Response to "Odds and Ends" 9/20/11

       Donald Murray doesn’t exactly give a dictionary definition of the word “surprise”; however he considered his own meaning a very important aspect of journalistic writing. “Surprise” to Murray is when writers enter into a story with a certain expectation of the outcome and then are pleasantly “surprised” by anything that is unexpected. Murray discusses how journalists become desensitized to the everyday stories they write in the papers. Yet, when a story comes along and is seemingly routine then it ends up with a completely different outcome, it should excite and enthrall the writer!

“The best writers accept, even delight in the unexpected.”

Murray believes that “the effective writer must always have an essential naiveté-skepticism must be balanced by innocence.” I think that this “innocence” goes hand in hand with writing for surprise because when good writers maintain a childlike sense of wonder, then they will approach each story with a renewed sense of curiosity. This way it is easier for the writer to take a step back from the patterns they’ve become accustomed to and see each situation as an individual story with different backgrounds, specific details and varied motivations.

            When Murray talks about surprise, he doesn’t mean a party with balloons and frightened guest of honor. He means that it’s important as a good writer to view each situation, each story from a different perspective. Every story we write have numerous angles, and people who have seen the story from many vantage points. Te way to make your writing stand out from everyone else who is writing the same story, is to frame yours in a special way, different from anyone else. People will have a renewed interest in your version of the story because it will give a new twist on tired story that we’ve all heard before.

“We are not discovering a new planet, but we are assigning ourselves explorations of our craft that will make our work more interesting to ourselves and our readers.”

            Another quote from Murray that I really liked and think is important for reporting for surprise is when he talks about telling an old story in a new voice.

“Be selfish. Take command of your own stories. Make them fun. Risk. Try what you don’t think you can do. Teach yourself in print. On each story set up a new challenge. Our craft is, after all, based on play and we must never take it so seriously that we forget to play with what we see, how we order it and how we tell it to ourselves and our readers.”

            I love this quote because I don’t think that anyone is capable of writing an interesting piece or story without having fun and enjoying the experience. If the writer isn’t into the story; the reader won’t be either so it’s important to never forget that creative thinking is crucial when wanting to “surprise” or engage the reader and give a fresh look at a topic.

9/22/11- Don Murray Gives Great Advice!

The best advice I took from Murray was when he said "Work on one sense at a time, beginnging with our strongest one, not your weakest." I appreciate this because I find that most ideas that can be written about, are much easier to process when they are broken into steps, and pieces. Once you have used your strongest sense, you can begin to take the idea, one specific part at a time. It will lead to much more concise writing and a clarified idea.

September 22 Response

The blog I enjoy reading is “The Great American Blog” -http://www.foxnews.com/on-air/hannity/blog/

This is a blog written by TV host and radio personality, Sean Hannity and his web producers and it discusses conservative politics and current events.

1.)    I enjoy reading this blog because it gives a daily view of current events going on around the world and discusses the political atmosphere of the time. Sean Hannity is an opinionated conservative voice and I agree with his views. I like that the blog posts arguments, gives an opinion on the arguments and then hopes for responses which may counter the author’s opinions. The bloggers voice is professional without being stuffy and is well read on events such as the upcoming presidential election and provides an interesting point of view.

2.)    The author somewhat does the kind of writing Murray discusses, however he puts much more personal opinion than Murray would approve of . However, he is very dedicated to his cause and to the information he passes along. He gives a lot of information through narrative and real life scenarios, and Murray is more of a newsman’s’ newsman!

3.)    The technique Murray talks about when he only uses one sense at a time I think will be an effective trick to writing about things I want to write. By allowing one sense to take over, my observations will be less muddled and can be separated into the pieces that are picked up by each sense. This will create much more of a descriptive element and gives the author a very different lens to view their story from.

4.)    I think that an important part of a blog, in order for it to be worth anything, is that comments should be allowed and discussions should be sparked by the information on the blog. “Great American” allows a reader to agree or disagree, but only after stating educated reasons why. Some bloggers are too afraid to let people comment on their ideas!

