The actual writing part š
Or: What to do when you've once again fooled an editor into assigning you a story
Lately Iāve been thinking a lot about processāthe writing process, I mean. Probably because I just (finally) filed a feature story draft to my editor after a weeklong international reporting trip followed by a month of listening to interview transcripts, organizing notes, stressing, reading research articles, outlining and finally, lastly (but I guess most importantly) writing. Now, unfortunately, until an email lands in my inbox with āGreat jobāedits attached,ā I will assume that what I turned in is unusable garbage. So needless to say, Iām trying to think about process instead.
So, process. First, Iād love to know if what follows below sounds insane to you, or if you have a better way, or just a different way. Iām all ears, truly. But the pattern that Iāve slowly fallen into for writing features like this one is as follows:
Record everything during the trip (on your phone, handheld digital recorder, giant shotgun mic if you think this might go on the radio someday, whatever).
When you arenāt interviewing, take notesāduring the little natural gaps throughout the day. I end up with some handwritten in a reporterās notebook and some typed out in my phoneās notes appākey things said in interviews, fun turns of phrase, interesting observations about the place and the characters, the beginnings of scenes I might want to flesh out later and use.
At the end of every day (although admittedly I have never managed to do this consistently), brain dump into a Word doc. Transfer good ideas from your messy phone/notebook notes to your laptop. Realistically, to my own detriment, this ends up happening once Iām back home instead and have forgotten things/gotten dates mixed up.
After the trip, dump truly everything into that docālisten to recorded interviews (transcribed by the godsend that is Otter.ai maybe) and pull important points and quotes in, add key stats and data points, organize and expand on all the observations and scenes from the field, etc.
Itās only once I have that master document filled out with everything that might end up in my story (this time it was about 40,000 words), organized with headings so I can flip through it with the Word navigation pane, that I can think about writing. This is not the most efficient process, I know. But I think at some level writing is a vibes-based enterprise, and if I donāt feel ready to write I just canāt do it.
From there itās just (just, lol) a matter of fleshing out a pretty robust outline with all the sections and the key scenes and voices that will appear in them (which involves going back through The Big Document and highlighting things, leaving comments as notes to myself, etc.) then actually writing the thing. Which, with that outline, doesnāt end up feeling quite as daunting as before. But yeah, I always keep in mind that it could be terrible, until an editor tells me otherwise. Good to be humble I guess.
But please, please, please tell me about your process! For any type of writingāa short news piece, a personal essay, a big feature.
Reading list
What Iāve been reading (and listening to) recently (and you might be interested in too).
How Wild, episode 1: āUntrammeledā (Marissa Ortega-Welch, KALW (Bay Area NPR))
This is a brand-new podcastāone episode is out so far. Itās a show about wilderness and how itās changing. As a member of the ākid who visited a new National Park on every summer vacationā to ācollege environmental science major radicalized by Bill Crononā pipeline, it feels like this show was made in a lab (or in the Wilderness) for me. But if you think about nature and our place in it, youāll like it too.
Underwater Robot Reveals āEnigmaticā Shapes on the Bottom of Antarctic Ice (Raymond Zhong, The New York Times)
Raymond writes a bunch of really cool on-the-ground environment and climate stories, usually with science angles. This one was neat to see because I was on a call with Peter Neff, the subject of a feature story I reported about Antarctic ice coring for Science Magazine earlier this year, when the robot submarine Ran (operating from the icebreaker he was on) disappeared forever under the Antarctic ice. The researchers were all really sad about it, but Ran collected some amazing data before its demise, and Raymond covered this new research paper about it!
Parks and Degradation: The Mess at Yosemite (Laura Bliss, Bloomberg Businessweek)
Itās been a good month for fans of great National Park-related journalism. This one is definitely a downer, but such an important investigation. Itās pretty obvious if youāve been to Yosemite (or really any National Park) recentlyāthe companies contracted to provide services in our parks are failing visitors. On the upside, love the art in this story package. And what a headline!
Finally sat at the computer, so, here it is as best I can remember it ā my process.
When starting with an assignment on a particular story, my first step was to research and read. I didnāt feel I could select who to interview and how to target questions until I knew everything I could about the topic. Once that was accomplished, step 2 was to select who to interview, what to shoot as B-Roll, (video doc). With a list of questions in hand, the interviews are next.
