Write Right Journal

Writing and editing tips and tricks.

Lede

Great writing tips come from anywhere.

Dec 6

In general, use “says” for magazine pieces to quote humans. Use “according to” for documents.
Avoid second-person (you, we, us, our), stick to third-person or a mix of first and third-person.
Place the first quote as high up in the story as possible.
When you write, you’re not just sharing information; you’re sending out a signal. Think of your writing as a lighthouse, casting its light in a specific direction, or as a firefly, flashing its signal to others attuned to the same frequency.

Dec 1

A way to frame a short piece is to start with a lede, followed by a nut graf that starts “Here’s the short version:…” The following paragraph starts, “The long version starts now…”

Nov 22

Without descriptions of light and color, your reader’s world will slide into darkness.
Writing for the reader isn’t as easy as it sounds.

Nov 21

Takeaways from Monica Carrillo-Casas Guest Lecture

A great learning experience is had by leaning into the stories that you know you are not good at.
Sometimes, you have to take time for yourself. It will make your stories better.
You write a more extended version for print than you do for radio. Rewriting a story for radio could be great practice in evolving a story to its essence for a 1-2 minute spot on the radio. I’d have to get someone else to perform the piece for radio.
- Radio requires the wording to be “punched up for engagement.”
- Radio uses oral storytelling techniques.
Always be looking to build a personal connection with people.
She stressed the importance of “finding the stuffed animal.”

Nov 19

A great learning experience is had by leaning into the stories that you know you are not good at.
Sometimes, you have to take time for yourself. It will make your stories better.
You write a more extended version for print than you do for radio. Rewriting a story for radio could be great practice in evolving a story to its essence for a 1-2 minute spot on the radio. I’d have to get someone else to perform the piece for radio.
- Radio requires the wording to be “punched up for engagement.”
- Radio uses oral storytelling techniques.
Always be looking to build a personal connection with people.

Nov 17

Find the inciting incident that launches the story and put it right after the nut graf. This will start the story.

Nov 15

Tips

Be a good date to your reader [[202308180551]]
- Being a good date is a metaphor for thinking about the other.
Writing The Details [[202111142113]]
- tips on focus and dialog
Name the action [[202002100737]]
Improve Your Writing With An Observational Notebook - evernote:///view/597091/s5/745af2eb-4c4a-4b15-a8d3-e965f9376a27/745af2eb-4c4a-4b15-a8d3-e965f9376a27/
Construal Level Theory applied to intimate writing [[202303110936]]
- A closer relationship means less abstract and more visceral feelings.
Descriptive Repetition [[202006090936]]
Say It Again! Use Repetition to Write Persuasively [[202210072027]]
- Saying an idea more than once is a simple technique for persuasion.
Repeat sentences for impact [[202210072001]]
[[201911281108]] Simple Complete Observation in a long descriptive sentence.
A-The Craft of Writing [[202303011657]]
- What it means to persevere as a writer, to connect with a reader meaningfully.
Nature And Environmental Writing Is [[202008062028]]
- Descriptive of the ‘natural world’
§[[202111290825]]
A-Relate Sentences to a Paragraph’s Main Idea [[202302040606]]
Practice Longer Sentences [[202303021039]]

Nov 14

Jackie Varriano - Seattle Times Food Writer

If you can write a good pitch, turn work in on time, and produce clean copy, you’ll get work and keep getting work.
Write as if you were a lawyer, calculate billable hours, and let that set your earnings.
She used buckshot as an analogy for broadly scattering your pitch to everywhere.
“Be a bit of a chameleon.”
Food is a massive umbrella under which to file a story.
Timing is essential in determining when to pitch a story. Ask yourself if the publication has already done this story recently.
There is a difference between magazine and newspaper writing. Feature writing versus “a short newser.” (Newsroom lingo. Another shad-mode moment.)

Nov 13

At the end of a lede describing the historical, everyday, how things were in the past, end with “… until recently.” and have the story be a refutation of the lede. When One Day Becomes Today | Humanities | JAMA | JAMA Network

Work on more than one story at a time. Think about this when interviewing. Ask questions about this and a future story. Look for opportunities to shift to another story. When writing a story, look back at clips for connections with the current story. This recycles ideas, adds interest, and saves time.

Nov 11

Questions to ask myself when I start writing.

What background information is essential to this story?
Who is the person I’m conversing with?
What are my biases?
What part of the story is the audience familiar with it?
What would successful communication look like?
If you only had 5 minutes or a single sentence to tell my story, what would it be?

Clutter is the enemy.

Nov 2

Write conversationally by asking questions Each question invites conversation.
Write conversationally by telling a story Storytelling is magic for conversation.
Write conversationally by giving an invitation Invite the reader to explore further.