September 14 Respose to Don Murray tribute

 The most interesting thing I learned from Murray's profile was that he would rather use the word "voice" instead of "style" to describe how a piece sounds. He said, "we should mean the voice of the text, not the voice of the writer...Voice is flavor, voice is the music of writing matching the meaning of the story.” I appreciate that he looks at words with emotion and that he considers good words the zest of life!

"Know tomorrow's writing task today." I love that quote because it just shows that a good writer is always thinking about writing as a part of your daily process instead of as a chore.

9/8/11 - English journalist covers 9/11 response

Both stories are excellent pieces of journalism and use literary elements effectively. The differences between Usborne's initial article and his December 2001 article are that the first was much more emotionally driven and contain more figurative language. It paints a much more vivid picture. The December article is informative with much more detail, but it seems to lack the passion the initial piece contained. This tells me that deadline writing doesn't necessarily have to have all of the details or all of the facts, but it has to get the story out and be interesting enough that people will want to read YOURS instead of someone elses.
Usborne mentions his reaction to want to get as close to the scene as possible as a professional hazard. The fact that he understood when to stay away and when to question people, speaks to his morals as a journalist. Regardless, as a REAL reporter, even in times of disaster, Usborne continued to want to get facts so he could produce the best story possible. It is almost a double edge sword, he either can be too sensitive and not get the story or be too cold or unfeeling, and disrespect people who've experienced real tragedy. The lesson that can be learned from Usborne is that a good reporter must be ready for anything, even the worst, and prepared to get the information out to the people.

September 8, 2011 Response

             The difference between hard news and soft news is that hard news is an important story that needs to be published immediately. On the other hand, soft news is an important story, yet it lacks the need to be published as quickly as a hard news story. A story that would be considered hard news is a hostage situation in progress or if a  dangerous storm system is approaching an area. A soft news story would be something like, an increase of kids using facebook at school or a story about the upcoming Chatham Homecoming! I would definitely rather write a hard news story because it is actually important enough to effect people's decisions and it would be more exciting to be writing about an armed robbery than how much beer will cost at homecoming this year. When Surtee's says "hard" and "soft" lead, he is talking about the difference in a breaking news, urgent lead and a more indirect, feature centered lead. I would much rather read a soft lead because in hard news stories, the story is all facts and little literary expertise. Soft leads, when used in feature stories, I believe make for a much more enjoyable read.
          Oh, Don Murray. What a wonderful author, and I just love that "little green book that never goes away"! So glad I ordered it early so I could have some light reading before I go to sleep!
The only tip I didn't really understand from Surtee's article was his "reveal" tip. A good writer should be able to just describe what they see and paint a picture in the reader's mind. Writers shouldn't have to be so literal and step by step explain or "reveal" the point of the story.

September 5, 2011 Response

1.)A famous Hollywood location had a seasonally appropriate visitor Sunday night. But when the man got out of his car in front of Grauman's Chinese Theater, it was clear this was anything but a standard visit from Santa Claus.

2.)"We are pretty sure this is not the Santa Claus,"

3.)Carroll told police he had consumed two rum and Cokes two hours before he was arrested at 9:30 p.m., Garner said. He was later released on $5,000 bail and could not be reached for comment

4.)"There was no Mel Gibson treatment for him," Garner said, referring to the help the actor received from Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies after his drunk driving arrest last year. "He had to sober up and find his own reindeer."

5.) The kicker and the "quote-kabob" are the same thing in this story.

September 1, 2011 Response

A blog is basically an online journal that can be completely random and personal or can be devoted to a specific idea or specialization. They are becoming more effective as online communication becomes the standard for people in the professional spectrum. As you said before, blogs are most productive when they are used in a marketing form or as a promotional tool. They are also an effective way to learn about concepts that you are not familiar with; because bloggers will post opinions and vent frustrations which gives the reader a broad overview of the public opinion over the the blog topic