I developed an instinct for story, the dramatic interaction between people that moved forward with cause and effect. -- Donald Murray
In Chapter 1 of "Writing to Deadline," Don Murray tells how he developed "an instinct for story," something he says every newswriter ought to have. Typically, he tells how he developed the story-telling instinct by telling a story ... the story of how he learned to tell a story. Wow. Kinda post-modern, isn't it? But he also lists several journalistic principles he learned -- things like accuracy, using verbs and nouns, "discovery," writing tight.
Read Washington Post staff writer Teresa Wiltz' Aug. 29 story "Still Singing Those Post-Katrina Blues" and analyze it in terms of Murray's principles. How does she practice the craft? By reading between the lines, what can you tell about the way she reported the story? How does it stack up in terms of accuracy, conciseness, order, clarity, voice and especially "discovery" and "voice?" What do you think Murray means by the terms? You probably won't be able to tell how Wiltz wrote earlier drafts of the story (I can't)! But you can analyze the voice that comes from working with the story and "adapt[ing] to the writing task and the music of the voice" (9). Look at her word choices, the rhythm of the words, the way she picks up a little bit of the New Orleans way of speaking. How can you use some of her techniques in your own writing?
Post your answers as comments to this blogpost.
TEACHING B/LOG started out as a classroom teacher's journal/log with notes and comment on the politics of higher ed and learning outcomes assessment at a small liberal arts college. After several years on hiatus, it was revived in 2014 as a portal to updates and commentary on corporate school "reform," politics and the creation of a hereditary aristocracy in 21st-century America
12 comments:
This is my Blog Marqueta Stewart
http://queta-marqueta.blogspot.com/t
This story is very iteresting. One thing really stood out. The question "To what degree do we just become a tourist theme park?"
I believe that a tourist theme park is really what so many of us view New Orleans as now. It sad to say but its true. Even the ex-redidence of New Orleans probably feel the same way. I don't believe that New Orleans will ever go back to normal and many of the people will prob. never return.
This is a very interesting story on the coverage of New Orleans Music breakdown after the hurricane. The city was once famous for its musicians, and still today is, but the population of musicians is steadily declining. Many of the musicians have died since the hurricane...due to stress mainly and a few due to crime. The musicians are no longer making much money from the tourists, and they are becoming part of poverty.The chance of New Orleans building itself up again and making it how it was once is slim to none in my opinion, but hopefully it does!
Murry stated that when he was a litlle boy he was an expert at hearing wht he was not supposed to hear. As far as this story is concerned I believe that the writer heard what she needed to hear to get her message across.
She wanted us to see that New O is not back to normal.
"In the clubs, you get the impression that all's back to normal. When you start scratching the surface, it's smoke and mirrors.
I think that that was a perfect quote to let the reader know that what glitters isn't always gold.
You can tell that she had some personal communication with the victims/ musicians. You can feel her empathy although she did not put her own views in the story. Like you stated "Its about the people"I believe that the writer really expressed this concept in this story.
To write a story like this, she had to be there, and couldn't really use e-mail or telephone. Sure, she could have gotten quotes and whatnot via those, but by actually being there then she can see through her own eyes the tragedy and how it impacted each person, especially the musicians. To do what she did, she had to have been there and talk to people, mainly the musicians. She was talking about the 1/3 ordeal, where a third are staying or have come back, a third travel to the city and play or leave, and a third that have left and haven't/won't come back. She went everywhere it seemed like for this long story, and it feels like you can follow her as she tells this newsstory, which is almost like a tale.
Wiltz does a fine job at telling a story. This article is very well writen and concise. The article has a tone that makes the reader feel as if they were there. She gives small details to add life to the story without adding too much fluff
The first thing you notice about this story is the voice -- Wiltz writes it in a kind of depressed, reflective, melancholic tone that's meant to sympathize with the residents of New Orleans and, more specifically, its musicians.
This style also supports the article's clarity, as it underscores the sense of displacement that New Orleans residents are experiencing.
The article itself is, as far as I know, accurrate, and it's divided into sections (***) covering different aspects of the current state of New Orleans.
