Narrative Writing on Deadline

Course Overview

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About Webinars

In this virtual classroom, participants can join in a seminar led by Poynter faculty and visiting faculty. This screencast includes live audio and a slideshow presentation in which participants can post questions and respond to poll questions posed by the host.

Narrative writing appeals to readers because it humanizes the story and helps readers relate to the topic. And, let’s be honest, it’s also more interesting to read.

But descriptive essay topics for college students of us who work in shrinking news operations have to write routine stories on deadline. How do we add narrative flourishes to stories to make them more appealing?

During this webinar, we’ll dissect lessons from literature and great narrative reporting. Then we’ll discuss how to apply them to our own writing and reporting. Using these lessons will not only elevate our writing, but help us think differently about our reporting process and how we gather information.

What Will I Learn:

• Six literary devices to elevate news writing


• How to report in ways that lend themselves to narrative writing

Who Should Take this Course:

Anybody who regularly writes about specific beats or topics.

Course Instructor:

Lolly Bowean

Lolly Bowean is a general assignment reporter with the Chicago Tribune and a 2017 Nieman Fellow at Harvard University. She has a particular focus on urban affairs, youth culture, housing, minority communities and relations. She writes about Chicago's unique African-American community. During her tenure, she has written about the death of Nelson Mandela, how violence is lived in troubled neighborhoods, and the 2008 election and inauguration of President Barack Obama. She also covered Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and the last gathering of the original Tuskegee Airmen.

Technical Requirements:

Windows
1.4GHz Intel® Pentium® 4 or faster processor (or equivalent) for Windows 7, Windows 8 or Windows 8.1
512MB of RAM (1GB recommended) for Windows 7 or Windows 8
Microsoft Internet Explorer 8, 9, 10, 11; Mozilla Firefox; Google Chrome
Adobe® Flash® Player 11.2+

Mac
1.83GHz Intel Core™ Duo or faster processor
512MB of RAM (1GB recommended)
Mac OS X 10.7.4, 10.8, 10.9
Mozilla Firefox; Apple Safari; Google Chrome
Adobe Flash Player 11.2+

Bandwidth - 1.5 Mbits/sec up and down. We strongly suggest viewing our Webinars with a wired connection.

Some networks, especially those that use a proxy server, may encounter difficulty connecting to our Webinar software. If this is your first Poynter NewsU Webinar, please test your connection.

This Webinar contains audio. Please adjust your headphones or speakers.

Questions? Read our Webinar FAQ or contact us at webinars@newsu.org.

You can watch our Live Webinars on your iPad with a free Adobe Connect app. To watch Webinar replays, your iPad must be able to view Flash media players. The Live Webinar experience on your iPad is very similar to watching it from your computer. You can watch the video, follow the presentation, respond to polling questions, ask the presenter questions and participate in any discussion forums.

Download the free Adobe Connect app from iTunes here. To access the live event, click on the "Join Live Event Now" button on the Webinar landing page. The virtual room will automatically load. Viewing recorded Webinars on iOS devices is not currently supported.