How to get story ideas

If you have a nose for news and if you know where to look, it's easy to come up with story ideas.

Here's just one example. I saw an unusual photograph (see below) on LinkedIn, posted by Commitscion Shane Jacob (Class of 2005), on September 29.

Straightaway I saw the possibilities and sent this e-mail to Commitscion Tapasya Mitra Mazumder (Class of 2013), who is a reporter with Bangalore Mirror:

Subject: Story idea?

http://www.greendzine.in/Irrway.aspx 

Police in Mysore are using this device, according to a post I saw just now on LinkedIn.

(Photo attached.)

Tapasya replied almost immediately:

Yes, this is fantastic.

She worked on the story and submitted it the same day. It was published the very next day:

Tapasya wrote to me afterwards:

People in my office were very impressed with me. :P

I called up Mysore police commissioner for information. He gave me the information and passed me the contact details of the ACP who took me through the details like vehicle specifications and all.

My boss was surprised I got the story. And then I told him that you had shared it with me. :-)

And today, almost three weeks after Tapasya's piece was published, The Times of India has an Irrway story on Page 4:

Easy-peasy about sums it up.

• ALSO READ: "Want to develop story ideas? Try Facebook"

"Want to develop story ideas? Try Facebook"

That's a very helpful tip by the guru of journalism teachers, Roy Peter Clark of Poynter. (One more tip: The most powerful tool for getting reader feedback and generating civil conversation, he says, is the open-ended question. More about that later.)

Clark writes in his column (published on the Poynter website last month) that he had taken part recently in a discussion on how social networks can help journalists. Afterwards, thinking back to a conversation at the discussion about the risks women take by wearing high heels, Clark thought of a story idea:

I decided to ask my Facebook friends about their experiences and opinions on high heels and women’s health. “Has the recent popularity of stiletto heels led to more accidents or foot problems for women?"

Then Clark posted more questions on Facebook about women’s experiences with heels. "Within a couple of hours," he writes, "I received 36 messages highlighting a number of possible story angles."

Clark then explains how — with the help of a good question — topics encountered on Facebook could grow into something more.

But how you frame that "good question" is going to be critical to the success of your plan. Concludes Clark:

To generate the most revealing and productive answers, the questions must avoid Yes/No choices. It is the open-ended question that most often provides what writers most need: details, anecdotes, stories, scenes, along with rich and interesting language.

Read the column in its entirety here: "The case of high heels: How open-ended questions on Facebook can spark story leads".

• ALSO READ: How Roy Peter Clark helped to turn a classified ad into a hearwarming newspaper story.

How journalism guru Roy Peter Clark helped to turn a classified ad into a heartwarming newspaper story

"Bird — Cockatiel, grey with white face. St. Pete Beach area. Whistles at toes!  Heartbroken. [Phone number]..."

This was the classified ad that senior journalist and columnist Roy Peter Clark of Poynter Online saw in Florida's St. Petersburg Times (now renamed Tampa Bay Times). But why was Clark looking at the classifieds in the first place? And how did this ad then become a news story?

First, the answer to the first question: Clark is writing a new book titled Help! For Writers. "The book will list 25 of the most common writing problems, with 10 suggested solutions for each," he writes on his Poynter blog. "The problem in question was 'I am out of story ideas.' "

Clark continues:

...what better place to find [stories] than in the news.

Begin with the small stories, the ones that play inside the paper. Look for announcements of events you might write about. Scour the classified ads, in the paper and online.

He says he realised then that he needed a real-life example and he rushed downstairs to grab a copy of that day's St. Petersburg Times.

And now comes the story about the story:

Then I wrote: "It took exactly 30 seconds to find the telephone number of a person who lives on the beach and is heartbroken because her cockatiel — who whistles at toes — is missing. So what are you waiting for? Get to work. Dial that number."

A little later it occurred to me that the bird story deserved more than a mention in a book that might not be published for more than a year. So I sent a message to editor Kelley Benham at the Times. I had confidence that Kelley, who once wrote an epic story about a rogue rooster named Rockadoodle Two, would give it a good look. Not only did we have a lost bird and a heartbroken owner, but the bird apparently had a foot fetish.

Kelley messaged me back that reporter Stephanie Hayes was "all over" the story. And she was, producing a piece that got good play in the paper, and told the sad tale of an old man living on St. Pete Beach, whose beloved bird, named Shadow for its gray feathers, had flown away.

All novice reporters and aspiring journalists and college students working on the editorial desk of their newspaper should read Clark's post to learn what happened next. And to learn how to originate and develop local stories. Because that is the big challenge, isn't it? How do you find stories every day? And how do you write them so that they are good enough for your publication?

Read Roy Peter Clark's post in its entirety: "Need a Story Idea? Check Lost and Found". And then read Clark's superlative column on how to tighten up your writing.

• For some practical tips on finding stories, read "100 places to shop for stories", by Gregg McLachlan, on the News College website.

• And also check out this Reading Room post: "Point your mouse to Poynter" (Poynter Online claims it has "everything you need to be a better journalist". I believe it.).

• Photo courtesy:  St. Petersburg Times/ TampaBay.com