1. Hawthorne offers this premise for the chapter: "We're not collecting data. We want to tell stories." How does he suggest reporters go about realizing this objective?
Hawthorne is all about a good story and he states in his chapter that you will accomplish a good story by a following a certain curriculum to achieve the bets result. This process consist of many steps, the first one being that when you began a story you ask yourself "what is this story really about" all stories that are written have an overall theme. This theme doesn't have to be a big message but just one sentence will do. Now you could say the theme of your story is soccer. But thats not a theme, it might be the start to the theme but not the whole theme. What about soccer really sticks out? That would be the theme. Going back to the first thing Hawthorne said "we're not collecting data. We want to tell stories" data is good for many things like a biography but not for a good story that catches readers attention. Any story has the potential to be great, it just depends on the way you present it.
2. On page 41, Hawthorne says that you shouldn't write stories that are the metaphorical equivalent of microwave popcorn. For the rest of the chapter, he presents his recipe to cook up a much more delicious, satisfying story. What is his complete recipe for writing an excellent story?
Popcorn is ready to go in 90 seconds, but thats not how long you want the reader to look at your story before they get bored and move on to the next one. The recipe that Hawthorne has come up with will help the reader stay engaged and overall enjoy the piece. Literary Devices are always good to include in your story because it will entertain your reader throughout the story without boring them. The second ingredient to a great story is drama. All sorts of drama works it just all depends on the reader and the audience you're reaching out too. With drama come characters, each person has a unique story and you should try to include it in yours. Conflict can e found anywhere whether its kids fighting over a piece of candy or two countries fighting over land. Either way its always engages the reader and keeps them on the edge of their seat. You might be thinking, how do you produce conflict or drama in my story? Well dialogue can help you create any type of situation within your story. It can create a tone or just a interesting topic. The next thing for wonderful story is something that can be found anywhere. Even the first sentence;Anticipation. This could be the first thing the reader sees which would encourage them to continue on and see what else your story has in-store. Somewhere in your story you need a climax which is the high point of the story, or in other word the main event. This is what the reader has been looking for the whole time. Most stories end in a cliff hanger, although the this can be interesting, this can also be frustrating to the reader. You try to at least almost solve the problem with a resolution. This would be the last ingredient that would complete the recipe to a fabulous story.
Nicely done. 100.
ReplyDelete