My goal in writing was always to balance fact and emotion. Fact, the basis of the story and why it needs to be told; and emotion, the heart of the story ā taking the viewer/listener/reader on that journey with you.
My best advice is to listen intently. Listen as you interview, and listen again as you review the interview. During the interview you can often flag soundbites in your mind ā as Iām interviewing I jot a quick note to remind myself what was said that caught my ear. Listening will also lead you to ask the best follow up questions ā if youāre not listening intently youāll miss their emotion and the chance to poke deeper or follow a tangent. In a video doc, listening and taking notes was paramount to getting the B-roll I needed. Listen again as you review ā make notes of what is absolutely essential ā the facts you need to include ā and what grabbed you when you did the interview ā the emotion you want to convey ā if it grabbed you the first time, it will grab your listener too.
I found it absolutely vital to organize my notes at the end of each day or at the end of each interview. By the time Iāve slept on it, the plan that came to my brain while shooting/ recording is gone. So much harder to recreate that than to record it while itās fresh.
You describe needing to wait until you have everything assembled and all interviews transcribed to begin writing. Each person has their own style ā I couldnāt wait . I would begin to write in a document at least in outline form as soon as my first interview was completed ā my impressions (maybe what you call notes?) would go down. Usually something would have already caught my eye or ear that would become the hook or start of the story- sometimes not. Sometimes Iād already have a soundbite in my head that would be a good closer. Whatever I felt was critical would go in that rough draft. For me, it was easier to know that I had a start ā I had something. A million revisions away from a final project, but I had something. Something started.
On editing, I always write too much (as you can see from this example) Itās difficult to cut, but I feel I need to start with too much so I donāt miss including something essential. If I canāt cut enough myself I have a trusted friend read it and let me know if the feeling of the story is changed with what Iāve chosen to cut. Almost always they help me with the clarity of a new perspective. It makes it easier to cut your work down to an acceptable size.
Another thing Iāve found valuable is to pause when you are stuck. When your brain is tired, go do something ā a hobby, exercise, etc. Comeback with fresh eyes and ears and youāll spend a lot less time than If you try to write or edit when youāve run out of energy.
So there it is in some semblance of a large nutshell. I miss writing. May have to revisit that craft.
Hey Christian,
I came across your text via the Science Writing News newsletter. What an amazing surprise! I'm always moved by colleagues who share their writing processes because it takes a lot of loneliness and introspection (a great deal of both, to be honest). Since I became a freelance reporter in 2021, Iāve struggled a lot with the writing and editing processes. Last year was my "fuck-I-gotta-do-something-about-it" year to feel less stressed. The turning point for me was a lot of practice and realizing that what matters most is the story being told. I don't aim for perfection anymore, and I know my editors will have a different perspective on some parts, so I aim for accuracy, an ethical approach, and the heart of the story. What do my audiences need to know or understand about this topic?
I feel that my process is somehow similar to yours, but I also connected with Laurieās.
I guess I follow this script - not exactly in this order and not always strictly:
0 - Start a Word document that will guide all the reporting. It ends up like a doctoral thesis!
1 - Read the entire research paper or the primary news that triggers the story.
2 - Dig into more news and read as much as I can about the topic to prepare for interviews.
3 - Take note of all of my doubts, even the dumbest ones. I am not a scientist; I am a journalist :)
4 - Listen carefully during interviews (totally agree with Laurie on this one).
5 - Transcribe all the interviews and match them with previous facts from the research article (or articles).
6 - Use the same Word document to include the most important parts of the interviews. I start highlighting all the important phrases and facts from both the readings and the transcriptions. I also organize it by subheadings so I can understand which sections I'm dealing with.
7 - Start a draft by outlining each paragraph to understand the connections and the general mood.
8 - Finally write it - it takes days.
9 - Reread it and fact-check numbers, stats, spelling, etc.
10 - The edits come, and I breathe deeply and start all over again (lol! Just kidding).
On field trips, I have a slightly different approach, but I usually work from home, so my process is more indoors. Great to read your work! I will look for the writing you recommended.
All the best from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil!