HOW TO
THE PREDECESSOR
TO THE PROCESS: Start by thinking about the cool things you do in your everyday life Ex) You and your therapist have been processing a lot of trauma lately, and you’ve found art is a great way of coping Ex) You have a spiritual ritual that others often ask you about or don’t understand Ex) You keep going to the same badass local spots Think about your audience! Imagine a teen living in small-town Nebraska, what cultural aspects of your life should they know about? Keep doing more cool things to get more ideas -Go out into your community and engage with it. Go to events, interact with people. Pay attention to what you and others are interested in! -Watch for problems in your community or in society that you might want to draw attention to, writing an article is a great way to raise awareness! -Read, read, read. Articles, essays, mag azines, zines, all of it! Samuel Johnson once said, “Never trust a man who writes more than he reads, periodt.” And I live by that.
CREATIVE PROCESS SPOTLIGHT
(What does this look like in real life?) The idea for “No Skating,” started out when Nina wondered, “Wouldn’t it be funny if we did something illegal and just published it?” By “something illegal,” she meant
street skateboarding. She saw how
street skating created a subculture of skaters and wanted to highlight them. She could envision a photoshoot that would show the genu-
ine side of street skating, but she
didn’t really know what the article might be.
CREATIVE PROCESS SPOTLIGHT
The earlier you can find an angle, the better! Even though your angle may change as you go deeper into the writing process, it can still help give you a sense of direction on your way. If you’re having a hard time finding an angle: -Talk to other writers. They’re going to see the topic with a fresh set of eyes and may have curiosities that you didn’t see, pay attention to what sparks their interest. Don’t feel bad if they point out things you weren’t considering, you have deep dived into this subject, it’s hard to see it from a different perspective. -Read other articles about the same topic. As you read, be mindful of the questions you find yourself asking, or things you wonder/are curious about. Write them down as you read, cross off ones that get answered, then elaborate on the ones you’re still thinking and curious about! There’s your angle! Remember: you’re a reader too, if you’re wondering something, others probably are too! -If the angle hasn’t come out yet, move on to research and question writing, then we’ll come back to it. Writing is a fluid process, it won’t always fall into these steps, and that’s perfectly okay!
(What does this look like in real life?)
It was only by chatting with her Editor that Nina figured out what the story could be. He reminded her that without street skating, skating wouldn’t exist as a sport and a culture at all, and encouraged Nina to explore that angle. As Nina got further into the process, she got more and more excited about the possibilities. She pushed until she managed to convince her editor to devote two full spreads to the story, instead of just a single page.
Pitch It! Tell us your story idea, the angle, and why a reader should read it. It also helps to have some background research done so that you can answer any questions your editor might have, and list any sources that you may reach out to. Your editor will tell you your word count, but it’s good practice to know ahead of time what type of article you want to write (feature, essay, news, review, editorial, etc.).
WHAT DO I EVEN SAY?
Here’s a basic template to follow
(that will most definitely still need edits) Read up on your topic online. When you think you’ve read enough, read five more sources, then ten more after that. Look up different aspects of the topic, different angles, things that are related to it, you need to become an expert on your topic, literally an expert. This is important because you never want to go into an interview with a source if you’re still just starting to learn about the topic. When you hear something intriguing you should be ready to ask follow up questions that dive deeper into the topic, and research helps you do that. Preparedness is key! Some of the most important work a journalist does is the work that never sees the light of day – it will never not pay off. It shows up in the questions that you know to ask, the answers you get, and the way you shape your whole story.
set up interviews -Find sources that will add credibility, character, or testimonial to your piece – stray away from interviewing someone just for the sake of doing so, if they won’t add anything to your piece then don’t spend time on them. -Write questions ahead of time, and always have your editor review them! -Reach out over social media or email to get connected! Unless this is someone local who you’ll ask in person, ask your editor to use the magazine’s social media account or email to reach out. This small act of professionalism can go a long way when trying to get a response!
If you’re featuring them: “Hello, [name]! I’m
[name] and I’m a writer for Rabble Media, we’re a local publication that covers skate, art, music, culture, wellness, and civic engagement. You can find our work here [link]! I would love to feature [elaborate] in our upcoming issue. [Explain why they are significant / your interest in them]. Let me know if you would be interested, I’d love to set up an interview and work with you. I’d appreciate hearing back by [include a response deadline if it is timely]. Thank you, I look forward to hearing back!”
If you’re using them as a source: “Hello,
[name]! I’m [name] and I’m a writer for Hear Nebraska, we’re a local publication that covers skate, art, music, culture, wellness, and civic engagement. You can find our work here [link]! I’m currently working on a piece about [topic, elaborate]. [Explain why they are a good source, but don’t call them “a source”]. I would love to set up an interview and pick your brain on [topic], please let me know if you’d be interested [include response deadline if timely]! Thank you, I look forward to hearing back from you!”
CREATIVE PROCESS SPOTLIGHT (What does this look like in real life?)
