis for the stories you craft.  It is the face the readers need to be interested in a story.  YOU MUST WRITE VISUALLY FOR YOUR VISUAL READERS IF YOU WANT THEM TO ACTUALLY READ WHAT YOU HAVE WRITTEN.

 Details: specific words that help to further describe something  Is your main source a fan of music?  What are the specific titles in the person’s library?  What CD is in the person’s car?  What kind of car is it?  Does the person have a dog?  What is it’s name?  How old is the dog?  Description: using all of your senses to tell a story  What color are your source’s eyes?  How tall is the person?  What mannerisms does the person display as you interview them?  Dialogue: words a sources says to other people and what those other people say back to the source  What does your source say when they are not answering your questions?  How does the person respond to the people around them?  What do those people say back?

 That is up to you.

 This is also up to you.  Remember: Not all stories are best told chronologically.  Your most important Gold Coins come at the beginning and at the end.

 This is the path of the story  The information in between gold coins brings out the point of the story, what you want readers to think about  These spaces in the narrative contain relevant facts, quotes from expert sources, and solid transitions  The Coins keep readers on the path  They keep readers eyes on the path so they can access the important information

 Without Gold Coins, readers have no way of entering your stories.  Without the Coins your stories are merely collections of facts, data, and quotes.  Readers do NOT connect with those things.  Gold Coins provide a “face” for the story and a way to help readers relate to the information that lies within.

 Involves paying attention to your surroundings  Uses all FIVE senses  Smell  Touch  Hear  See  Taste (sometimes)  Personal possessions of the person being interviewed are important too as they tell us something about the person being interviewed

 Old Journalism adage: “If there is a dog barking in the background, I want to know that dog’s name.”  Everything is evidence. Leave no stone unturned.  Readers LOVE details. “The devil is in the details.”

An old man sits quietly in a bar smoking a cigarette and drinking a beer. He is watching a TV that hangs above the stained counter.  Shows that you are paying attention, but this is not enough.

 If you want people to understand what you are writing about, you need to provide information that will help them understand.  What people say and do  What others say about the person  What you tell us about the person

 Hundreds of words full of nothing but observations do not constitute a journalistic story.  Observations by themselves are not relevant.