Author Archives: Heath Meriwether

Keep it simple and strong.

We’re not against long sentences here but too often writers lose their way and don’t understand the story they’re trying to tell the reader, if you get what I mean, hopefully, as scribes pile on the clauses, modifiers, punctuation and … Continue reading

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The Wrong Stuff Bad Writing Contest!

We like to celebrate good writing and reporting in this space.  But there’s much to learn, too, from bad writing.  Many of you probably are aware of the annual Bulwer-Lytton Bad Writing Contest, which parodies  the 19th century English novelist … Continue reading

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David Foster Wallace (R.I.P.) and you.

When the news broke a month ago about David Foster Wallace’s suicide, I realized I didn’t know his work except for a riveting essay on tennis great Roger Federer.  Since then, I’ve read countless appreciations of Wallace, who  taught creative … Continue reading

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Make Jimmy Breslin proud.

The simple period is one of the most powerful weapons in a writer’s arsenal.  Too often, we see run-on sentences that never end.  Writers tend  to just keep adding commas and dashes and semi-colons, almost anything to keep  the sentence … Continue reading

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The details of good writing.

We constantly stress the need to capture as much telling detail as possible in your reporting.  The more specific the details, the better your writing will be, transporting your reader inside the scene or action.  Mathew Warren did that splendidly … Continue reading

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George Orwell is watching over you.

Read good writing anywhere you can find it — in novels, newspapers, magazines and online. Then ask why it works.  That’s a principle espoused here to help you improve.  A corollary is to read, and heed, the advice of some … Continue reading

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How to write better leads

    What makes a good lead?  Hint:  It’s usually not a question. But it’s an answer we think a lot about here, particularly with a fresh cast of students. There’s no one right answer.  Jack Hart  talks about as many … Continue reading

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The formula for improved writing!

Here’s the basic formula.  READ + REPORT + WRITE + TALK + REPEAT = Improved Writing.  Here’s how I break that down: 1) READ — Read good writing wherever you find it. Newspapers. Blogs. Online. Magazines.  Broadcast. Fiction.  When you … Continue reading

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Panic on deadline II

Panic on deadline! You’re about to tackle your first deadline assignment, and your palms are beginning to sweat. Don’t fret, it happens to all of us. Here are some tips we shared last year.

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May 2, 2008

There’s a tradition among journalists of “collecting string,” facts and impressions gathered in daily reporting that can become the stuff of a far larger story with wider sweep and a richer texture. Here’s how Jere Hester describes the practice: “Fill … Continue reading

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