Use your powers of observation and take this test

Terry Anderson as a hostage and as a national news star upon his release in 1991. He told the story of his 6-year captivity in a book Den of Lions.



Here in class we are concentrating right now on words -- framing meaty questions that elicit emotion and information and then listening closely to hear exactly what is being said or hinted at. Besides relying on their ears and tongues, good reporters use their eyes.

As we discussed in class, humans in what business and behavior writer Malcolm Gladwell calls a "blink" know a lot about other people they encounter. In a glance you are likely to be able to figure out whether a story subject is:

*attractive
*healthy
*married
*in or ever has been in the military
*is an expert on some subjet
*has a great deal of self-confidence, or the opposite
*cares about fashion
*smart
*a person with a sense of humor
*a person who reminds you of someone else (along with the qualities that you associate with that person)
*is a person you like or not



You pick up this intelligence on your subject almost before the first word is uttered and you can use it to shape questions and to make an approach to your subject that will get him or her talking more openly.



Observation also is an important tool in establishing a sense of place and in scene-setting in news articles. ALWAYS, ALWAYS, visit the location of the place you are writing about, the scene of the crime or the action, before you write about it. I cannot tell you precisely what you will find when you do this or what you should look for, but I can tell that you will find something or someone that adds to your story.

Write down or take a picture of what you see so you can think about it later. Stories full of specific details come alive.The more specific the detail the better. A "tree-lined boulevard" is a nice description but a "wide boulevard lined with chestnuts in red bloom" is better. Observation adds a level of complexity and texture to writing.

Back in 1985, American journalist Terry Anderson was kidnapped and held hostage by Hezbollah terrorists in Beirut. His captors at one point allowed his sister Peggy to visit and bring him a package from home. All the accounts of this visit talked about her carrying a big cardboard box, but only one account said that she carried him treats from home in a Girl Scout cookie carton. I remember this decades later because without stretching a muscle, the writer of this story added a poignant reminder of how far Anderson was from home, from all that was normal. He made readers feel the homesickness Anderson must have been feeling. It was, as editors say, an unexpected nice touch.



Now, take this test to see how strong your powers of observation are and tell me what score you got in your blogs. Just as you get better at note-taking by taking notes, you will get better when you practice observing.



http://www.oldjoeblack.0nyx.com/thinktst.htm