Nov 1

Here’s a quick summary of how writers produce work within a short time frame:

They go for shorter articles. Some topics do not warrant shorter articles, but others can be wrapped up nicely in several hundred words.
They’ve done their homework. Becoming proficient in a topic makes it easier to explain to others.
They don’t overthink. Carelessness is one problem, but the diametric opposite is overthinking.
They practice. Getting faster at writing is like getting faster at running. You’ll see improvements through practice, but after a while, you have to aim for improvements instead of going through the motions.

Oct 31

Takeaways from Jacque Banaszynski

A reporter is not a writer. If you don’t have the chops for writing, maybe you can be a reporter. Ultimately, we want to meld both reporting and writing—varying the ratio for each story.
Reporting on world and city events teaches fast writing and lets you build a beat.
Create two checklists/outlines
- The first contains the required or civic items that must be checked off, and the second is the heartfelt story that wants to be told.
- Another way to look at this is one outline containing what the reader needs to know to make sense of the story, and the second is filled with my favorite scenes.
The real job of a good editor is to teach me how to fix my copy.
“You can’t fit five pounds of shit in a three-pound bag,” said Jacque Banaszynski’s dad.
Create a “Body of Clips”
No story is a small story for the people in it.
Ask storyteller questions.
- Ask storyteller questions as a follow-up
  - I’m trying to visualize your situation
  - Ask what color
  - Who was there
  - How did it make you feel
  - Tell me more
  - Really
Ask 3 versions of the same question to give the interviewee time to flush out their thoughts while keeping them focused, inviting them to speak.
Keep an eye on placement and proportionality where things are placed in a story in relation to how big of a deal I make of it. Be even-keeled with the emotionally charged stuff.
Use a ‘Trusted First Reader’ (Brutally Honest Critic)
My stories are more concise by removing five words from each paragraph. This exercise focuses attention on fluffy writing. (I removed 6 words from the previous paragraph, making it more concise.)
report against my biases

Oct 29

In an interview, ask what drives your passion.
Telling the interviewee why I’m including them in this specific story helps keep the interview focused.
I need to listen to where the interviewee expresses their feelings or any emotions and then dive in.
There is a balance between keeping focus and letting the interviewee run uninterrupted.
need to listen to where the interviewee expresses their feelings or any emotion and then dive in.

Oct 26

Instead of telling your readers what to do, show them through examples, descriptions, stories, and anecdotes.
Good writers are masters at painting clear images in the minds of their readers.
Use foreshadowing and mystery in the lede
Each subsection should have its own lede and nut graph.
When Pitching a story, drill down to the essence.

Oct 22

Multiple nut graphs with short words can be used to spell out the story.
Hyperlink embedded in the story.
Create a simile from the relationships in the story
let the reader know how the characters feel
Set up quotes in advance, a prior sentence.
Write for Don. Tell a story in a conversation.
Animate the characters quoted.
One-word exclamation works at the start or end of a paragraph, not in the middle.

Oct 19

Interviewing Skills [[202410181608]]
- Developing interviewing skills involves experimenting with various questions and approaches to foster trust and draw out honest responses.

Oct 17

Personal confession engagement. A way the reporter can be present in their story.
Make a story containing how I, as the writer, learned or experienced something in the service of the story.
Story and black cowboys and cowgirls
What am I trying to convince the reader of? This is the start of the essential ideas in the story.
Take the reader somewhere to show them where the digging happens.

Oct 16

Start short paragraphs with these ideas.

The town
The grant
The person
Past/History then Now
“It is said.”
Day to day
“In an effort”
Not the only
The project promises to become
This cycle
Scientists make these projections
The models are based on
For example,
Researchers can use information about the
This gives them more confidence in their projection
To the soundtrack of …
A casino project sparks conflict over tribal sovereignty and control of sacred lands
A town’s name recalls the massacre of Indigenous people. Will changing it bring healing?

Oct 15

Take the reader there. Transport the reader into the scene.
Ask the rhetorical question.
Rule of three
Propel the reader through the story. Set up the quote and tell who is telling it.
Weave the nut graph into the story.
Has been or was announced in the past tense and inactive.
Make the subject of the sentence prominent.
Shorter is better
- conversational
- rhythm
- Interest
Every new thought is a new sentence.
Bite-size chunks of a story
Take me out of the story. Nobody is interested in me and what I think.
NO opinions or commentary
Micro or Macro profile
- Micro about the person
- Macro about a subject using a person to tell the story.

Oct 3

We are writing other people’s stories, not mine, so I can leave my commentary out. People are interested in their stories much more than mine.

