National Writers Workshop -- Fort Lauderdale

Beer.

It's stuck to NPR media reporter David Folkenflik's computer.

Reminds him to write as if he's telling a story to his buddies at the bar.

And there's radio lesson number one, according to print-reporter-turned-NPR-correspondent John Hendren:

Write conversationally.

Ask yourself: Would I say it this way?

You don't have to sacrifice detail for style, he said. "You can be descriptive and still write conversationally."

Number two?

Number three:

Use different ways to tell the story.

npr.org John Hendren

Radio listeners are passed from one story to the next. The dial is usually inches away from their fingertips, and there's lots of competition for listeners' attention. Stories can't sound the same. So change it up a bit. Same goes for print. Some different approaches:

• Walk the reader through the scene.
• Tell the story the same way it unfolded in front of you. (Even if it means using chronology.)
• ... Or, use a shameless gimmick. (Borrow techniques from other writers, movies or songs that you like. Emulate the greats. See Hendren's story from a U.S. military base's mess hall in Iraq. And keep an ear out for the echoes of "Forrest Gump.")

Lesson four:

Long quotes are sometimes better.

This doesn't always (or even often?) work for print, but Hendren's examples (particularly his work out of the Balad military hospital) were compelling arguments for allowing sources to tell their own stories in their own voices.

Lesson five:

Write like a playwright.

Use exchanges. Dialogue. Parley. Interlocution. Whatever you want to call it. Basically, it means stepping out of the picture for a bit and letting the folks around you do the talking.

Six:

When in doubt, go pithy and short.

Or, call David Halberstam. At least, that's what Hendren did.

Seven:

Go ahead -- enter the story.

Sometimes, listeners (readers) need to identify with a person in the story, especially when there isn't a main character. It draws them in. The reporter acts as the surrogate for listeners, and the "I" -- whether overt or not -- is necessary. (See Mirta Ojito's keynote-- here and here -- for more.)

And, finally, lesson eight:

It can be concise and harmonious with the rest of the story. Make it simple. It doesn't have to be separate or formulaic or jarring.

Who knew it would start with beer and end with history?