[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
.The middle and end should be as interesting as the beginning.Although a color story has no standard structure, the 'hard news' should usually be somewhere near the beginning" (p.249).In writing to use color as a tool in your article, several guidelines on detailed content were offered by Patterson (1986):1.Don't summarize scenes, dialogue, or action.Recreate them.2.Be specific and avoid vagueness.3.Show, don't tell.Let the reader see something.Page 1434.Identify the characters/sources completely when they are introduced.5.Describe the characters/sources in your article.6.Include important detail to let reader see, but do not show the reader irrelevant objects or insignificant details.These mislead and provide clutter.Patterson said:There are.elements that may be added to a story to make it more interesting, more significant, more memorable: plot (or story line), suspense, conflict, change (whereby one or more characters undergoes a change in understanding, attitude, condition, etc.), and climax.When they are a part of reality, a feature writer should put them into a piece.If they are not a part of the reality, there is no way they can be included.To do so would turn fact into fiction.(p.20) You can often take what Patterson says about detailed content and apply it to a major event to enliven it for readers.Quindlen (1984) has a tested and proven successful strategy she uses in writing features.The approach works to portray events, such as the Feast of St.Anthony on Sullivan Street in Manhattan, which she once covered as a feature writer.When she wrote features for the newspaper's "About New York" column, she loved to cover such a "quintessential New York event." Quindlen explained: "In something like this, where I'm basically going to take the reader and put him on this street, on this day, on this beat, my problem more than anything else is figuring out how to organize and then pick and choose the telling details that are really going to make him feel like he was here with me" (n.p.).She likens covering such an event to painting a picture—she is an artist with words:If you try to hold up a mirror to an event, if you paint it in broad strokes, you're going to miss on colors, you're going to miss on sights, you're going to miss on all kinds of things.I think if you're going to hold up a mirror and do the painting, the best thing to do is pointillisma whole bunch of little points.When the reader steps back and looks at it, when they're done, they're not going to see the little points, they're going to see a whole big picture.(Quindlen, 1984, n.p.)Page 144Color writing is a very personal style of writing, Quindlen explains.Each person will gain a different perspective on the same event and will probably write a different story."Everybody faced with the same event will give you a different viewpoint, a different answer, a different set of people." And, she adds, you have to have confidence in yourself as a writer to write about your own perceptions and reactions to a given situation."It's the selfconfidence that comes from selfconfidence in your personality and not so much your skills.I'm just different.I have different perceptions."Creating MoodsGood color writing will set a tone for the reader.You can manipulate moods by your choice of words, organizational approach to the information you have and, of course, the subject about which you are writing.Alexander (1975) said that if you can do well writing color, that is, creating a mood for the reader, the rewards are high for both the reader and writer: "When you get your story across, when you convey the color and drama that make other people feel it, you the feature writer gain genuine satisfaction" (p.59).As you move into other specific types of feature articles in the next chapters, you get ideas for application of the techniques of descriptive and color writing in these varieties of articles.For example, you see wide possibilities for descriptive writing on seasonal topics and on travel subjects.Some of these types of stories are easy to write and others do not lend themselves to descriptive writing approaches very readily.Writing with heavy emphasis on detail is a valuable tool for feature writers.Coming to Your SensesRoy Sorrels (1986), a correspondent for Writer's Digest magazine and a novelist, offers this exercise for "sensuous writing"—that is, writing with your senses.Here's what he suggests:To make your own writing more sensuous, take a series of blind walks.Ask an understanding friend—another writer maybe—to help.Close your eyes and let your companion guide you gently through a few environments.Down a city street, perhaps, past the busy schoolyard, into the park.At first, you will be a bit nervous with your vision cut off, but relax and you'll become more and more aware of all the rich input from your other four senses.Page 145Relax into the sounds, notice the surface under your feet—gritty sidewalks, cobblestones, dirt in the park, lush or scraggly grass.Smell the world—can you tell when you pass by the bakery or the fishmonger? With your friend's guidance, touch things in the park—grass, tree trunks, a worn park bench.Of course, you can do this on your own, just closing your eyes for a few minutes sitting at a sidewalk cafe, or on a bus, or lounging under a tree.Southern Living Garden Editor Linda C.Askey sets a relaxing mood brought on by a cozy home terrace, patio, or deck.It utilizes Sorrels' "sensuous" approach.She wrote this lead for a major feature about creating an outdoor retreat for warm winter days in the south: Winter is welcome in the South.When the sky turns deep blue and the sunlight glints from the broad leaves of evergreens, a sheltered nook can trap the sun's warmth and give us respite from the usual four walls.That's when a little terrace, deck, or patio is at its best."I use my screened porch during the summer, but the only time I really use it is in the winter," says Karin Purvis of Greenville, South Carolina.The cozy lap robe across a chair, the carefully tended flowers, and the partially melted candles stand as testament to any hearthhugging nonbelievers.(Askey, 1998, p
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]