Final Project PRE-Assignment:

Reporter's notes: Identify profile character and explain he/she’s story in a paragraph or less. Explain why you are curious about this person. Why would other people care about their story?

Complete the storyPlanningForm.doc (only page 1) and email it to Staci and Peggy by midnight, Nov. 27.

Final Project: Writing a profile story

Write a multimedia profile story.

You must include at least three links, either a photo slideshow, audio sound bites or a video.

Your "reporter's notes" (from the pre-assignment) belong in the sidebar of the story on TNJN.

Final story is due posted on TNJN.com Dec. 10 at midnight. 

How to structure your story

• Outline first – even if it’s rough
• Present your unifying – universal - idea
• Provide info
• Re-engage with unifying, universal idea
• Provide more info
• Show rather than tell – anecdotes
• Loop back to your lede and theme in end

Tips

• Be prepared to suffer – writing good features and profiles takes time and dedication
• Just do it. Learn to re-write, not write at the last minute.
• Triple check all names, facts, numbers.
• Profiles need balance too – talk to those who love him/her and hate her/him.

• Quotes are your chocolate chips. (Pick the best ones, and don't over due it.)

Checklist (from Harrower)

How complete is your profile?

 

• Do readers understand why they should care?
• What do average readers want to know?
• What’s the payoff for my subject? Why should he/she submit to the process?
• Can I provide insight/inside details?
• Can I watch my subject live/work/play?
• Is my story full of vivid, memorable details?
• Do I capture my subject in a real life scene or two?
• Can I conduct one or two more interviews?
• Will I keep the interviews conversational? Will my questions be fresh, direct, specific?
• Will I ask about mundane as well as touchy, intimate matters?
• Are the quotes spicy and telling?
• Have I cut out long or predictable quotes?
• Have I talked with others who understand my subject/sees them with different eyes?
• Are the turning points in my subject’s life obvious
• Do I, by the end of my reporting understand what motivates my subject, and will I make that clear to readers?

Examples:

1. Universal: Don’t start with name. The Boy Behind the Mask

2. Multimedia – Audio, slideshows, video. A People Torn: Cleo's Story

3. Details and facts weaved together - Structure.

The Man in the Irony Mask

4. Integration, lists or timeline. Jazz Profiles from NPR Johnny Hartman

5. Emotions, feeling, great descriptions. Sculpting a life out of soft clay (pdf).