Finally, there's a lot of "discovery" in this article mostly because Wiltz could not have accurrately guessed what she would experience or what quotes she would get before travelling to New Orleans herself.
Wiltz's article is a good one. She has a strong ability to capture a scene, but she doesn't stop there. She does not just show the reader what parts of New Orleans are like. She shows the reader the whole of the city. She describes tourist attractions. She describes broken homes and neighborhoods. She describes the locals. She describes the entire city as she gives you the news. It is almost like reading a travel guide; you hardly realize that you are reading the news. She wrapped our flea medicine in bologna for us.
I think that Murray would love her (well atleast this story). She has a commanding lede. She tells you exactly what you are going to discover, but the story itself is so smooth that you feel like you are discovering everything with her. Her nut graph grabs you in a humane way. Your heart and you mind (yeah bad cliche, what of it?) are both intrigued.
My favorite aspect of her story is also my favorite part of Murray's writing. Her voice. You feel as if a friend is sitting down and telling you about her trip to New Orleans, and the problems that are still there. It is fantastic.
Well, I hope that covered all the bases, doc.
Good start ... especially those of you who focused on the way Wiltz wrote the article instead of summarizing it, quoted from the article, cited specific details from the article and/or commented specifically on her word choices, voice, etc.
Generalizations are OK, I guess, especially if they're accurate (and most of them here were accurate). But if they're not supported by detail, they don't show me much...
(Ever hear anything like that from your English teachers?)
Examples of the kinds of things that make me do cartwheels of joy and think, "They're getting it! They're really getting it!" Queta's comment (about the third one) that quotes Murray about hearing stuff, and quotes from Wiltz' article. Robert commenting on Wiltz' voice, her "reflective, melancholic tone that's meant to sympathize with the residents of New Orleans and, more specifically, its musicians." And Ben's comments in general about Wiltz' descriptive writing, especially how "She wrapped our flea medicine in bologna for us."
I especially liked that, because as you all know from reading the AP Stylebook, bologna is the sausage and baloney is ... oh, let's not go there!
Did anybody else besides me think her word choices got kind of subtly down-home and Southern sometimes? Like when she talks about the "buckets of Miller Lite and chicken wings served alongside Ruffins's gritty, greasy swinging "trad jazz" -- traditional jazz" at the little club in the 9th Ward and and the older women who "start to dance as one, getting down and dirty with the beat."
Or, "New Orleanians have always celebrated the mixing of genes, the blending of races and cultures into a potent ancestral gumbo." See how she says "gumbo." Not stew. Not soup. Not mixture. Gumbo. A classic Lousiana kind of soup. It's subtle. And it's *got* to be subtle. Too much of that stuff, and you'll insult the people who live there. But it's part of that voice Robert mentioned that's meant to sympathize with people from New Orleans.
Did I say "good start?" Great start. Let's keep it up.
And let's, of course, be specific. Even more specific.
And if you didn't post, by the way, these off-the-cuff writing assignments aren't going to go away.
Doc I posted my work on my blog.
Great story, very insightful. Although the content is not so uplifting, the main points remain true. Throughout the story, Wiltz maintains the same depressed tone, or voice that Robert mentioned. Wiltz's melancholic style was a great tool used to, as Robert also said, sympathize with the people of New Orleans. She did a great job of painting the picture as seen by the people of New Orleans. The people of New Orleans suffered huge losses. The musicians, those who survived, not only lost material things, they also lost many fellow musicians, and a life of entertaining that they were so accustomed to. The way of life as they once knew it is now gone, and many believe it will never return.
Jeremy Dixon
This is a very well-written article. Wiltz experienced this first hand and does a great job painting the picture at the time, letting the reader imagine it in his/her mind. She is very descriptive about all the damage that Katrina did- the homes, neighboorhood, and the entire soul of the city. New Orleans was well known for its musicians and singing the blues. The great musicians lost more than their homes, they lost their passion- singing in New Orleans. This story made me sympathize with all the people affected by Hurricane Katrina, and it also made me realize how important music was to the wonderful city of New Orleans.
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