-Always try to be in the same room as your source when interviewing them! -Bring a laptop or notebook to take notes, and always record the audio. Later, do a selective transcription of the interview, focusing on the parts that you think you might use!
- Attend any events or meetings that are surrounding your topic (this can also be a great way to sniff out an angle if you’re still looking for one!) - Take notes and, if appropriate, conduct quick mini interviews on the spot!
Nina’s favorite part of working on “No Skating” was the actual experience, outdoors, with the skaters. She made a conscious effort to be present, and shifted her perspective to being someone in the scene, rather than someone who is observing from the outside. Committing to the actual experience is what led her to writing a good feature. It gave her a raw and authentic view of what street skating really means to a skater – a challenge that never backs down. It wasn’t about the tricks and the spots, it was about doing and trying. “You shouldn’t be there for the story, you should be there for the thing you care about,” she said. She still spent hours researching street skating and interviewing the skaters, that too was vital in the process, but it would have carried very little weight if the experience didn’t shape the piece.
BEGIN THE WRITING PROCESS:
steps to take after you stop procrastinating To break the written process down into a series of steps is quite frankly a lie, the process is far more fluid than that and no one simply sits down to write their first draft. These next steps can more or less shift in order, but by the end of them your first draft should be all but written!
Getting started -Sift through your research, interview transcriptions, and any written pieces. Highlight or separate what you deem most important. This is a good time to identify if the piece needs more sources, if you’re on the fence about this, give your editor a quick nudge and ask for their two cents! Now may also be a good time to start a new document with only the essentials on it (although you should always keep old drafts, at least until your piece is printed, you never know what you may need!) -Write your nut graf, lede, and outline. Your angle should be clear at this point! If it’s not, circle back and talk to other writers or your editor.
Lede (a journalist’s hook)
Your lede should answer where, what, and who but through vivid details and scene setting. You should do this as efficiently as possible: four sentences tops. The first sentence should make us want to read the second one, the lede should make us want to read the next paragraph. Hold off on why and how, that’ll be in your nut graf. -If you’re having a hard time writing a lede, just start typing! Write about what you saw, heard, and know about the subject. Be vivid and overly descriptive, interesting details will arise. Then, go back and cut it down to the best stuff.
CREATIVE PROCESS SPOTLIGHT
(What does this look like in real life?)
Nina started out by setting the scene from the experience she had: trying to capture the danger, and the energy, that you only experience when you skate on the street.
A ten-foot tall cement frame marks the entrance to the Douglas Street Parking garage in downtown Omaha, Nebraska. To any ordinary bypasser, it’s nothing more than a parking garage edifice, but to local skateboarder Nate Vanzanbergen, it’s a challenging skate spot. With no plan in mind, he climbs up and asks fellow skater Wolow Gatluak to hand him his board. Treyson Russell tells him to be careful, who, with Ashton Noudaranouvong, makes up the rest of that Saturday’s session crew. Vanzanbergen stands at the top on his board, debating what to do next or whether this is a good idea at all, while the rest of us try to anticipate his next move. Russell suggests an ollie, then without hesitation, Vanzanbergen goes for it. He climbs down a few feet and power ollies off the ledge of the five-foot entrance wall, then rides into the street.
NUT GRAF A nut graf should be written for every article, every time, with no exceptions. This is the “how” and “why” – it should set the intention of the story The best explanation of a nut graf we’ve read comes from Chip Scanlan: “Without context, the reader who is hooked by an arresting lead may feel left dangling. The image of the nut works whether we think of it as plant life or an industrial device. Consider what happens, for example, if you leave a lug nut off a car wheel; you run the risk of the car careening off the road. In the same way, a story that intrigues without providing context can quickly leave a reader feeling derailed.” You can read more in “The Nut Graf and Breaking News”) If you’re having a hard time writing a nut graf, ask yourself, what do you want a reader to get out of your article? If you can’t give a good answer, hit up your editor for some help.
OUTLINE This isn’t your five-paragraph-essay outline with an “introduction, body, conclusion” type of feel to it. Your outline should be the bare bones information of the article. Include: • Lede • Nut Graf • Angle • Any sources you plan to reach out to/quotes from interviews • The general main points of your article
CREATIVE PROCESS SPOTLIGHT
(What does this look like in real life?) Nina built on the angle that her editor had suggested to write her way into the how and why of the story, her nut graf: Street skating was the beginning of skateboarding - it was never merely a trend. As skateboarding got more popular, skate parks emerged to give skaters a space just for them to be creative and to keep them off the streets. Parks are now bigger, more complex, some are made specifically for competitions, so why isn’t street skating dead? It pushes the boundaries, it forces skaters to be more creative and more fearless, to see how far they’re willing to go to make a spot work. work. The challenges are endless - stairs, skate stoppers on curbs, road blocks, cops - despite this we still see skaters going back to the streets time after time, determined to make their tricks work in any merciless urban setting they find. I took four locals whose lives are dedicated to skating to Omaha, NE to try out some downtown spots, here’s the best of our adventure.
