School
was canceled forever today after a 43-year-old college instructor won a
multi-billion dollar lottery, quitting his job and sparking a walkout
among his students.
The lede
is usually followed by what is called the nut graf. The role of that
paragraph is to elaborate and expand upon the details of the lede.
Consider
the general identifiers posed in the lede: an unnamed instructor, an
unnamed school, an unspecified big-money lottery ect. Try to follow up
on those generalities with specifics in the nut graf, like this:
Omar
Sofradzija, who teaches a journalism class at Michigan State University
in East Lansing, won the $99 billion Amazeballs drawing Monday, after
which he quit Tuesday, lottery officials said.
That
was followed by a mass walkout by MSU students, and then cancelation of
MSU classes the next day, university officials said.
In
journalism, we try to keep paragraphs fairly short -- usually limited
to one main point or idea per graf, and/or one or two sentences per
graf. In this case, I thought the nut graf was running a bit long, so I
split it into two grafs.
We try to keep paragraphs
short and specific for two big reasons: one, to make it easy for the
reader to identify key points and specific quotes and such; and two, to
make it easy for editors to do the same so they can more quickly edit
the story by easily finding what may be worth emphasis or cutting out.
The
point after the nut graf is a great place to consider putting in a
telling quote; something that goes to the heart of the story's theme or
context or ultimate meaning. Something like this:
"If there's no Omar, there simply isn't any point in having school," MSU president Lou Anna K. Simon said.
At
this point, the lede/nut graf/key quote package creates sort of a
mini-story. In the same way the lede gives you the bare minimum of what
you need to know about the story, this grouping of grafs gives readers
the minimum amount of information AND supporting detail and evidence.
From
this point on, you have a couple of options: you can add more
supporting facts and quotes, in descending order of importance. This is
called the inverted pyramid style of story organization. You start with
the most important piece of background, then the next most important,
and so on. Like with short paragraphs, it allows for faster reading and
editing. Like this:
Sofradzija, who
has been making just $2 an hour teaching an introduction-to-journalism
class, said he plans to never teach again.
"Seriously, eff those little brats," he said.
But a number of students said that losing Sofradzija as an instructor has sapped their will to learn.
"If I can't learn from Omar, I can't learn. I'm that stupid," said Elvis Presley, a sophomore journalism major from Canada.
Sofradzija said he did not know what exactly he's spend his fortune on, but he promised it would be something stupid.
Notice
how pieces of telling information are paired up with quotes supporting,
amplifying and humanizing that raw data. It's not necessary that every
graf of info is followed by a related quote, but it does help in
reinforcing the points that are made throughout a story.
Also,
please note attribution is liberally used throughout the story, in
every graf after the lede. That's for the benefit of readers, who get to
see exactly where you get each bit of information that supports the
original claim you make in your lede. Not only are you transparent, but
you essentially rely on the expertise of your sources by citing them,
building your credibility.
Another
approach is to offer a chronological telling, looking at things from
the start. It's important that you weigh the facts you have and the
context of the story to decide if an inverted pyramid, chronology or
some other method best tells the story. Like this:
Events
quickly began to unfold around 8 p.m. Monday, when Sofradzija was named
the Amazeballs winner. His resignation was submitted to MSU by 6 a.m.
Tuesday, school officials said.
"Seriously, eff those little brats," Sofradzija said.
Word
quickly swirled around campus of Sofradzija's departure, with students
walking out of their classes em masse throughout the day Tuesday, school
officials said.
"If I can't learn from Omar, I can't learn. I'm that stupid," said Elvis Presley, a sophomore journalism major from Canada.
University leaders met that night before making the cancellation of the semester official at 8 a.m. today, officials said.
And
that's it. Notice how the story seems to end sort of abruptly. Looks
weird, right? Well, in journalism that's okay is your story lacks what
writers call a satisfying ending. Why is this okay? Because you already
have an ending: your lede.
Now
that we looked at these two structures in pieces, let's put it all
together and look at the pieces as stories. First, the inverted pyramid:
School
was canceled forever today after a 43-year-old college instructor won a
multi-billion dollar lottery, quitting his job and sparking a walkout
among his students.
Omar
Sofradzija, who teaches a journalism class at Michigan State University
in East Lansing, won the $99 billion Amazeballs drawing Monday, after
which he quit Tuesday, lottery officials said.
That
was followed by a mass walkout by MSU students, and then cancelation of
MSU classes the next day, university officials said.
"If there's no Omar, there simply isn't any point in having school," MSU president Lou Anna K. Simon said.
Sofradzija,
who has been making just $2 an hour teaching an
introduction-to-journalism class, said he plans to never teach again.
"Seriously, eff those little brats," he said.
But a number of students said that losing Sofradzija as an instructor has sapped their will to learn.
"If I can't learn from Omar, I can't learn. I'm that stupid," said Elvis Presley, a sophomore journalism major from Canada.
Sofradzija said he did not know what exactly he's spend his fortune on, but he promised it would be something stupid.
*****
Now, the chronological style:
*****
School
was canceled forever today after a 43-year-old college instructor won a
multi-billion dollar lottery, quitting his job and sparking a walkout
among his students.
Omar
Sofradzija, who teaches a journalism class at Michigan State University
in East Lansing, won the $99 billion Amazeballs drawing Monday, after
which he quit Tuesday, lottery officials said.
That
was followed by a mass walkout by MSU students, and then cancelation of
MSU classes the next day, university officials said.
"If there's no Omar, there simply isn't any point in having school," MSU president Lou Anna K. Simon said.
Events
quickly began to unfold around 8 p.m. Monday, when Sofradzija was named
the Amazeballs winner. His resignation was submitted to MSU by 6 a.m.
Tuesday, school officials said.
"Seriously, eff those little brats," Sofradzija said.
Word
quickly swirled around campus of Sofradzija's departure, with students
walking out of their classes em masse throughout the day Tuesday, school
officials said.
"If I can't learn from Omar, I can't learn. I'm that stupid," said Elvis Presley, a sophomore journalism major from Canada.
University leaders met that night before making the cancellation of the semester official at 8 a.m. today, officials said.
Now, which is the best structure to use: inverted pyramid or chronology? Again, it depends on what best tells the story.
If
you're writing about something complex where impact and meaning doesn't
necessarily happen in sequence -- like a tuition increase or comparing
on-campus and off-campus housing -- then structuring things based on an
analyzed importance may be the way to go.
But
of the story you're looking into naturally and dramatically unfolds in
order -- like a bank robbery or 9/11 -- then a chronology probably works
best.
A lot of it depends on what kind
of facts you dig up while reporting. Note in each approach, some facts
get greater or lesser emphasis, and some facts get entirely left out.
You should think about which approach best uses the most important,
relevant, interesting and useful facts. Whichever does is probably the
highest and best approach to take.
Let
me be clear, though: these are NOT the only two story structure options
you have. As you've read in the book and probably noticed in your
newspaper readings, there are endless ways to write ledes and detail nut
grafs and add quotes and cascade facts throughout a story.
You're
first and foremost looking for the best way to tell a story, based on
what makes meaning and context and accuracy clear and easy to follow.
These are just two basic ways to do that. Master this, and then start practicing other ways.
