More Related Content
Similar to Art of writing impactful stories (20)
More from Dr. Amaresh Jha (8)
Recently uploaded (20)
Art of writing impactful stories
- 1. ART OF WRITING IMPACTFUL STORIES Dr. Amaresh Jha Story Storyteller Audience
- 2. Storytelling is our obligation to the next generation. If all we are doing is marketing, we are doing a disservice, and not only to our profession, but to our children, and their children. Give something of meaning to your audience by inspiring, engaging, and educating them with story. Stop marketing. Start storytelling. --Laura Holloway, Founder & Chief of The Storyteller Agency
- 3. Steps for Writing Impactful Story Determine who your audience is Find out as much as you can about the target audience. Figure out what message you are going to share with them and why? (Goal of your storytelling) Find and highlight the characters of the story and how the attributes of the character matches with the real audience Decide whether you are going to tell the story in one go or in series Think about the resources required for telling the story? Dont forget the resolution or the final takeaway.
- 4. Ingredients of Impactful Television Stories Showing what has happened and not just telling Immersing the audience in the story Telling the story in a personal way Making characters important i.e. giving life to characters Telling the story in such a way that readers remember it for long Keeping readers engaged till the end using some suspense Ending the story on a positive note
- 5. Focus on What the Audience Wants to Know The minister holds a news conference to list all of his accomplishments. He's presenting information the way he wants. Look at what he said and consider what the audience wants to know. If the minister is proud he negotiated a deal, tell that information in a way that interests people at home. Will their bill be less? That's the information to highlight. If the minister presents information that doesn't have an impact on the people at home, drop it from your story.
- 6. Convince Viewers Why They Should Care Sometimes, viewers or readers don't have to be convinced why they should care about a news story. If you're writing a story on their taxes going up, they will pay attention. Other times, they'll need to be told. If your city is repairing a bridge on one side of town, people on the other side may think the project doesn't affect them. As a reporter, find out how to make your story have a broader reach. You can write a line like, "Even people who never use the bridge will benefit from it. That's because it will ease traffic all over town." Or, "The bridge will cost so much to fix that the city's plan to put a new park downtown is now on indefinite hold."
- 7. Write Shorter but Complete Stories Writing shorter news stories can dramatically increase the impact of your writing. That's because you will start eliminating the clutter that interferes with the important content you want to present. Shorter news stories are more focused and memorable. Be careful not to ignore the information that your audience needs to know. That includes the background information that makes your story understandable. For instance, if you're covering a murder trial, you can't simply cross out sentences about what the defendant is accused of doing. Just work on presenting those sentences succinctly.
- 8. Look for the Emotion If you're writing a news story about a nursing home that's closing, sticking solely to the facts means you'll likely miss an opportunity to reach the hearts of your viewers and readers. That's why you should always write about a news story's emotional component. Look for the families of the nursing home residents and tell their personal stories. They will have to find a new place to put their loved ones. The workers at the home will have to find new jobs. These emotional hooks will help people at home understand and appreciate what these people are going through. Even if the audience has never heard of the nursing home, you've created a riveting emotional connection.
- 9. Use an Effective Headline Creating a news story with impact starts with a compelling beginning. That may be a great headline or TV news lead-in for the news anchor to read. Decide if generating that great beginning is better for you to do first, before you write your news story, or last, once you get the body of your story finished. It's usually a matter of personal preference. School Officials Outline Reopening Strategies" is a flat headline because there's no emotion or a reason for people to care. 5 point strategy to reopen schools" will get those people to read on because their safety concern is at stake and they'll want to know what are those 5 strategies.