I keep track of my notes and things I need for a story usually on a single Google doc. This is, for me, an easy way to consolidate everything in one place. Operating on one document also is a memory exercise to where I can remember where something was on the document and remember putting it on there. I like having everything in one place and not having to go to several different places to find something. It might not be the most organized or efficient method, but it is the one that works best with the way my mind works and operates when I undertake a big project. When it’s time to write, I usually just scroll up and down on that document. It becomes a game of sorts, as I put all the puzzle pieces together where they need to go based on what I have. That is my process, and while I am definitely open to change, it’s what has worked best for me thus far.
Category: Module 2
Research and planning throughout my reporting
I’m obsessively organized in most areas of my life, and I do the same with reporting and writing. I like the comfortableness of having a routine and that’s how I typically produce my best work. Even though the process is sometimes elongated (for a story I report for a month or longer) or condensed (when doing 15 minutes of research prior to football availability), the steps stay consistent.
I have a reminders list on my computer that is called “Stories to write.” It’s essentially anything I’m curious about and think could turn into a story. This reminds me of how Clark said he had bins with big-picture themes. I leisurely explore those topics, simply because I’m interested, and slowly I’ll make additions to the bullet point, such as a possible source to talk to, a stat I need to I look up and sometimes even an entire lede.
I read a lot. I do a ton of background research, particularly if it’s a story that’s fairly large. It gives me a feel for the angles that haven’t been explored and it helps me create better questions. This is the step I never skip, even if it’s just rapid research at a football availability. I don’t write unless I’ve read something on that topic. In terms of reading to become a better writer, I try to do that whenever I have the time. There are a few stories that I’ll read every month or so simply because I think they are so well-written that there’s no way I can’t continually learn something from it.
For a few of my biggest stories I’ve done, I print my transcriptions. I read them, highlight and make notes. I constantly ask myself, “What is the story? Who are the characters? Why do they act they way they do? Is there a conflict?” That’s helped me more than anything, just asking myself, “What is the story here?” I outline because in the long run it saves time. I outline when I’m on deadline, and I outline when I have all the time in the world. I don’t do sophisticated Roman numerals or anything of that nature, but I think of all the main points I need to hit and write them down. That way, it’s easier to make structural changes. When I write, it’s quick because of the work I’ve done on the back end.
Easley High School archived story
Finding archived stories about my high school in Easley, South Carolina, was a bit difficult. There’s plenty of news from recent years, but once I searched for news from 2009 or prior, the selection was scarce. I did find this story about an Easley High School teacher who was charged with four counts of soliciting minors. Yes, it’s a very gloomy story. But it interested me because I had no clue. I was about to enter middle school at the time this story was written, so it seems reasonable to think that I would have heard about this, but I don’t remember anything. I like looking back and thinking about how I consumed news at different ages. I feel like around this time, I definitely wasn’t consuming online news regularly. However, my mom also said she doesn’t remember this, so it might have been extremely under-covered.
The story was published on GoUpstate.com in July of 2007. It reported that Curtis Ballard, who was a science teacher at Easley High School, was charged with soliciting sex through the Internet. He was caught by deputies posing as 13-year-old girls. He had been teaching at the school for over 20 years and taught biology, anatomy and physiology. I also noticed the lack of coverage on this incident from other local news publications, which surprised me.
Saving String
Clark has some great suggestions and tips on preparing for writing in general, most of which I do to some extent but have never consciously considered. I think I could do better on “doing my homework” in some cases, as I find myself having to ask follow up questions while writing some of my stories.
I also have a goal for this semester to read more for form than content. More often than not, I skim quickly through stories by journalists I love on the bus, and then never think to read them again. As a writer myself, I know the amount of time and painstaking effort that goes into writing a story and I feel that I’m being a bit disrespectful for not taking my time and appreciating the writing.
In terms of saving string, I’m excited about this class because I don’t think I have ever taken on a story that allows for so much time and research. This will likely be my biggest string-saving endeavor to date. I’m a sucker for having physical copies of my material, so I usually keep a folder with printed copies of articles I’ve found pertaining to my topic. I also make notes in journals or notebooks, often sketching potential outlines or infographics when I get an idea. Though not directly related to writing, I save string for upcoming events, like my law school application. I’ve printed the application information and keep it in a folder with my LSAT scores and the business card of an advisor from my dream school. I’m a bit of a pack rat so I like the idea of saving string, but during this semester I want to make more of a concerted effort to look for information about my topics and give myself more than enough information to write these stories.
