How to write like a journalist

My top tip for writing like a journalist is to turn your writing on its head. Any professional writer will tell you the same. The most effective way of getting your point across fast is ‘the inverted pyramid‘ or triangle. It’s how journalists learn to structure a story.

‘Front loading’ your story with information inverts the traditional ‘thesis, antithesis and synthesis’ approach your teachers taught you. When you’re writing an exercise at school or a dissertation at college or university, you begin with a proposition, discuss an opposing view and end with the conclusion.

Waiting until the end for the conclusion is too late for newspaper readers who want to know what’s happened instantly.

Front-loading your story hooks the reader

Journalists put the interesting points at the start of a story (the summing up) to make it more compelling. It encapsulates the message succinctly. So, if you read it independently, it still makes sense.

The first paragraph should include the most attention-grabbing, wow-inducing angle or ‘hook’ to hang the story on. The Sun’s Kelvin Mackenzie called this ‘the ’Ere Doris factor’. If you had just heard a bit of tantalising gossip, what would you say first to a friend on the bus to get their attention?

Would it be: “Ere, Doris… I was in the supermarket the other day, doing my shopping, when who do you think bumped into my trolley? None other than George Clooney!”

Or: “Ere, Doris…George Clooney bumped into my trolley when I was shopping at the supermarket yesterday.”

Which of these sums up the story best? Pat yourself on the back if it’s the second example. It captures the ‘who, what, when, where and how’ of the event. Now all it needs is a compelling, active and dynamic headline to go with it. ‘Clooney’s off his trolley’ anyone?