Write Tight: Tips for Short Writing

Re-used with kind permission from Poynter Online for Journalists: www.poynter.org IDEA •Move quickly from assignment to budget line.•Brainstorm the reader’s questions.•Decide on a focus early but being willing to be flexible, to change with the information you report. FOCUS •Be ruthless about finding the heart of the story: an effective story has a single dominant impression.•Address […]

Write Lean and Mean

[Winner of three Nebula Awards and one Hugo award for writing.Re-used with kind permission from “The Writers Digest”, July 2004. Words are the essential nutrients of our stories. But, too often, we get so caught up in our idea, characters, setting, emotions and plot, we lose sight of the basics. Our writing ends up flabby […]

Unmuddling Middles

Re-used with kind permission from Poynter Online for Journalists: www.poynter.org Don Fry, an affiliate of The Poynter Institute, works as an independent writing coach out of Charlottesville, Virginia. You can reach him with questions at donaldfry@cs .com. Many reporters write strong leads, back them up, and finish their story with an ending. But the middle […]