School Days – Dacula High
The piece I’m looking at (for Dacula High School) is a feature from 2009 on the team’s star basketball player Brian Cole. I almost called Cole the team’s best player, but I was freshman at the time the article was written, I remember he was not the team’s best player.
After all, a piece on your team’s best player shouldn’t call him lazy in the first sentence:
DACULA – Brian Cole will admit it – he’s lazy.
The dude was like 6’9 version of Napoleon Dynamite, with a haircut. He also had a deadly hook shot, which his coach mentions, the helped his average a cool 19 points per game that year. I remember guarding him at practice watching him put it to work. The oaf would lumber down the block, seal with with arm, and toss the ball over his head. The hook wasn’t sexy, but money nonetheless. Have you ever even tried to shoot a hook shot before? It’s practically impossible to aim for everyone who’s not Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
It’s funny the article mentions him dominating everyone until they caught up to him in height. He ended playing Division 1 for UNC-Greensboro, but couldn’t carve out a role. He never really developed a game outside of the hook shot because he was, well, lazy.
Saving String
Google Drive holds the key to success when I prepare notes and info for a story. A bare bone online for the story comes first, with a layout of what info I need and where to put when it comes times to write the story. Each person gets a Google Doc with interview quotes transcribed. Those transcripts sit in a folder called ‘interviews”. Then I have another folder, call facts/stats, with background facts/stats about my main characters on separate Google Docs. No real, upper-level management when it comes to keeping my files organized.
The Out-of-Door Academy
I spent my first two years of high school at a massive public school in Sarasota before transferring to a small private school for my junior and senior years. I chose to find an article on the latter and came across this little gem of a story. I was in fourth grade when this article was written, and my school did not yet have a football program. But the basketball team was well-known and my best friend’s big brother was a senior and ODA’s star player. Essentially, this story is about the fact that my small school did not have a regular point guard and instead relied on contributions from two talented seniors to take on that role. This team was exceptionally talented for such a small school and sent multiple players to all-conference teams.
I really enjoyed finding this story because I went to just about every home game during the 2004 season with my best friend and am still close with the players featured in the story. My friend’s brother, David, walked on at Vanderbilt the following year and is a real grown up now, but I sent him the link to this story to remind him of how awkward and shy he was in high school!
Keeping track of material and writing
When I sit to write down a story it’s slightly haphazard.
I can’t outline. I’ve tried. Constantly. It just doesn’t work for me. So I assemble all of my materials in front of me and just write.
All of my notes are in the form of outlines however. Everything has dots, dashes, and is indented. That’s the only way I can take notes. I’ve been taking notes like this since 7th grade.
All of my background and interviews are in this format. It just makes sense to me even though I can’t form a story from an outline.
As for holding onto materials, I jot random things down in whatever I have near me. If I have a notebook I write it down there. If I have my phone I type it in the Notes app. If I’m on my computer I write it in a word doc and save it for later.
So when I sit to write a story I have to find where I wrote down whatever I’m writing abut and go from there.
Once I start writing, I just take an idea and run with it. (I have to type it though, mostly because I don’t want to write it all out and then have to retype it) I write as much as I can and put in quotes then I step back.
Some paragraphs get cut and pasted to other sections of the story while some get cut all together. It’s a process that would drive most people crazy but it works for me.
Schooldays: Johns Creek High School
The year 2009 was actually the first year of existence for my high school — I was the first full four-year graduating class. With this in mind, I went back and found the writeup on the football team’s first ever home game. At the time, we only had a JV team as the football program was still in its development stage. It’s crazy to think that that was seven years ago.
Johns Creek won the game, getting things with the program off to a great start. The program would actually go on to have a bit of a underdog under-the-radar next few seasons, and even made the playoffs by the time I graduated.
I didn’t remember until finding this article that Johns Creek faced off against another new school in Langston Hughes. Researching this was a fun bit of introspection and brought back some great memories, when football games on Friday nights were the best part of my week and the place I felt most at home.
Ranney School
I found a piece on my school back from when I was in 8th grade.
It was posted in the Monmouth Journal and the focus was on the fall drama of that year, “Nagasaki Dust.” I actually went to see it and remember it being very good.
One thing I didn’t realize, which the article revealed to me, is that the cast calls for 19 while the play I saw only had 10 in the whole cast. They were still able to pull off a really good show.
The director, Mr John Doyle, who I’ve known since I was eight or nine, is someone who is able to pull something like that off. I don’t know how he does it bit he’s able to scale down these bigger shows, if needed, and his message always comes across clearly.
The reason I chose this article is because I was having trouble with Newsbank and I couldn’t seem to find any sports releases. My high school was not the most gifted with athletics and tended to excel in the classroom more so.