Every craft has its own secret lingo. By the time you get down to genre and
sub-genre, the language of craft becomes more and more specialized. For the newcomer, it can sound strange and
alienating, which is why I’ve compiled this simple glossary of words used to
describe elements of the serial narrative. Along
with the 50 strategies of “Writing Tools,” it should give you the critical vocabulary
you need to take the next big step in your writing.
Arc: Think of a
story told in chronological order as a straight line. Now draw an arc from the
first big crisis to the final resolution. That big movement of the story is the
arc. Love lost to love regained. Treasure lost to treasure found. Or treasure
lost forever, something more precious found.
Casting: The decision of
which characters to follow and include in the serial. To help in this process,
the writer usually considers which characters have the most at stake. It requires discipline to exclude marginal
characters, who may have given you the gift of their time and energy, but
exclude you must.
Character-Driven: A
serial that focuses on one or two main characters, that follows them on a
journey of discovery or through a crisis. The reader learns about the
characters’ strengths and weaknesses — how they develop over time.
Such serials tend to work better than plot-driven ones.
Cliffhanger: The dramatic
device of ending a chapter with a
point of high drama. Derives from old adventure books and movies in which a
sympathetic character must escape or be rescued from a precarious position. The
idea is that readers will be compelled to return for the next chapter to find
out how a crisis is resolved.
Editor’s Note: This message
informs the reader, usually on the first day of the
serial, that something special or different is about to happen. Newspaper
readers are creatures of habit, and this note prepares them for developing the
new habit of following the serial.
Engine: The big
question that the story will answer for the reader. Will the patient survive the operation? Will the high school
team win the state championship? Will the new product make its inventor a
fortune?
Epilogue: Readers become
involved in the lives of the
characters, They want to know what
happens to them after the arc of the story has been completed. This can be
accomplished in a short narrative chapter, or in a simple list of the
characters and what has become of them.
Flashback: The technique of
moving the narrative from the present into the past. This can be done as a
brief departure from the main narrative, or the whole story can be shifted from
one scene to an earlier scene from which the remaining narrative flows.
Foreshadowing: Any story element
that clues in the reader, boldly or subtly, that something significant or
dangerous or climactic is down the road. A soldier places a sweetheart’s photo
in his wallet as he goes off to war. At the end of the story we discover that
it’s still in his wallet after 40 years.
Golden Source: A rich fountain
of information that allows the writer to create the scenes necessary to make a
serial narrative work. Usually this is one person, or a small group of people,
willing to sacrifice privacy. But it can also be a trial transcript,
diary or other written record.
Immersive
Reporting: Long-term, hang-around reporting that puts the reporter in a position to become an
unobtrusive eyewitness to scenes that will be important in the serial
narrative.
Method Block: A block of type
that describes the methodology of reporting and producing the story. This helps give the story authority, integrity and
transparency, and may help minimize the internal attribution that can often
clog a narrative.
Payoff: An ending that
rewards the reader for sticking with a long project. It does not have to be
“happy,” but must offer satisfaction that the reading effort was
worth it.
Prologue: Often the
prologue of a serial narrative can serve as the lead. It can summarize the story, offer a preview of coming attractions, or highlight a key
scene from the middle of the narrative. It can go on a section front when the
first
chapter is being played inside.
Reconstruction:
The
method used to create for readers scenes to which the reporter was not an
eyewitness. At times, the reporter must depend on the memory of a single
source. It is always best to test those memories with multiple sources and
other records.
Saga: A narrative
with long chapters, in which the chapters require as much as an hour of reading. While readers seem as willing as ever to
tackle comprehensive narratives in books, many editors and commentators argue
that the newspaper is no longer the place for them. This new orthodoxy deserves its skeptics, but
I cannot deny my own reluctance to attach myself to newspaper stories that
require hours of reading.
Serial: A narrative
with shorter chapters than the saga, sometimes much shorter.
Series: Any set of
newspaper stories that runs more than a single day on the same topic. Series
are likely to contain sidebars to the main story. The serial and saga are not.
Signature
Photo: A
photo or illustration used as a continuing emblem for the story. Usually run
large on the first day, it can be used as an icon to tease, remind, update or
promote.
Story So Far: The paragraph
that summarizes the story before the latest chapter. Set apart typographically, it can be run daily or weekly, depending upon
the length of the serial.
Tomorrow: A sentence that
previews tomorrow’s chapter.
So there you have it, a six-part serial starter
kit to help you report, write and produce your first serial narrative — or an
even better second one. I will continue,
with time permitting, to offer free telephone consultation to any reporter or
editor working on a serial narrative.
You can contact me, Roy Peter Clark, at rclark@poynter.org. Or telephone me at (727) 821-9494. Now get writing!
