A maze called ‘storytelling’

I got into journalism because I loved to write. That’s important, but just not enough. I didn’t know about the craft of a story, so I expanded my reading field, actually finishing books by authors I love. This helped me know how to write a story. To respect the distance.

Brevity, I haven’t found. Syntax, perhaps. I have to learn to be economical with words, but find more voices for perspectives. Actually, not ‘more.’ The voices that matter. I don’t need quotes, but informed — even contrarian — voices.

Settle on the point of my story — why am I writing this? As screenwriter Aaron Sorkin put it (and uttered by protagonist Will McAvoy) in The Newsroom: “Is this the best possible form of the argument?”

Ensure I have reported the point of that story accurately, WHILE exercising judgement. I do one of the two: write without using my judgement, or exercise my judgement at the cost of writing time. That hurts the story. Continue reporting based on what my judgement says. Question everything. It will strengthen the point of my story. Finish the task.

But what makes that good story? Telling readers something they don’t know. That’s about ‘reporting’ intelligently. In a way they’ll understand, which is the goal of ‘writing’ what brought me to journalism in the first place. I often meander from the reporting lane to the writing one, losing sight of what my story is about. The voices get lost.

Let that story define a puzzle for the reader to solve — the best form of the argument. Then as writer, solve it. That’s what may make readers grateful.