Tips and structures for writing articles.

Journalism is a difficult career to get into, but a rewarding one. Certainly starting your own blog and writing regularly is the first step – it may feel like you’re working hard and getting nowhere but, if approached in the right way, it should be developing your technique and voice. This is alongside, of course, the undervalued skill of producing material regularly and to tight deadlines. People often slip up by waiting for inspiration to strike them, but that is not a luxury that a blogger or a professional writer has. 

The only way to improve is to read regularly and write continuously. You learn by just doing it. Sure some of the first articles might be weak, but so what? The next ones will be better. The worst thing you can do is fuss too much over the initial pieces – you won’t be learning to write to time and you won’t be getting the practice in.  

If you are looking to get writing and want a helpful structure for writing then Labov and Waletzky’s analysis of the links between oral storytelling and newspaper formats is a good start. It was originally based on conversations, but I think it is a helpful guide for writing articles…

The structure they defined was as follows:

1)      Abstract – This provides the “lead” or “hook” for the story. By that I mean, you are not formally summarising everything that happens, instead you are offering up the interesting POV/take on the story. It needs to be concise (don’t go for more than 2-3 sentences) and well-written. Why should your audience read on?

2)      The Orientation – The who, when and where. This sets the scene for what has occurred.

3)      The Complicating Action – This addresses what actually happened that has made this a story in the first place. Quite often the information in 2 and 3 can be merged but, even if they are in one paragraph, they do tend to work in this order.

4)      The Evaluation – This answers the question – so what? Here you are highlighting the importance of the event/occurrence – quite often by using quotes from people who have experienced the events (along with 2 and 3, this will be the longest section of the newspaper article).

5)      The Resolution – How was it resolved? What might be happening in the future?

6)      Coda – A signing off (less likely in written form of news) – but it is often seen in the form of a paragraph that wraps it up neatly, quite often an aside or tangent to the rest of the piece.

If you’re not sure about this, grab a newspaper and try dividing up the section – you’ll see the boundary points, even if they overlap a little at times. You’ll also notice how, for example, you will start to get the evaluation roughly two thirds in, with all the quotes from witnesses and comments from experts. Once you start applying that template, you’ll see how prevalent it is in writing.

Anyway, if you’re having trouble getting started with writing articles there are plenty of ways to approaching them. This isn’t the only way but it is one way and it might be helpful.

My thought is, when faced with a difficult task, to always divide and conquer; breaking it down to a number of small sections to write is easier than sitting down to one big piece. As such, it can be helpful to use the above as sub-heading to structure your writing whilst you’re getting used to it (delete them out before you post!).