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3 tips for mapping out story structure
Months of reporting. Mountains of notes. Drives of databases. Now what? Shaping a months-long investigation or long-form feature can be tough, especially with a trove of important material.
Tom Huang, assistant managing editor for journalism initiatives at The Dallas Morning News and an adjunct faculty member at The Poynter Institute, shared advice for journalists to help shape their reporting into focused, coherent narratives at an Institute webinar this summer.
“I tend to think that it’s always important to remember the question that got you into the story in the first place,” Huang said. “I know that in newsrooms, we’re often chasing several stories and zigging and zagging, but I think that if you’re investing a little bit of time in narrative storytelling, you’ll want to hold on to the question that you’re trying to answer.”
Here are quick tips for structuring your story:
Divide the story into chapters. Find the natural ebb and flow of the narrative and separate them to organize the story. This can be especially helpful when pacing a story if it is a long investigation.
Don’t chase the new “shiny thing.” It can be very easy to write about the new dramatic thing that reveals itself later on, but make sure it adheres to the core focus of the story.
Spend time developing your nut graf. The nut graf is the thesis of your story, so focusing on it will help clarify which part of your story needs to be highlighted the most.
Watch the full webinar:
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