My First Interview

I just Conducted A Phone Interview for my article. Lessons I've learned:

1) Make sure that you get good service- I had to call the interviewee about three times before I got good service from sitting outside. Waste of time and cellphone money.

2) Listen carefully. There might be useful information that you'll want in your news article and maybe even a quote that you don't want to forget.

3) Take a break- I've been looking at Robin McKinley's website. I'm tempted to email her and ask her if she has read Shannon Hale's books, including The Goose Girl. I've emailed Shannon before and I comment on her blog, and recently I became a member of her forum Little Red Reading Hood (before the course on a pen pal's recommendation).

4) Get back to work after your break- this is how you avoid wasting too much time. I'm going to put part of my story together now, the part about the interview. In fact, I'm trying to organize the information now.

5) Remember that this will look good on your college resume, that it's a good slice of experience from a real journalist's day/night hours, and that you now know whether or not you want to be a journalist.

Here is a picture of how I feel:

Ostensibly I'm doing work, but in reality I am transparent. (I love Googling pictures of Frollo.)

How to tell a Good Story

These rules apply to both fiction writing and news articles.

Rule Number One: find a good story! A "good" story is one that transports the reader into another world, or into another setting at least, making us care about the people in it and educating us without preaching. In fourth grade our English teacher showed us this clip from The Hunchback of Notre Dame: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6226987819861532910&q=Hunchback+of+Notre+Dame&total=888&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=6

The film displays this method of a good story by showing the transition from pre-modern Paris to Paris twenty years ago and from a puppetmaster's booth during daybreak to a dirty hidden dock during nightfall. Occasionally it goes back to Clopin, reminding us that he has not disappeared, but only tells the story. Frollo, our protagonist, kills a gypsy woman without guilt. He only feels guilt when the Archdeacon reminds him that God and the Virgin Mary have seen him commit this heinous crime and will condemn him for it if he kills her child as well. Clopin ends with the big question ("Who is the monster and who is the man?") that leaves his listeners satisfied.

Rule Number Two: Show both sides of a story. Later on in Hunchback, Frollo feels lust for Esmeralda, as shown here: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=9012756407798333875&q=Hunchback+of+Notre+Dame&total=889&start=20&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=1

We understand Frollo's point of view because other people's minds work this way and may even take it were it not for Esmeralda's song, which shows her point of view: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6248269357798932172&q=Hunchback+of+Notre+Dame&total=888&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=0

Keep in mind that this is a Disney movie, so of course we don't like Frollo and we root for Esmeralda. But we understand how Frollo's mind works and why he commits his terrible crimes, just like the one in the beginning of the movie.

Rule Number Three: Wrap it up well. This clip says it all:http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3724892245402393685&q=Hunchback+of+Notre+Dame&total=888&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=4 If you haven't seen the movie, you don't need to. All you need to know is that Quasimodo is determined to protect Esmeralda from Frollo, even as Frollo plans to kill them both. Frollo dies, Quasimodo lives, and it ends happily with the little girl from the beginning embracing the hunchback. Clopin wraps up the story the way he began it.

That's all the basics you need. Now start writing.

Golden Ethics

Ethics is a word we should never use when we talk about politics; our advisor has convinced us why ethics are important to journalists so we don't end up like this:


This image is from Mirrormask, a movie that Dave McKean directed and Neil Gaiman (American Gods, Anansi Boys, Neverwhere, Coraline, Stardust) wrote. To find out what I'm talking about, go to this link: movies.yahoo.com/feature/mirrormask.html and click on the "Close to You" clip where the dolls hypnotize Helena.

My point is that journalists should not become like Helena and end up as politicians' pets or puppets. Also remember to be reasonable, as Aristotle said. There is always another side to an issue. Seek to find the other side.

Facing Hard Facts

I once made a promise to myself to only blog when I accomplished something like publishing a book.
Why am I breaking this promise? The journalism workshop that I'm in requires me to have a blog.
Speaking of which, journalism is new to me. I write fiction. However, I have found this field fascinating, especially since I am in a class where every student is female. We're all getting along and since no one is grading us or making us pass tests, I'm enjoying this workshop.