10 Steps to Writing a Story

10 Steps to Writing a Story – Broadcast Journalism

1. Find a Topic.
-What is your story about?
- Who is your audience?
- Why is story important to audience?
2. Find an Angle.
- What abotu your topic?
- More specifically, what is important about your topic?
- What should your reader learn?
3. Collect Information/ Data. - Who are the experts?
- Do you need opposing points of view?
- What interview questions should I ask?
4. Conduct the Interview.
- Ask open ended questions
- Get good sound bytes. A peice of audio that can stand along.
- Have the person restate the quistions in the interview. Do three interview and three qustion
5. Shoot your reporter Stand-UP.
- Should have a good idea what story is about
- Stand-Up should provide information that audience doesn't
- Use stand up for transition from one place to the next
- No first person: I went
6. Organize your sound Bytes.- What quote should i use?
- How can i organize the quotes to tell a story?
- What are my gold nuggets?
- Sprinkle the nuggets throughout the story!
7. Write segues in your story.
- Use words that tie the interview together.
- What other information can i add to the story?
- Can the story stand on its own?
8. Write the Beginning and End of your story.
- Write body first
- Best sound bites for beginning and end
- Paraphrase a sound bytes at the beginning
- Leaves them with strongest sound bytes at end
- Leave them with hope
9. Write the anchor ins and outs (if necessary).
- How should the story begin and end?
- Use attention getters at the introduction but avoid rhetorical
- What should the anchors say to introduce my story or bring it to a close? No scoop went to find out.
10. Collect B-Role to add to your story (throughout steps 4-9)
-  How can video enhance my store?
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*Steps 4-8 in your story are called the A-Roll.