The Logan Republican. [volume] (Logan, Utah) 1902-1924, 1917-05-31

Il
lorite son OF his state in the political
convention, who pours out his wealth
Of detail and his flood Of adjectives.
but keeps for the last outbreak Of
spontaneous applause" the name OF
his candidate.
| Consequently a man might write
short stories successfully. and not
news stories, or conversely.
There are Of course exceptions to
A all rules. can conceive of situa.
ton. in a murder mystery. or a graft
exposure. or a story Of similar ma
ture. where It might add greatly to
the punch Of the story to keep for a
startling denoument at the end the
name Of the person charged with the
crime. instead Of heralding II in the
first paragraph. But that would be
an exception. Another exception ia
the tabloid style Of journalism.
Where you have but a stickful for a
story. or less. you can't afford to
waste space by telling 1t twice.
But as a rule the newspapers of
America have adopted what I, for
lack OF a better name. call the New
York Sun style OF news story writ
ing; and marshal the chief facts in
the opening paragraph-the who,
the what. the when. the where. the
how and the why-what was done.
who did it, when. where. how and
why It was done.
Having thus driven home the salt
ent facts of the story in the first
sentence. your reader knows whether
or not he wants to go on with the
story: modern newspaper readers
will not wade through a column Of
type to learn whether or not what is
in the column may be of interest to
them. The display head is your
show window. and the first para
graph is the counter display inside.
II you can't toll your reader as far
as the counter display, and then hold
his interest, he will not buy your
goods-will not read your story.
Detail Requires Skill.
Following the first paragraph
comes the detail. There is where
the skill shows up as much as any
where. You must have skill first
to get the facts, and then to align
them in their true proportionate val
ue. Nor would you write all stories
alike in this respect. In telling of
wedding. you give the names Of the
bride and groom. the who, when,
where and what, in your first para
graph-and SO you would with a
murder story. In a big accident.
with many killed or injured, the who
would not come in the first para
graph-what, when, where and how
would be your screamer or your
lead. and the who would follow next.
Again, in the wedding, the names
of those present would be at the end
of the story; in murder or an acct
dent, they might well come as soon
as you could bring them in, because
you would want to quote them to
give reality to your detail. Each
story then groups its own details.
But the rule can always be followed
to rank the biggest and most import
ant facts first followed by small de-
tails in ratio OF interest.
Thus, having found your story,
you need to whip it into shape. the
facts. the form, the style.
Tale Must Have Life.
Once. when younger than am
now. had the curiosity to go through
a dissecting room with young
friend. student at medical college.
He showed me skeletons that were.
as small boy once said, men with
out any meat on them" and from
that on up in carious stages of carved
corpses, TO the body Just out Of tn"
pickle vat. and not yet violated by
the scalpel. This last corpse was n
perfect body. 1t had bones. on the
bones organs and muscles. and over
them the covering skin--but IT had
no life. And so with the news story.
you may have the skeleton of well
proportioned form. pad 1t out with
truthful facts, and cover it with
graceful style-but IL 1t have no life.
you have failed, And what is life?
In news story 1t is that quality
which awakens interest; that ties the
story fast to your reader; that makes
him feel the story has part in him
and he has part in the story.