No One way to tell a Story
Copy is no longer quote-transition, transition-quote copy written in third person.
July 7, 2009
Coverage
Photo By Zoe Yim
More Bargains at the Mall
Shopping malls are great places to get ideas for designs, fonts, headlines, subheads, folios, and even stories. Trips to two malls with two yearbook advisers and staff members yielded plenty of ideas for yearbooks. The ideas can be found in the Spring 2004 issue of Idea File, Volume 14, Issue 3. However, there were too many good ideas to fit in the printed issue. Here are additional images from the two trips with ideas that you may find useful.
June 30, 2009
Teaser Tips
The teaser attracts by arousing curiosity in the reader. This wordplay can be challenging and fun.
June 30, 2009
Developing the Nugget
Do not settle for the first draft. The best stories evolve from the search for the right angle and fearless rewriting. The article, Swapping Fool’s Gold for Real Gold , in the Spring 2004 issue of Idea File, Volume 14, issue 3, discussed getting writers to find the most interesting aspect of the story they are covering – known as the nugget. It’s the nugget that makes the story about the same topic unique from year to year.
June 30, 2009
List of stock questions for writers after they have presented their first draft
List of stock questions for writers after
they have presented their first draft
June 30, 2009
Spice up how you brainstorm story ideas
At the beginning of the school year, have all staff members work together to generate a list of all the clubs, groups, sports and organizations within your school. Then, generate a corresponding list if one or two people within each group that would be key contact people in regards to activities, events and updates of their happenings. These people become BEAT CONTACTS.
June 11, 2009
Copywriting
Understanding Signatures
Yearbooks are made up of 16-page signatures, always beginning with a right-hand page and ending with a left-hand page. In the printing process, a signature is a large sheet of paper on which eight pages (a flat) are printed on each side. After both sides have been printed, the sheet is folded and cut so the pages are in book form.
May 27, 2009
Five Simple Ideas for – Handling student deaths
It’s a fact of life – students die. So do teachers. It is an emotional time for any school. But for publication staffs, emotions cannot rule your decisions. Your staff needs a clear policy so that all school deaths are handled equally, avoiding questions of favoritism.
May 27, 2009
Striking the iron – Enhancing academics coverage demands a novel approach
I was about to give up when I remembered meeting Samuel Beckett at the NSPA convention last year in Seattle. I heard Beckett say that he had actually been a journalism teacher for several years and was presenting a session at the convention on how teaching yearbook had sparked his imagination for the tragicomedy, “Waiting for Godot.” In his session, he asked us to read selected scenes from the play to see the close connection. In fact, he said, although most people think he is writing about the angst of the 20th century, many of the scenes in the play are really about his frustration as a yearbook teacher trying to improve the academics section.
May 7, 2009
How much theme is enough?
Once the theme is picked, the next decision involves presentation of the theme. How much theme is enough? The theme does not need to be spread across every page like peanut butter on a slice of bread. Like peanut butter, too much theme in too little space can gag a person.
May 6, 2009
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