According to Stepp, there are only nine guidelines to observe.
1. Focus
“You can only make one real point in a 10-inch story. And you can’t use two quotes from the same person,” says Adell Crowe, standards and development editor at USA Today, where they know something about short news items.
2. Turn routine assignments into ‘little diamonds’
So says writing coach Roy Peter Clark, the Poynter Institute’s vice president, in “How to Write a Good Story in 800 Words”. Make a slice of life out of the first day of spring, a spelling bee, the new office décor.
3. Plan early
“Know what you’re looking for,” advises Jack Hart of Portland’s Oregonian. “When you’re visiting the place, be on the lookout for the three important details you know you need.”
4. Choose one scene from a larger story
The Des Moines Register’s Ken Fuson once wrote a multipart series on teenagers doing a school musical. But, he says, there’s a terrific one-day story to be done on the posting of the cast list and what it means to those trying out at auditions.
5. Limit the number of characters
Most often to one, says Connie Schultz of Cleveland’s Plain Dealer.
6. Pick an unexpected character
Stephanie Warsmith of the Akron Beacon Journal covered the chaotic first day of school through the eyes of a beleaguered school secretary.
7. Write from the character’s point of view
The Oregonian’s Stuart Tomlinson told about the rescue of a 3-year-old girl from a burning house from the vantage point of one of the rescuers, a firefighter with a 3-year-old daughter of his own.
8. Keep the story moving
“You need some action. Is there something to watch? Can something unfold in front of you?” says Maria Carrillo of Norfolk’s Virginian-Pilot. The Oregonian’s Joseph Rose likes “to keep the roller-coaster pace going”.
9. Condense for impact
“I come back with notebooks packed with information,” says the Virginian-Pilot’s Diane Tennant. “To winnow it down, like a cook would boil down a broth to make it richer, takes a lot of work. You have to go for the emotion.”
– Carl Stepp. Reproduced for educational purposes.
