Its a chronological elucidation of five of the few, but the best and the easiest of ways which a writer needs to adhere to and make his or her news item popular.
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Author: Amlan Borah
General
The advent of the electronic media has not substantially diminished the number of people who are still dependent on the print media. There are a majority of people who still depend on newspapers when they want to know what’s happening in and around them. This is why a lot of people are allured to start a career in journalism. If anyone wants to step into the world of journalism, especially in the print media, it’s important to know at least how to write a good news item which is going to catch the eyes of the readers and make it popular.
Explicated below, in a chronological manner are five of the few, but the best and the easiest of ways which a writer needs to adhere to and make it happen.
Research
As a journalist, you’re expected to deliver, in-depth and complete information. This can only happen if one gathers enough data about the news item that is being written about. One approach is to go where the event is happening and interview key people. Anticipating the questions that readers might ask and look for the best answers even before writing.
Expert examples and quoted opinions will make the news item more interesting, and the simple fact that the writer understands what he or she is talking about will show through clearly. Knowing the subject matter will also add confidence to the writing, which is a standard of better writing. Without background knowledge and confident writing, it’s just too easy to write a long fluffy article that really doesn’t say much of anything.
Write for the Right Type of Readership
What type of newspaper or magazine one is writing for? Is the news item for tabloid or broadsheet? Who are the people who mostly read that type of a newspaper or magazine? What kind of stories do they find interesting or fascinating? What are their preferences and level of comprehension? Knowing the readership one is writing for will make the task much easier. This is because the writer will know right away what topics to write and how to write news items in such a way that will impress the readers and make it a hit.
Writing for ‘The Vogue’ and writing for ‘The New York Times’, although both critically important, are two very different tasks that require two very different styles of writing. Confusing the two could create serious problems. The same advice applies everywhere one writes. For example, one should not bash solar panels on an environmental blog, and or use curse words or jargon when writing for a formal readership. Knowing the type of readership will save a lot of headaches and make the writing more interesting and appropriate to the end reader.
Eye-Catching Headline
Visualizing how the article is being published, one should think as to how will it outshine the other articles published on the same page? So, it’s important that one uses headlines that are intriguing and attention grabbing. This is to make sure that the readership will at least consider reading the news item.
Get To The Point
What as a writer is one actually trying to convey? It’s important to know the answer to this question and to keep it at the front of one’s thoughts the entire time while writing. Almost all good works of writing, articles and novels alike, carefully take the reader from point to point without excess gibber. Getting to the point quickly and keeping the reader’s interest going is the key to a popular news item. If at all at the outset, one needs to explain things or set the stage then do so, but it should not be overindulged. The intro part should be lucid and concise. Nobody likes to read something with a lot of repartee and no specific direction.
Revise till YOU are satisfied.
Good writers have been giving this advice for centuries, and bad writers have been ignoring it for just as long. The simple truth is that even gifted writers can’t write a perfect piece on the first try; and us the less-gifted writers need at least two or three passes to get things up to a reasonable level. One should read through the work 15 minutes after writing it and one will immediately find some mistakes that has been made. One should never just read through for grammar or spelling, the aim is to make sure to look for readability, flow, and style as well. If the first re-read turns up a lot of errors, then it’s probably a good idea to do it again for good measure.
Conclusion
At the end, it can be said that, it’s not quite instant, but if one is trying to get a really good piece done, then print it out, and redraft from scratch. The good bits will bear retyping, the long-winded bits will become more concise, and any ambiguous phrases will get tightened up. Reading one’s work aloud will almost always highlight clumsy sentence construction. Check for overused words or phrases. Above all, the more one writes, the better one will get at writing!
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Comments:
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
A well attempted piece.
Nice article