Steps to writing a story

1. Find a topic.
- consider your audience
- what will interest them?
- what will be valuable info for them?
2. Find an angle.
- what about your topic?
- what is important about your topic?
- what should the reader learn?
- summarize in 3 words: Subject, Verb, Object
3. Collect information.
- who are 3 experts for the story?
- what interview questions should I ask?
- simple details
4. Conduct the interview.
- ask the right questions.
- get a good sound bite (a piece of audio that can stand alone)
- restate the question in the interview.
5. Shoot your reporter stand-UP .
- have a good idea what the story is about.
- should provide more information that audience doesn't know.
- use stand-UP for transition from one location to the next.
- no first person.
6. Organize your sound bytes.
- what quotes should I use?
- how can I organize the quotes to tell a story?
- what are my gold nuggets?
7. Write segues in your story.
- use words that tie the interviews together.
- what other information can I add to the story?
- can the story stand on its own?
8. Write the beginning and end of your story.
- write body first.
- best sound bytes for the beginning and end.
- paraphrase a sound byte at the beginning.
- leave them with strongest sound byte at the end.
- leave them with hope.
9. Write the anchor ______________ and ________________ (if necessary).
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10. Collect ___________ to add to your story (throughout steps 4-9)