Story Org — deadline Sun., June 15
June 9, 2008
Hello Scholars!
Hope your weeks are off to a good start. This week’s topic: Organizing stories (hang in there Russel, I’m sending out a photo-related e-mail just for you).
As CQ Coach Mary Ann Hogan says in her column, there are no right and wrong ways to organize stories. And you can use different approaches, depending on story type, topic, length. What follows are a few approaches, along with an exercise that I’d like you to respond to by Sunday.
– Approach 1, from Mary Ann: http://www.chipsquinn.org/skills/ask/ask.aspx?id=569
– Approach 2: Generally keep “like” information together in a story. If you’re writing about an issue and its pros and cons, group the pros together and the cons together and link them with a transition sentence or graph or two. Or let’s say you’re writing about someone’s appointment to head up a local org or agency and the appointment is controversial. Think about the story in chunks: person’s background and qualifications; what the critics say; what the supporters say; what the person’s plans are for the agency; info about the agency itself (budget, employees, etc.) Write your lead, then see how it makes sense to arrange the chunks, paying attention, of course, to your transitions.
– Approach 3: Figure out what your focus/lead (including off-lead, if there is one) is. Write it. Read it and ask yourself: What’s the most urgent, immediate question that this sentence raises? The answer to that question will be your next sentence. Then read what you’ve written and ask: What question does this new sentence (or combination of sentences) raise? Lay down the answer as your next sentence, etc. This method not only helps the story unfold in a logical way, it also can result in good strong transitions between sentences and paragraphs.
So, using this last approach, consider the following sentence:
“The Cottonwood School Board narrowly voted last night to slash in half the funding for the high school’s football team, effectively ending a program that has produced seven state champions in as many years.”
What’s your next sentence? (Again, as a reader, what question do you most want the answer to, right now? That answer is your next sentence — feel free to invent the facts you need as you write this sentence.)
So — one sentence from all. By Sunday, June 15.
(We won’t share the sentences until they’re all in — so if you want to say something else in connection with this thread, please write out a separate comment under this post. Thanks!)
First thing I want to know is where the decision came from. My next sentence would probably be…
Though the vote angered community members, the board said the move was necessary to keep in line with the new budget, which only allots the school $xxxxx for sports-related functions.
The move is in response to recent reports of gross abuse of school funds by the Cottonwood High School athletic department. The school board determined that head football coach Bob Bobby fabricated expense accounts for the team’s away games, pocketing the difference to cover personal gambling debts.
What a rotten coach!
Re-read the directions, so now my ONE sentence is:
The move is in response to the board’s discovery that Cottonwood High School head football coach Bob Bobby had fabricated expense accounts for the team’s away games, pocketing the difference to cover personal gambling debts.
Why?
School board officials said all non-academic activities are expected to see cutbacks within the next year because of unexpected budget cuts.
The money’s placement into the art, theatre and english departments of the high school will effect the football team’s ability to win another state championship by reducing the recruiting and retainment of future players.
The school board chairman, Hello Kitty, said that the money saved from this cut in funding would go towards a “Boot Camp” nutrition program that all students may benefit from.
The board voted unimously (or 5-1) to cut the $20,000 budget, which funded the schools Road to Champions, a summer football program, because the school hired 2 more teachers for the fall.
I answered, obviously, HOW NARROW WAS THE VOTE OR WHAT WAS THE VOTE?, WHAT WAS THE TOTAL AMOUNT OF THAT WHICH WAS CUT, and WHY THE FUNDING WAS CUT, and WHAT WAS THE NAME OF THE PROGRAM?
Mike Stevens, coach of the Cottonwood Ravens, said this decision will rob countless young students of the opportunity to thrive in the sport.
The Cottonwood School Board narrowly voted last night to slash in half the funding for the high school’s football team, effectively ending a program that has produced seven state champions in as many years.
The decision — which will eliminate three of four coaching positions and cut the team’s roster in half — was driven by pressure from parents, who criticized the school for allocating $2 million to the program yearly while standardized testing scores continued to mark Cottonwood as the worst performing of all high schools statewide.
I really like the fork method. Every story I’ve written there’s been so much other stuff that I’ve cut that would’ve been interesting to have, but doesn’t really contribute anything new to the focus of the story. I do find that when I’m trying to organize a story, I ask myself questions that people would want to know as they’re reading it.
As for the sentence:
The budget cut comes at a time of financial difficulty for Cottonwood school, with many hoping that the education budget won’t be affect by reducing money for sports.
School board members said that the cut in funding the football team will be used toward funding the school’s new computer lab.
So what’s the correct answer????
In a vote of 5-4, the board approved $10,000 for the football team during the 2008-2009 academic year.