FIRST DRAFT Now, take a shot at your first draft! It will be rough, but it’s supposed to be. The sooner you can get this to your editor, the better. Don’t feel like you have to achieve perfection on your own before you share it! You two will have more time to work on it and make it as good as it can be before it gets published. Your first and last draft will look totally different, that’s a good thing, the more edits made the stronger of a writer you become throughout the process.
HOW TO TAKE EDITS LIKE A CHAMP
CREATIVE PROCESS SPOTLIGHT (What does this look like in real life?) These are some of the first rounds of edits that “No Skating” went through--that’s two paragraphs, cut completely from the draft. It’s normal to see some pretty big changes early on in the editing process.
As the writing and revision process continued, the street skating history section that Nina put so much research into got cut down to a single paragraph, and many other parts were added and cut. Nina was glad to see the paragraphs go. Even though she had put in a lot of time on that research, and it didn’t all make it in, she knew that work was part of the reason that she could see the story taking shape.
Street skating isn’t merely a trend; it was the beginning. It’s how skating became relevant in mainstream culture and it’s nowhere near dying out. Skating began in the 1950s as a way for surfers on the west coast to “sidewalk surf ” when there were no waves. They started off just cruising streets, but when a California drought in the 70s forced people to drain their pools, skaters used that as their first spots and began inventing tricks. This led to bowl parks that allowed skaters to be more creative. In the 80s, skaters decided to take their tricks to the streets and made spots out of their local urban settings. Quickly, skaters began creating their own companies and street parks. By the 90s, skating dominated the pop culture scene.
Below is the first paragraph going through its final round of edits. This is after that first draft was cut, rewritten, and entirely transformed by three full rounds of edits, along with a meeting with the editor after each round. You can see here that nothing is necessarily wrong, the editor is simply improving Nina’s writing and helping it sound more fluid.
Names
Periods and commas always go within quotation marks. Use single quotations for quotes within a quote. Ex) “It is the phenomenon sometimes called ‘alienation from self,’” says Joan Didion. “To assign unanswered letters their proper weight, to free us from the expectations of others, to give us back to ourselves — there likes the great, the singual power of self-respect.”
Use full name on first mention, then only use their last name. Abbreviate formal titles before full names, outside of direct quotes. Ex) Sen. Deb Fischer, Gov. Pete Ricketts, Rep. Jeff Fortenberry, Dr. Swoboda
When writing about a book, song, or movie title use quotation marks rather than italics. Ex) “Party in the U.S.A.” does not make me feel like partying. When writing about a newspaper, magazine, or website title use italics. Ex) The New Yorker published a great article on storytelling in this week’s issue.
Abbreviations and Acronyms
Quotations
Who uses AP Style?
Journalists Editors Public Relations Marketers
Dates
(yet somehow still a major headache)
Titles
AP Style Cheat Sheet
Use acronyms for well-known organizations, such as: FBI, NASA, IRS, NFL, MLB, and FIFA. For other organizations, spell it out on first mention then use the abbreviation.
Date: Friday (day), October 13 (month+date), 1969 (year) Times: don’t use colons for times on the hour Ex) 8 p.m. Ex) 4:19 a.m. Months: spell out names of months unless they are used to indicate a specific date, in which case abbreviate the months Jan., Feb., Aug., Sept., Oct., Nov. and Dec. Days: July 1, not July 1st Years: Use numbers (2020), not spelled out (twenty-twenty) Never use “tomorrow, today, yesterday last week” ect. Always use the day of the week or a date
Ages Numbers
A person’s age should be written in numerals. When using their age as an adjective, use hyphenated words. Ex) The 20-year-old was arrested for consumption of alcohol. Ex) The five-year-old dog greets its owner every morning.
Spell out one through nine, use digits for 10 and up. Always use digits with -Addresses -Ages -Monetary value -Dates and times -Sizes and dimensions -Percents -Speeds -Temperatures Always use the word “percent” not the % symbol. Never start a sentence with a number, unless you’re referencing a year.
When do I go to my editor? I could make a list but it would take up an absurd amount of space. Here it is short and sweet: anytime. Writers do not write alone. Editors love journalism. We want to help make you a better writer, we want to talk about ideas and evolve them into something larger than life, we want to get you out of any rut you find yourself stuck in. So, at any point in the process, if you feel lost or unsure, something doesn’t feel right, or you just don’t know what to do next – talk to your editor, please!
Nina’s personal promise to you: I love you and all the work that you do. Even if you don’t need the help but it would do you some good, come chat! I love hearing your ideas and bettering your work. If you ever feel stuck I’ve got a knack for loosening people up, if you hate your piece let’s flip it on it’s head, no matter the situation I am here for it! I am always on your side, it is us against the problem, never me against you. There will never be anger or shame, we are humans who are learning and doing our best, I’m simply here to be a helping hand to help you reach your goals and be the best creator that you can be.