Break and Week 11

Fun seeing your Humans of Berkeley photos and captions. After class, Spencer said, “Wow, we did some pretty great stuff.” Yes, you did. And good to see how many came out to the Daily Pint. I thought Jed made an interesting observation: The work comes first, but the second most important part of his job is not being an asshole. That applies to reporting for written features too, I imagine.

Going forward, it’s time to seriously gear up on your stories so we can move on to an intense focus on writing and revising techniques. That means that before we meet again on Apri 3rd, you should:

Clear your idea and final reporting plan with me if you still need to, preferably before break begins.
Continue writing ledes and scenes and sections. Follow the Calvin Trillin model of producing a “vomit-out draft”. Just get it out on the screen without looking at notes. Then pick through and see what you have. Or, if you’re a methodical writer, plow on through. Whatever works for you. If yours is a visual project, consider how you’re telling a full story through photos/video
File a partial draft of your story AND a detailed outline/plan to me by Monday, April 2nd at 5 PM. The goal is to spend that class workshopping what you have, both in small groups and as a class.
Keep refining the core of your story to keep you on track. Choose one or more of the six methods we discussed: 1) trying to describe it in a minute and keeping someone interested 2) formulating a magazine head & subhead 3) a book title and subtitle 4) a movie poster (“The courageous story of a young woman trying to make a difference in what time she has left”) 5) a logline ( When [INCITING INCIDENT OCCURS], a [SPECIFIC PROTAGONIST] must [OBJECTIVE], or else [STAKES] ) or 6) an animating question/quest of your story (“Can Leon Sykes save DeFremery Pool?” “What Happened to Robert Swift?)
Remember that, in the end, every story is about people. Invest us in the people in your story who care deeply and we’ll care about those people.