Sept 26

Tie the quote to the story, and don’t just describe the person’s role—for example, a promoter for change and the head of the library. Describe them as involved in the story.
You have to pitch 10 great stories before one will be picked up. Which means I should focus on getting good at pitching stories.
- in pitches, include foreshadowing of storytelling elements
- Include sensory information and action in the pitch scenes to demonstrate writing abilities.
- Ask yourself and put into the pitch why this is important right now.
CLIPS
- Get as many as I can
- Focus them on the types of writing I want a future editor to recognize.
- Put more writing clips on my website kestrelcreek.com
Storytelling details
- Gather as many as possible so I have a huge pool to choose from in the writing stage.
- look for details that are not visual.
- periodically mentally go through the list of five senses
- Pair quotes with a sensory action.
Triangulation
- In each scene, place no more than three sensory details.

Another shad-mode moment. A narrative engine. This sounds like it is worth more exploration. Maybe it starts with a big question and slowly reveals the answer as the story progresses.

Sept 24

File photos with stories.
The lede and the nut graph form a contract with the reader.
The more sources, the better.

Embodied Energy Battery [[202409240519]]

Seth put the example first, then the explanation of the example. This is more of a storytelling method. Start right in with the example, follow up with “This is an example of …” and then remove this redundant phrase in the edit.
The story tells itself, letting the reader draw the meaning Seth wanted to convey.
Saves the lightly suggested editorial for the very end.

Sept 22

Lesson from honey bee paper.

New thought is a new paragraph. Adds impact.
Problem and remedy go together in the nut graph. The nut graph should foreshadow the ending.
Don’t editorialize without attribution.
Be conversational - omit connector words like therefore, however, amongst.
The ending needs to wrap its way back to the lede.

Sept 10

Working with story ideas

Range/Scope
- make it tight
Microcsum Profile
- Use the person’s interview as a jumping-off point to a more significant topic.
Time
- Forward or backward, predicting the future or reminiscing the past.
Movement
- put the reader in a raft and guide them down the flow of the rapids.
Details
- Was his car a red Ford Pickup, or was his hair cut really short?
Tell a story with drama, humor, or suspense.

Ingredients of a story

Quantities - numbers, facts, and figures
Locale - where does this story take place
Diversity - don’t repeat yourself
Intensity - be active

1-3 sentence paragraphs make the writing seem fast-paced.
Every unforgettable story, whether imagined or experienced, is anchored by an invisible framework—a plot that reveals the unfolding events and a narrative arc that illustrates their significance.

From the “Story Behind the Story” sample presentation. [^2]

Be on the lookout for the lucky story idea or fragment, especially when on location.
Be sure to be open to surprises.
When you are knowledgeable about a story’s subject, it is like going to a familiar grocery store. You know where everything is on the shelves.
“Lead with the weird.”
Use 3X5 cards and a storyboard to outline the story.
The lede should be set up fast and with short, simple sentences.
Playing dumb will sometimes lead to a lucky idea for the story.
Contact sources and share parts of the story to confirm facts and gain their approval.
Use the check mark method of fact-checking. Highlight every fact in the story and check them off one at a time.
Always ask, “Is there anything else I should know?”

Remember the reader. Make the story enjoyable for them. They don’t know all you do, so you have to tell them in a way they find interesting.
Make the story simple; don’t use complex sentences. Say what you mean without added baggage.

JAMM425 August 29, 2024 [[202408271956]] - Seminar notes.

Always be on the lookout for that special something like the “stuffed animal” under the bench of the disagreement about the number of grandchildren. The story will lie there.
Write with a mix of facts and emotions
- How do I feel
- How does the subject feel
Be super descriptive, but use this technique randomly (Tomato red shirt)
Include full-body sensing
- taste
- touch
- sight
- hearing
- smell
name the song/book/food the stuff of the story
start with a little mystery
AP Style
- spell out numbers greater than 10
- 5:00 p.m.
Put dateline on assignments

From a Class Slide on 9/17 • DO: Look for powerful, specific details. • DO: Use time and movement in your story to keep your tale moving and keep it interesting. • DO: See yourself as a storyteller, not just as a reporter or fact-gatherer. • DO: Experiment with your story and voice. Take chances, have fun, and grow. • DO: Read your story out loud. Find the rhythm in your words and writing, eliminate clunky passages • DO: Use direct, active sentences and short, strong words. Less is more in good storytelling. • DO: Tinker, rewrite, self-edit. Writing a first draft is essential, but rewriting until you get it right is the key to excellent writing. Give yourself enough time to do that. • DO: Set realistic deadlines to force you to finish reporting, do an outline, and write a draft and a final story.

In Tits Up, Sarah Thornton dives into the multifaceted world of breasts, approaching the subject with a blend of rigorous research, cultural analysis, humor, and storytelling. Her book is structured around interviews and essays that provide insight into how breasts are perceived, modified, and celebrated across different professions and cultures. Thornton’s work spans from the historical to the contemporary, examining how breasts have been objectified, medicalized, and commodified. ¹