Introduction Writing Skills - Class 6 PDF Download

This chapter attempts to introduce you to the concept of “style” and what it means to those who work in the mass media. Conforming to the rules and conventions of the medium in which you are working is the mark of a true professional. Strict adherence to the details of style shows that you care about what you write.
Writing for the mass media differs from other forms of writing in several aspects:

• Subject matter: Writers for the mass media must take on a wide variety of subjects, including news stories, feature stories, advertisements, letters, editorials and so on.
• Purpose: Writing for the mass media has three major purposes: to inform, to entertain and to persuade.
• Audience: Mass media writing is often directed to a wide audience and this fact dictates not only the subject matter but the way in which something is written.
• Circumstances of writing: Writing for the mass media often takes place in the presence of others who are doing the same thing. The writing is frequently done under the pressures of deadlines and many times several people will have a hand in writing and editing a particular item for the mass media.

Writing for Print

Writers for the mass media always work at two tasks: gathering information and putting that information into an acceptable form. Having the proper information – all the relevant facts of a story, the proper identification for the people involved, the time and the dates, accurate direct quotations, etc. – is vital to the writing process, but it is only the beginning. There comes a time when the information gathering must cease and the writing must begin.

The ability to write well requires that the writer has a thorough knowledge and understanding of the subject about which he or she is writing. In addition, the writer must understand the basic structure of the news story and the conventions or customs of news writing in order to complete the process.

Many forms of writing – or writing structures – populate the print media, but the most common are the news story and the feature story. These forms are found in newspapers, magazines, newsletters and many other publications. Mastering these two forms will give the person beginning to write for the mass media, a good foundation on which to build on, while learning to write in other forms and for other media.

The Inverted Pyramid

Once a writer has gathered the information necessary to begin a story, he or she must decide on the structure of the story. The goal of a proper structure is to get information to the reader quickly and to allow the reader to move through the story easily. The reader must be able to see the relationships between the various pieces of information that the reporter has gathered.

The most common structure for writing news stories is called the inverted pyramid.

The daily newspaper contains many stories. Most of the stories must be written so that readers can get more information in less time. The inverted pyramid structure concentrates on the most interesting and important information at the top of the story so that readers can get the information they need or want and then go on to another story if they choose. Headlines and leads should be written to describe what the story contains as succinctly and as interestingly as possible.

The Lead Paragraph

The most important part of the news story is the first or lead (pronounced ‘leed’) paragraph. The lead should give the reader the most important information in the story. It should be written in such a way that the reader will be interested in going further into the story.

A good news story, unlike the novel or play, is based on one main idea. That is why it is so important to decide on a focus and stick to it. A well-focused article tells your reader that you worked from a plan. It gives the reader a sense of completeness, a sense that you know what you are doing. In deciding on this focus, you are also working on your lead. By asking yourself about the main theme for your story, you are deciding how to begin, for often the two—a statement of theme and a lead—are one and the same. To help you decide on this theme, sometimes it helps to try the “tell-a-friend” technique. Imagine your friend asking, “What’s your story about?” Answer that question in one sentence that captures the essence of the entire story.

Now try to refine your answer so it can do two things: it should capture the essence of your story and do so in a way that encourages the reader to continue. It is your promise to the reader of what is to come. It is your lead.

Developing the Story

The inverted pyramid requires that writers make judgments not only about what should be at the beginning of the story but also about the relative importance of all the information they present in the story. In other words, writers must not only decide what the most important information is for the lead, but they must also decide what the second and third most important pieces of information are.

Developing the story in a logical and coherent way requires much skill and practice.

If the lead paragraph is the most important part of the news story, the second paragraph is the second most important part of the story. In some ways, it is almost as important as the lead but for different reasons. A lead paragraph cannot contain all of the information in a news story. If it is written well, it will inform the reader but it will also raise certain questions in the reader’s mind about the story. The real strength of your story will come from the details that back up the promise of the lead. This is the background material, the examples and quotes, the things you have observed, the explanations and definitions and the sense of history. These parts lend meaning and significance to the event or person you are writing about.