game story protocol

The problem is, would Inverted Pyramid go first on the list of acts or last? Hmmm....

 

Our songs will have all the good stuff -- good lyrics, chorus, rippin' guitar solo -- in the first 4-5 bars, and the song's remaining three or four minutes will be fluff that you can ignore.

To be serious for one moment, what do you think about people that put the final score in the quote.

For example:

"Our team rules," said Johnny Smith, who led his team to the 14-10 win. "Really, we do."

I've seen this several times and it annoys me. And don't get me started on gamers that start with questions, such as: What do you call a team that comes back from a three-touchdown deficit? Blah, blah, blah.

 

In my personal "rule book," question ledes SUCK. Because, so I've been told, they ask the reader to answer a question, and that doesn't always work.
LEDE: Do you like lemons?
If the reader answers "no" in his head, he won't read on.
LEDE: What do a call a ...?
If the reader doesn't know, he may not care to know.

As for burying scores between quotes: Nope.
It's too vital to be put between quotes. Here's why: Quotes should be powerful, add to the story. So, theoretically, you should remember the quote, not the detail or attribution given between or after the quote.

Just my two cents. Doesn't mean they're worth anything - or right.

 

It's a good point, Andy. I think treating the final score like that makes it feel like an unimportant part of the complete story.

 

I think final score in a quote attribution can work but is kind of an easy way out in most cases.

 

the score never should be in a headline.

also, i have to ask a question: are you so concerned with online readers that you will knowingly sacrifice quality in the printed version to make the free readers happy?

 

Good point. And that leads me to this: Why is our copy paid for in print but free online? If EVERY NEWSPAPER went paid subscription on both (print and net), there wouldn't be a fear of the internet, loss of jobs and MORE revenue.

 

It's generally the hacks (not a shot at you Montezuma, so please, no revenge) that think every game story for the good ol' A.M. paper has to be a Sports Illustrated piece. Just get to the score.

There is no reason to bury the score in the game story. People read the game story because they want to read an account of what happened in the game. Ultimately what happened in the game is somebody won and somebody lost. So tell me who it is already.

Remember the old Wendy's campaign "Where's the Beef?" Well, that's what I think of just about everytime some writer tires to impress me with his "hook" on a game story.

It often seems (at least in the markets I read and, I'll admit, even with my own stories) that the more the writer tries to find the "hook," the less he really has to write about.

That's not to say every gamer has to be dry, bland A.P.-style tripe.

There's just a point where a lot of writers get in their own way. They try way to hard to be cute when all people really want is to be informed. This thinking that you have to build tension and set scenes is great in theory, but it's usually just flowery b.s. that gets in the way of what readers really came for.

It's a game story not a mystery novel. People aren't reading the gamer to be held in suspense.

 

Well, I'm not advocating the final graf of the story being, "Oh, and by the way, the Lakers won the NBA title, 101-100, on a half-court shot by Kobe Bryant at the buzzer. Bryant scored 74 points in the winning effort."

I also understand that deadline situations restrict what a writer can do.

But the game stories need to do better than "what happened." They need to touch on the "what,'' sure, but by the next morning the story needs to give some why and/or what it means.

 

Absolutely.

 

what about starting a sentence with but? i was told recently it wasn't ok but I see a lot in newspapers.

 

so it's all right to use?