Sue Morrow, director of photography at the St. Petersburg Times, suggested some questions for writers to ask themselves when coming up with story proposals. It seems to me they are great questions for us to ask ourselves twice when writing anything--once before we start, and once when we've finished the project (which could be an article, short story, novel, script, or non-fiction book):
* Define what the basic story is in one sentence by answering this question: What is the story?
* Why is this story important and relevant? What is the news in the story?
* Who are you trying to reach with the story? For example: senior citizens or 13-year-olds?
* How will you execute the story? What is the time frame to get the story done? (a day, a month, long term?)
* Why is this story important to you?
If you answer these questions before you start, they will give you a solid direction and will guide your research, your outlining and your writing.
If you ask them again (or at least numbers 1, 2, 3 and 5) after you've finished, you'll be able to see whether the process of writing has led you astray. It may simply have led you in a different direction, which is fine as long as you still have good answers.
