I am teaching again this year. This semester I am teaching Intro to Broadcast Writing at a nearby college. These are first year students so the course material includes all the basics of writing for broadcast. I am starting at the beginning and since it is for broadcast we started with writing copy stories and have moved on to writing voice overs. It is a challenge for most of these students. It is a complete shift for them. They have spent years writing as long as they can. They have spent their high school years writing epic length essays and now I am asking them to sum up a story in 30 seconds. Ya, a serious challenge for some of them!
We have talked about writing in broadcast style. I have talked to them about writing in a clear, concise and conversational style. There are a lot of rules when it comes to writing for broadcast but what I am trying to teach my students is good writing is good writing no matter the rules. I think some of them are getting bogged down by the rules and forgetting to actually TELL the story.
Here is the thing…. I believe GOOD writing, is GOOD writing no matter the format, no matter the style, no matter the medium. If you are good writer you will tell the story that needs to be told.
When you are writing, no matter if you are writing a copy story for broadcast, a story for the web or a post for your blog, you need to tell the story. Tell me why I should care. Hook me!
One of the easiest ways to hook someone is to focus on the human element, pull those heart strings. People want to care about other people, so when writing a story tell me about the people. Tell me who is affected and why. Tell me how they have overcome adversity. Tell me how they survived the storm, fire, break in, crash, government shutdown, recession or tragedy.
TELL ME WHY I CARE! This is how you write solid copy.
You want to write a story that I remember, that I want to tell others about and that I am urged to share with as many people as I can. You want to not only be considered a writer but a story teller!
