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When a feature story turns very serious

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by TyWebb, Apr 19, 2008.

  1. slappy4428

    slappy4428 Active Member

    I wrote a column on a coach dying of cancer. The morning it came out, he died.
     
  2. TheMethod

    TheMethod Member

    Oh dear.
     
  3. forever_town

    forever_town Well-Known Member

    I haven't had a story with that heartbreaking turn yet, but I agree with Write-brained. I had to do that with the tennis feature. It should have just been a nice, feel good piece. I ran into a severe case of writer's block with that story until about 11:30 the night before the paper with that story was supposed to be put to bed.

    I finally just said "screw it" and wrote. I can't say that story was any great shakes. In fact, it's one of two stories I wrote this year that I still have real self-doubt about. But I finally got 'er done. My reporter loved it, so I guess that's good enough for now.
     
  4. hi Ty,
    i recently heard the author of this series speak and you might want to take a look at the series.
    http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-surrogacy-series,0,2508147.special

    the writer went into the project thinking it would end well -- as you did.
    if you read the series, you will see, it took a very different turn.
    he had the same worries as you, he said in the talk.
    that detour from the happy story is what made this one reach a lot more people.
    this coach, unfortunately, is not the only parent dealing with a complicated, early birth.

    you have a great opportunity here, in that way.
     
  5. Walter Burns

    Walter Burns Member

    I don't think it's ever a case of "convincing yourself that you're good enough to do an amazing and tragic story justice." It's just a question of telling the story that the coach appears to have entrusted you to tell.
    And I can't stress enough that it's very easy to screw up a story like that by trying to "write" it. I've found that anything that dramatic tells itself, and the only thing I could do by trying to "write" it is screw it up.
    And just remember what Rick Reilly said when he was writing the story about Nicklaus charging back at Augusta: The bigger the story got, the smaller he tried to focus.
    Think Breslin on the gravedigger at Arlington.
     
  6. SockPuppet

    SockPuppet Active Member

    Ty:
    Write what you see.
    Write what you hear.
    Write what you feel.
     
  7. tonysoprano

    tonysoprano Member

    Ty - Saddle up man. You're going to grow from this. It's OK to have stories tug at your emotions. Means you're human. I can't empasize enough what some said earlier - Pay attention to the senses. And just stay out of the way. Sometimes we're our own worst enemies. Write what you see. And have fun!

    I'm about to dive into some of these types of stories, and I can't wait.
     
  8. awriter

    awriter Active Member

    Ty,
    Your emotions are understandable, but my advice is simple: Put the readers in your shoes. Make them see what you see, feel what you feel, hear what you hear. The coach trusts you and there's a reason for that. I'm guessing it's because he knows you'll do a good job on it.
     
  9. TyWebb

    TyWebb Well-Known Member

    Thanks for all the advice guys and gals. I have to admit, I briefly toyed with the idea of turning away from this story, but, like you all said, it really is an opportunity that can't be passed up.

    Qucik and unfortunate update: The son died on Saturday. They decided to take him of the respirator. He is having a funeral service Monday and being buried Tuesday. I'm going to the funeral service, but without my pad and paper. I just figure that is way too inappropriate. Since I have time with this one, I'll get what I need to later. I'm going to go pay my respects and try to lend a shoulder to a grieving family.

    Thanks again to everyone who lent a helping word. I guess I had a small moment of panic when the scope of this story expanded. At that point, I guess I was putting too much pressure on myself to turn out pulitzer type stuff. I'll be sure to put the story in the writer's workshop when I'm done.

    Any other advice you have is more than welcome. The more I hear, the better.
     
  10. Jones

    Jones Active Member

    Aw, shit. That sucks, Ty. I've been thinking about the coach's boy since you first posted, really hoping he'd somehow pull through. I'm really saddened that he didn't.

    Our first son was premature and spent some time -- not much, but enough -- in the NICU (neonatal intensive care unit) at the hospital here. I have no idea if this will be possible for you, but if you can, you should spend some time at the hospital where the coach's baby was. Those rooms are incredibly emotional places and visually arresting -- tiny babies in incubators, all fighting their fights, their parents reaching through little holes in the plastic boxes and between bundles of wires to hold their little hands... I'm tearing up here remembering our stay there. The coach and his wife would have kept a vigil around their child... And then when they came home, they would have been relieved and they probably celebrated. But they also would have been nervous -- because you go from round-the-clock care by trained medical staff to you and you alone, absolute resposibility. It's a strange feeling.

    This will sound like an awful thing for me to say but: I think from the outside, most people would say that it would have been better had the boy died right away. (Four months premature is really, really premature; the odds were against him from the start. He probably weighed a pound.) But I would guess that the coach would say never, that they are glad to have know their son for the short time that they did. I don't know how you ask that question, but I think that's important to ask.

    Most of all, don't be afraid to shed a few tears over this. It's a sad story. Feel that sadness. And then just write the story without thinking about it -- write it by touch.

    And again, if you can talk to the NICU nurses, see the work that they do, even see two more parents willing the life into one more tiny son or daughter, you should do that. It will give you a whisper of the feelings that run through those parents.

    I love that room. I hate that room.
     
  11. WriteThinking

    WriteThinking Well-Known Member

    Oh, that is terrible news, Ty.

    I'm glad you're working on the story, though.

    You know all that access you've gotten, and how we all said it was a gift?

    Mark my words: Those parents will see your story on their son as one, too. And I'll bet they treasure it forever.
     
  12. forever_town

    forever_town Well-Known Member

    I'm very sorry to hear about the son's loss.

    I think you're probably doing the right thing, even if it's not right strictly from a journalism point of view. What you're doing is the right thing from a human perspective.

    One of the teams I cover is the women's lacrosse team at the University of Maryland. One of its players lost her father to a freakish accident in our area that received a lot of attention in the local media. At the first game following the accident, players from Towson's team wore red wristbands to show their support of her.

    She was one of the players who was among the top scorers for Maryland in that game, and I included her among the players I wanted to talk to. The Maryland SID asked me about it, which got me to think about what I was asking. If it were a major revenue sport, I probably would have asked for her anyway. But considering the enormity of the personal tragedy and where this one game fit in the larger scheme of things, I opted to ask for a different player.

    It may not have been the right thing to do from strictly a journalism standpoint, but I felt it was more important to show a little humanity. Even if I had to swallow my pen just a little bit.
     
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