How do you get someone who lives in India to care about people in Uganda?
That’s the challenge for journalists who try to tell stories about parts of the world that most of the press ignores. Correspondent Enock Wanderema is from Uganda and wants the world to know what happens there.
For a story about the widespread government corruption he focused on one woman, Aloikin Praise Opoloje. Wanderema tells us this story about Opoloje giving birth in a hospital that had been starved of resources because of government corruption. He writes:
…she watched the midwife try to manage multiple births at once. Opoloje could tell she was exhausted. “One of the women was in critical condition, but the surgeon who was supposed to operate was nowhere to be found,” Opoloje said. “We tried calling him, but he wasn’t picking up.”
Wanderema used what we call an anecdote to help bring the complicated story of government corruption to life. Anecdotes are little stories about something that happened to someone. People tell little stories about themselves all the time.
Bring the story to life.
In interviews savvy reporters will focus attention on these little stories and try to get as many details as they can. When did this happen? Where were you exactly? What time of day was it? Were there people around? What did it sound like?
A good reporter knows that the little details help make a story three-dimensional for readers or listeners. It helps place the reader there as it is happening. And if people feel like they are there, they will care.
High school student Helen Milito wrote about her experience spending a year studying in Italy with School Year Abroad. To show how different she felt and how much it took her out of her comfort zone she gave this story:
We were split into two teams scrimmaging against each other. The boys I play with are competitive so there was the usual light trash talking, jersey pulling and agile foot skills.
We were playing friendly rules with no corner kicks. My teammate, Gugu, was fouled in the makeshift goalie box and dramatically fell to the ground yelling for a penalty kick.
None of us expected the coach to listen to him, but surprisingly he gave it to our team on the condition that I take the kick. All the players lined up around the box as I prepared to shoot, choosing to aim for the bottom right corner.
Two things you should know: First this is in Italy and I’m an American teenager who speaks little Italian. Second, I’m the only girl on the team.
The coach blew the whistle. I confidently ran, kicking the ball with all my strength. It went soaring over the crossbar into the fence behind. I wanted to crawl into a hole and hide.
Note how she shows us visually what is happening through action: “there was light trash talking, jersey pulling and agile foot skills.” She includes the sound of the coach’s whistle. And she gives us emotion: “I confidently ran…”, “I wanted to crawl into a hole…”
Telling other people’s stories
Correspondent Leah Pattem felt compelled to report how people in Madrid were suffering from high rents. To do that, like Wanderema, she found one woman whose story she could tell.
Pattem wrote:
Now in her 80s, [Marjorie] Kanter is at the peak of her career, author of three books and an active member of Madrid’s writing community. “I don’t have many more years left, so I really want to enjoy being a successful writer for as long as I can,” she said.
However, Kanter is facing a major setback. In September, a registered letter demanded she vacate her home at the end of October. A Galician vulture fund had purchased her apartment and didn’t offer her a new higher-priced rental contract. She suspects that means they will convert her home into a tourist flat.
The thing is, people don’t offer up anecdotes without prompting. They don’t think reporters are interested in the little stories they tell their friends. And there is a general rule in interviewing that people won’t answer unasked questions. So to get the anecdote you need to tease it out of the person you interview question by question.
Here are some questions that are useful in teasing out a little story:
Can you remember the first time you did that?
Can you remember the scariest time?
Can you think of a time when that happened to you?
Drilling down
Ask questions to jog a person’s memory. They’ll say, “There was this one time that …”
All the time, write down what they say and pester them for details. Imagine that the person is your grandfather and you are five years old. You will keep interrupting him to ask for details he doesn’t think is important but is important to a five-year old: What were you wearing? Was it cold? What did it smell like? Were you scared? Were you hungry? How old were you? How tall were you?
The key is to drill down. When someone says something, ask for specifics. When did that happen exactly? Where was that? Who else was there? No detail is too small or insignificant because to recreate a scene and you need to paint a complete picture.
Anecdotes are great ways to start articles. They grab the attention of readers and get them interested enough to read on.
After all, who doesn’t want to hear a good story?
Three questions to consider:
1. What is an anecdote?
2. How can anecdotes help you tell a complicated story?
3. Can you think of a little story you have told your friends or family about yourself?