Monday, May 7, 2007

World-Herald Gives Narrative Writing A Go
As PR Professionals Scurry To Pitch Ideas

Word of a new approach to writing that will launch a regular feature in the Omaha World-Herald newspaper is sure to send local public relations professionals scrambling to pitch story ideas for it involving their clients.

The new feature will be called "Slice" and will appear every Tuesday on the front page of the Living section. It will be a 15 to 45-inch story with multiple photos that provide a "slice" of the routines and rituals of life.

Prospective story angles, as provided to reporters by Investigative Projects Editor Cate Folsom, are:

- Seeing a teacher through the end of her last school year as serious health issues force her into early retirement.

- Taking us through the nervousnous (sic) and exhilaration of giving voice to your intimate thoughts at an amateur poetry reading.

- Following spring produce from one person's garden to another person's plate via a local farmer's market.

- Tapping an aging group of church women as they muster their forces to feed the crowd after a funeral.

- Showing the ebb and flow of life as families and teams come and go, win and lose at a kids' sports complex.

- Detailing behind-the-scenes work before, during and after an event at the Qwest, from polishing the windows to preparing the food to picking up trash, from the view of the workers and their boss.

- Following a priest or minister or rabbi preparing for services.

- Tracking activity at the pickup dock at the Mart on a typical Saturday.

- Tagging along with an elected official through a long day of work or through the work of getting a piece of legislation drafted, discussed and voted on.

Narrative writing style tells a story of an experience, event, or sequence of events while holding the reader's interest. It is typically written in first or third-person and may include dialogue that is organized in chronological sequence.

The World-Herald also has plans to post audio files with each "Slice" story and photos on its website, omaha.com.

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

This sounds BRILLIANT!

NOT.

Anonymous said...

I can see it now... thousands of people will hear about these compelling stories being shared in the fishwrap and rush to subscribe. This will save the Weird Harold from almost certain doom.

Anonymous said...

Am I to assume that an editor at the OWH does not know how to spell the word "nervousness?"

That's how I'm reading it. (with the 'sic')

Sean?

Anonymous said...

Word on the street is that an OWH staffer got the idea for the series when he found some old cans of Slice soft drink in a refrigerator in his garage.

Anonymous said...

Still boycotting any "news" paper that omits publishing important actual factual news needed by the citizenry to make informed decisions.

In particular, the refusal of the World-Herald to tell of the enormous amount of crime committed by illegal.... uhhh, excuse me, undocumented entrants along with the severe negative impacts those millions have upon America's working poor.

Anonymous said...

obbop- Don't you ever turn it off?

Unknown said...

FYI:

The information I received had the word nervousness spelled as you see it above. Thus, the "sic" notation.

Anonymous said...

I'm so tired of people bashing the WorldHerald on this blog.

Jess said...

*yawn*

I dunno, it could be good. But they'd have to write about a "slice" of something interesting.

Sorry but 90% of those ideas sound like a joke, and would make a better comedy skit than article.

Anonymous said...

My birds are actually looking forward to this fresh new approach to journalism...give them something new to target their droppings on.

Anonymous said...

Tired of World Herald bashing, eh? Well, the World Herald KILLED MY FATHER! So there!

Anonymous said...

"the World Herald KILLED MY FATHER! So there!"

Not surprised.

My condolences.

Anonymous said...

SLICE. The OWH did not do their homework on this word (I'm not surprised). This is a very common slang word for a certain part of a females anatomy. The word SLICE would be a better title for a dirty magazine or maybe a porn video.

Anonymous said...

Is this really going to happen? Or did the negative comments on this blog make the editors at the fishwrap come to their senses?