Guidance on Capturing Stories by Jean Legastelois
1. Being story minded (not everybody is ...)
Story minded people always have in mind their potential readers: the persons with whom they would like to share something they have lived, seen or heard. And this is for a specific reason. In the Constellation it could be: —learning from an experience, ways to act, accomplishments, reasons for change of behaviour, impact of such action, etc. All these are examples that illustrate and prove the efficiency of the AIDS Competence approach. When story minded people are in contact with a potential story, a bell rings in their head: “Hey! This is something I must relate, something I must share.” Because the story is ‘telling.’
2. Catching the story: Fishing a good story means dedicating the necessary time to it.
Time to listen to people, but also to question them, and question them again, to make them give you details, facts. A good reporter is a midwife: he helps the baby to come out. Sometimes it is difficult. But you must take all the necessary time. Take notes (date, places, names, quotations, facts...) if possible during the action, or immediately after. If you wait -would it be a few hours - some details will be lost and details are what make a story genuine. Check carefully your information.
3. To make a story credible, these basic questions must be answered: Who (acted)? What (happened)? Where? When? Why? How?
Pay attention to what makes the story a really interesting one: the moment when something happened, when people reacted, changed, decided...
4. Reading your notes, ask yourself: what is the core, the main message in this story? What does it say? What does it illustrate (change of attitude, decisions to do this or that, awareness of a particular issue, etc.)?
5. This main message will have to appear in the headline.
It has to be very specific (a good headline cannot be used twice because every story is different.) NOT: “Truck drivers’ change of attitude” But rather: “Burundi Truck drivers give up chasing school girls.” You cannot say everything in the headline, but you must give a little of the main information, and give some appetite to the readers for your story.
6. This main message is the spinal column of the story.
One, only one message per story.
It can be treated in different ways, starting with describing a situation, with information about places and people, starting with a quotation, etc...
Each time, ask yourself: what will I begin with to make the first line or at least the first paragraph interesting?
Never forget that your job has reached its goal when people have read your story (should not be boring), understood it (clear message, simple language) and remembered its main message.