Whether you are writing an article for your local newspaper or creating a newsletter for your FFA chapter, you will need to ask yourself, “What makes a good story?” and “What is the best way to tell it?” This workshop will cover the steps for writing a good article from brainstorming and researching your topic, to interviewing sources, to writing and revising your first draft, to publishing a finished article. By the end of this workshop, you will have a better understanding of the news and how you can make it. This presentation was for the Virginia FFA Convention on June 29, 2011.

1. June 28, 2011 Telling Your Story and Making the News Michael Sutphin, Writer, @michaelsutphin Lori Greiner, Communications Manager, @lgreiner

2. Overview How can I make the news? What makes a good story? How can I tell it? 2

3. What is the news? Timely, immediate – not history Affects many people in some way Innovative or interesting What journalists decide as news 3

4. Sources of news Word of mouth Print Broadcast Web Social media 4

5. Making the news News releases Pitches Reporter queries Newsletters and magazines Multimedia Social media and blogs 5

6. What is newsworthy? 6

7. What is newsworthy? Timeliness Proximity Impact Prominence Novelty Conflict Human interest 7

8. Why write? 8 Keep a record Organize thoughts Express creativity Share ideas Persuade others

9. The writing process Brainstorming Prewriting Drafting Revising Editing 9

10. Step 1: Brainstorming List topics that come to mind. Draw a map with your main topic in the middle and other topics radiating from it. Create an outline. Work as a group or share ideas with others. 10

11. Step 2: Prewriting prewriting —noun Preparatory work for a piece of writing, as idea formulation, an outline, or research. (Random House Dictionary, 2009) 11

12. Who is your audience? 12

13. Background research Archived news Documents Websites Friends and contacts Google 13

14. Interviewing Be polite. Explain the purpose of the interview. Make it a conversation. Ask follow-up questions. Take good notes. 14

15. Step 3: Drafting 15 Photo courtesy of KrissSzkurlatowski

16. The six questions Who? What? Where? When? Why? How? 16

17. Activity: The inverted pyramid 17

18. Writing a good lead Informative Concise Creative Attention-grabbing 18

19. Ways to open a story Summary Picture Background Contrast Quotation 19

20. Bad leads Buried Wordy Dense Uninformative Dull 20

21. Direct vs. indirect quotes “This year’s FFA Convention will give hundreds of Virginia students a chance to share their passion for agriculture,” said Wes Kline, president of Virginia FFA. Wes Kline, president of Virginia FFA, explained that the 2011 convention will help more than 2,000 Virginia youth better understand agriculture in the commonwealth. 21

22. Article length 22

23. Headlines 23

24. Step 4: Revising “The difference between the right and the nearly right word is the same as that between lightning and the lightning bug.” —Mark Twain “Half my life is an act of revision.” —John Irving 24

25. Step 5: Editing 25 Photo courtesy of Jan Verbist

26. Style Question: What is the single most important element of writing style? 26

27. Style Answer: Consistency 27

28. Common mistakes Passive voice Too many prepositional phrases Mixed tenses Dangling modifier Redundancy Non-agreement Careless repetition Mixed construction 28

29. Keys to success Write about what you know. Tell your story. Do your research. Ask questions. Stay focused. Think outside the box. 29

30. Questions? 30