If this were a narrative a story form in which the action unfolds chronologically I would hold up the nut paragraph and make you read until the very end. But I m not going to do that, although I am a new convert to the raw power and influence of this newspaper writing form. At a time when newspapers are faced with more competition from print and electronic media, when readers say they have no time to read, editors and publishers can derive benefits from adopting narrative storytelling as a major writing form. Narratives help tell complicated stories and allow readers to make sense of their lives.
Narratives have a profound, positive effect on morale in the newsroom.
In the last several months, there has been a marked increase in interest in narrative storytelling. Late in 1998, the American Press Institute and the Poynter Institute for Media Studies each held conferences for writers and editors on this story form. Newspapers from coast to coast, large and small, have experimented with extended narrative techniques. Most have been successful. All created new reader interest and excitement in the newsroom.