Good Story Ideas

Sometimes you just need to have the nerve to ask one question.

One of the best stories I ever wrote was about a cross-country team that ran a meet three days after their No. 3 runner was killed in a horrific car accident.

I asked somebody why the team was wearing black cut-out Ks on their uniforms, and he told me this story and said, "That's his mom right over there."

I was 21 and didn't want to talk to her, but they guy said, "I bet she'll want to talk about it," and I screwed up my nerve and introduced myself.

She was great, the coach was great, the story wrote itself, and I won APSE that year (hold the value judgments on APSE, please).

I very nearly passed on "bothering" her, and I learned that day what many here know: That sometimes we are intruding, but often, people want to talk about lost loved ones.

Basically, that one story changed my career and my life. One question.

 

Yeah, I remember reading that Times article when it was first published.

It's a pretty remarkable career choice, but they've made the most of it and have gained a real reputation.

I wonder how long they'll stay there.

 

That was a very interesting story, too.

 

Since I'm not a journalist, I'm curious of your opinion. Do you there's a good story to tell if his three former colleagues - all now successful chefs in their own right -- make a road trip together to his restaurant?

 

Would like to hear some opinions on this -- if you're low on the newspaper's totem pole, how do you go about pitching a story idea on someone else's beat? An editor might just pass it off to the beat writer or the writer may take it himself/herself.

 

Awesome story.

 

Good for you and great for the kid who prodded you to do it.
It's very difficult to know if the people are "ready" to deal with this story.
At a D-I conference hoop tournament, I got a tip that the coach of one of the teams I cover, his daughter, a gorgeous blue-eyed blonde who I had met a couple of times, was dying from anorexia nervosa. She died, at age 21. I went through the assistant AD. He told me the coach wasn't ready but would definitely give me the story when he was. I sat on that for quite awhile, then got the call and was there the next day. We sat in his office, he cried almost for an hour as he talked about it. I asked if there was a photo I could use. He took the one out of the frame on his desk. Later, his wife showed up and I talked to her, too.
Awful story to write.

 

It still deserved to be written, though, and I'd bet you were glad you did it, and that you were the one who got to do it.

No?

 

You might want to show those writers this story:

http://articles.latimes.com/2004/may/07/sports/sp-plaschke7

 

Yes, absolutely.

 

turfwriter,

If you have a beat, you are the one who should normally be generating good story ideas, not your editors.

To me, the best stories came from talking to people around the team/sport.

For a college team, the trainers, managers, parents etc. may tell you something that a player or coach wouldn't that would make a good story. I would always have the antenna up and burrow in when something seems different or interesting.

 

I'll second that. Your editors may throw you some bigger ideas sometimes, especially if you get into a rut of only one type of story, but really, you should know your beat.

I'll give this one piece of advice. Show up at practices when you don't have a story to do. Drop by on your way to work to shoot the shit with a random coach.

A lot of times, they're going to tell you something they'd never think would be a good story. Coaches mainly think in the mindset of: This guy works real hard and you've not done anything on him, or feature on the star player. What you're looking for is one-legged kickers.