Feature Writing: Mitch Albom on Writing

1) Mitch Albom discusses in his speech "On Writing" about his experiences with journalism.

He talks about how it is very important to write interesting in depth newspaper articles because with the Internet now being the main source of fast information people don't read newspapers as much anymore. Albom then explains how he breaks down the three elements of stylistic writing (for mostly feature writing) into leads, middles, and ends.

Leads
In journalism school a lead is to get all the basic information into the first or second paragraph. If you are trying to write a lead it may be hard to put style into the writing because the paragraph is about how old somebody is, where they live, what they did, what they're charged with, ect. You don't have to have a large amount of style though as long as you are able to hold the readers attention. When writing a lead it is also sometimes a good idea to give a bit of misdirection, something a writer can do to make you think one way while their actually doing something else.

Middles 
The most effective ways newspapers have dealt with stories is to look beyond what is apparent in front of you. Try to tell the story at a different angle because things like CNN, MSNBC, Fox, or the Internet have already given out the basic story before the newspapers can even catch up. You must tell a story through the eyes of someone who had relation to the topic you are writing about.

Endings 
One mistake that people make in ending their stories is that they have to have a huge declarative ending when really the ending can be much more subtle. You need to paint a picture at the end, just as you do in the beginning, and let it resonate. You know the ending is good when once you put down the story it stays on your mind for a long time. You can do this with humor, images or just leaving something unsaid. Leaving something unsaid will resonate with the reader more.

5) "Sometimes it's what's left unsaid that resonates with the reader" I chose this because I definitely agree with this statement in that I have read some endings that really make you ponder about the subject. "First of all, there's something thing I refer to as misdirection. Those of you that follow magic know they make you look over here, and meanwhile they're doing something over there." I agree with this because when you use misdirection it can lead to a sort of twist to the story making it more interesting. "See if you can tell the story through side angles." I liked this because it is something I feel the need to remember because if you want to make the story interesting think of it a different way than other people.