In simple terms, “Begin at the beginning and go on till the story comes to the end: then stop.”
Simple narrative leads to the logical procedure of placing incident after incident in the order in which they actually occurred. Thereby attention of the reader is held.
He wants to know what happened next.
In developing the story, the reporter will choose his words carefully, preferring short words for long ones, the familiar word for the unfamiliar one and strong words, for weak ones.
A few years ago, the Christian Science Monitor put together 25 ways in which the newspapers could be published for easier reading. The beginner may not remember all, but they are a good guide to news reporting:
Use short simple words.
Use more one-syllable words
Use familiar words
Use personal words
Use concrete words.
Make every word work
Avoid technical words
Get rid of rubber stamp phrases
Put sparkle and freshness into simple phrases
Create figures of speech
Use intimate phrases
Use short sentences
Make frequent use of very short sentences
Use short sentences as an aid to clear thinking
Makes sentences active
Use short, simple paragraphs
Use very short paragraphs for variety and emphasis
Use one idea paragraphs
Use paragraphs for action, impact and result
Write for a specific purpose
Write to one person, one human being
Talk to that person write where he is
Talk to that person in his own field of knowledge
Work with one basic idea
Write with one view point
The stress as will be quickly noted is on simplicity, the short word, the short sentence and the short paragraph.
Participants