Words have power and the most powerful word in a sentence should come last. I could have written: Words have power and the last word should be the most powerful one in a sentence. But that would have put the…
Improve your writing by editing backward
Tag: Writing
What’s a VO/SB and how do you write one?
For some reason, the voice over/sound bite (VO/SB) or voice over/sound on tape (VO/SOT) seems to be one of the most challenging TV story forms to do well. It also seems to be one of the toughest story forms for…
How to make a TV story memorable
How would you define a memorable TV news story? For reporter Boyd Huppert, it’s a story that connects with viewers, that goes beyond the facts to touch people in some way. To achieve that goal, Huppert looks for a character…
Parallel parking for writers
One way to keep viewers engaged in a story from beginning to end is to write it as seamlessly as possible. What that means, in my mind, is making sure that every line connects to the next, whether it’s all…
From Classroom to Newsroom: Managing your news day
If you’ve ever wondered if you have what it takes to succeed in a local news environment, you’re about to read some useful advice. Lillian Askins is a reporter for WAAY-TV in Huntsville, Ala. Here she shares a great step-by-step…
Writing advice from a legend
Imagine sending a letter to a writer you admire and getting a personal reply packed with advice. Joan Lancaster didn’t have to imagine. In 1956, she became one of thousands of children who sent fan mail to C. S. Lewis,…
When writing, remember the verbs
Some things rarely change. TV news writing is one of them, unfortunately. More than a decade ago, I noticed something about both network and local newscasts that drove me nuts and wrote a column about it. This morning, I got…
Better blogging made easy
If blogging is just writing, why is it so hard to do well? Maybe because it’s not just writing, or at least it shouldn’t be. Journalism students who ought to know the basics seem to struggle with blogging as much…
Keep it simple when writing TV news
Every writer knows the KISS rule: Keep It Simple, Stupid! But too many writers forget to apply it, loading their stories with so much information that the viewers’ eyes glaze over. KGO reporter Wayne Freedmancompares the way writers over-stuff stories…
Rapping the elements of style
Think Strunk and White are too old school? Think again. Their legendary grammar guide, The Elements of Style, has been brought up to date by two Columbia J-school students in this new rap version: Not everyone thinks Strunk and White’s…