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SESSION B. 2 (b) : EXERCISE.
 
THE SHAPE OF WRITING
AND REPORTING ON COMMUNITY MEDIA

  • Break into teams of two.
  • Select a news item and agree a shape that suits
  • Sift through the opening leads provided to see if any suits your needs.Write a short item for community news or current affairs programme.
  • Take some thirty minutes to do this.
  • Read this back to the larger group, explaining the shape used.

We have called this module the 'shape of writing' because we will use actual shapes as tools to help us remember an effective approach to information dissemination.

These are;

Circle: when you return to your lead for an effective end to your story, thus going in full circle. Try to repeat phrases from the lead during the story to keep the shape, and also try to end with a twist. You can also use it for the established public speaking format. Tell them what your going to tell them, tell them, and then tell them that you've told them.

Hourglass: envisage the top of the shape as the portion where you introduce the situation. The narrow part where the sand seeps through as the chronological or historical background and the large bottom portion where solutions are explored.

Pyramid: which sets out briefly, the lead topic and then expands on it
as with a traditional pyramid shape. It is best used for chronological story telling. But needs foreshadowing, clues, inserted high up to sustain interest. Try; 'the worst was yet to come', 'or so they thought' or, 'but something went wrong'.

Square: useful to introduce several key points at intervals during the story. Similar to the circle but not as smooth as it should have strong points inserted at regular intervals. Useful if the fourth corner can lead logically back to the first key point lead.

Exclamation Mark: the full stop at the bottom is used to introduce a soft lead, such as a human-interest story, a specific scene or event.
The idea is to go from the specific to the general starting with a person or event that illustrates the main point of the story. And the main body
of the shape is used to deal with the 'so what' reaction of the listeners where you explain why the story is important.

Mobius: An unusual shape to remind yourself that psychological experiments based on 'first impressions' show that information presented first creates the strongest impressions. Beliefs, apparently, are created by first impressions; later evidence is interpreted in the light of this information. You can use this approach to introduce new information to the listeners and then allow them to build and integrate this knowledge into their existing worldview.


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