I recently found myself speaking with a group of journalism grad students. They were very smart and accomplished. So eager to learn!

And all of them were absolutely drowning under the weight of producing their first 30-minute, narrative story.

Okay, so a little dose of reality. Most of us didn’t start with 30-minute stories. We started with 90-second stories. Spot news. And the format is super simple:

A sentence or two, explaining what happened,

followed by…

A sound bite, responding to what happened,

followed by…

A sentence or two, explaining what might happen next!

Easy peasy, lemon squeezy!

Write a couple dozen of those, and you’re ready to graduate to a 3 minute story. Then 4. Then maybe 8.

And then, I’m just gonna say this…there is a HUGE difference between a story that can hold the listener’s attention for 8 minutes and one that can sustain for 12. Or 20. Or 30.

Those stories are a different animal altogether.

So I really want you to understand that starting with a 30 minute story is a BIG challenge.

HUGE.

But as I was talking through my process, one of the students raised her hand and asked a question I’d never heard before. She said, “Clearly, you’ve been doing this for a long time, and you can make a story in your sleep…

“...but what if you CAN’T do it in your sleep? What then?”

The truth is…I try to make this thing that we do sound really, really simple. I don’t want you to be discouraged.

I want you to know that you CAN do this.

But it’s not actually easy. It takes a ton of hard work. And sometimes those lemons just don’t want to be squeezed!

So what do you do if you’re staring at a blank screen and you have to figure out a way to get to that first rough draft? How do you even start?

Oh, and before we get too deep into it, I've got a special surprise for folks who make it all the way down to the end of the post. A special, FREE surprise! So keep reading!

Step 1: Identify your best sound.

If you know me, you know that I am ALWAYS sound first. I do not write beautiful sentences and then figure out how to cram my sound bites into those sentences.

I find beautiful sound bites and then try to write the simplest and cleanest possible sentences to link them together, limiting myself to the smallest number of words necessary for the story to make sense.

So the first step for me is always to go through all of my sound. What do I have? What’s good? What’s missing?

I used to work with a reporter who would listen to her audio, over and over, often while training for a marathon. And while I was inspired by her ability to multi-task, I also noticed that she was constantly writing and rewriting as she remembered thoughts she had while out on a run.

Instead, sit down and go through your sound ONCE. Listen and read along with your transcript. Note edits that can be made to turn a meandering ramble into a snappy anecdote. Highlight the stuff you love. Cross out the stuff you hate.

Write. Things. Down.

Seriously, now is not the time to try to remember everything in your head. Take some goddamn notes, won’t you?

Step 2: Puzzle it out.

Okay, so you’ve gone through all your sound, but you still don’t know how it all fits together? Take a step back, and start thinking about this thing like you would a puzzle.

Literally.

Think about the “beats” of your story.

THIS happened, which caused THIS other thing to happen, which led to THIS other unexpected thing...

Ideally, you’ve just finished going through all your sound. So start by writing down the story beats that you remember off the top of your head. I like to use Post-It Notes or small strips of paper for this.

Then, if you feel like you’ve forgotten things, go ahead and skim back through your transcripts to see what you might be missing.

But this part is really important!

Unless the “beat” that you missed is more important than the “beats” you remembered off the top of your head, skip it! Seriously. This is why you start from memory. If it’s not top of mind, it’s probably not gonna make the cut.

Okay, so you have your little strips of paper or Post It Notes. Put them on a desk or table or wall in front of you and start moving them around. What would the story sound like if it started here? Where would it go next? Where would it end?

Move things around like you would a puzzle. Get a feel for the shape of your story. Try things out! Make mistakes!

The goal here is to go into the writing phase with confidence. You know what your story is. You know where it begins, how it develops and where it ends.

You. Got. This.

Step 3: Trick Your Brain

Okay, so you’ve identified your audio. You know the shape of your story. But you still can’t shake the feeling that you’re staring at a big blank page.

You still don’t know what WORDS you’re gonna use to actually BEGIN.

What do you do now?

Well, my first trick is a bit of an optical illusion.

I do not enjoy staring at a blank page.

I do not like it, Sam I am.

So…I just don't do it. Ever.

Instead, I take the sound bites that I identified in Step 1 and put them in the order that I identified in Step 2. And then I put the transcriptions of those sound bites into my script document..in order.

I generally like to actually edit my sound bites as I’m doing this, so that I know that I’ve picked good edit points. It also helps me embody the cadence of the story when I actually start writing.

It seems backwards, but trust me. I’ve written hundreds of stories at this point (not an exaggeration) and this is so much faster and more efficient…for me.

Step 4: Find Your Flow

Okay, so now you don’t have a blank page. You’ve got a page filled with sound bites! Many pages, in fact!

But because today’s post is all about real talk, I’m just gonna admit that it can still be daunting to put those first few words on the page. And you can still get a few pages in and have NO IDEA what you want to say next.

I get it. This shit is hard.

So here are a few tactics I use to get myself over the hump.

Just start writing.
Seriously. I don’t care if it’s good or if it’s terrible. Put words on the page. Write quickly. Don’t judge. There will be plenty of time to judge later.

Temporarily ignore all facts!
You can get totally bogged down by looking up details all the time. So instead of looking up the year someone was born, go ahead and just write TKTK. Focus on the ideas first, and then you can go back and add in those specifics later.

Start in the middle. Or at the end!
If starting at the beginning is too scary, find a part of your story where you know what you want to say and start there! The idea is to create momentum, any way you can.

Once you start writing, it generally gets easier. But there’s always that moment when you feel like you’ve just hit a wall. So, in that case, even more tactics are necessary…

Go back a few paragraphs and read what you’ve already written.
You might find your way, or you might realize that you’ve written yourself into a corner and you’ve gotta make some changes.

Get a drink of water. Or tea. Or maybe a glass of wine?
But just one! Drunk writing is not good writing. Even Hemingway knew that.

Go for a short walk.
Get some air in your lungs and raise your heart rate a little. Exercise is scientifically proven to make you smarter! And if you have a fantastic idea while out on your walk (believe me, it happens) open up the voice memo app on your phone and record it. That stuff is gold!

Sleeeeep!
I know, I know, this goes against everything you learned in college, but the truth is, your brain does not work well when it doesn’t have enough sleep. So if your first draft is due to your editor in the morning, consider getting a few hours of sleep. Let your brain recover. And then set an alarm for earlier than usual, so you can wake up and finish your draft.

Look, if you've been reading my newsletter for a long time or if you've attended one of my classes, you've probably heard all of these tips before. I'm giving myself déjà vu just writing them down!

The truth is, I'm always trying to tell you how easy this all is. But that's not entirely fair.

Sure, I don't want you to get discouraged. But I also don't want you to worry that if you're struggling, you must be doing it wrong.

Good writing is a struggle. It is hard. It is WORK.

And when it's difficult, that's often a sign that it's work worth doing.

So go ahead...and get writing!

Congrats! You made it all the way down to the bottom of the post!

As your reward, you are invited to the next Narrative Beat monthly-ish chat!

In the tradition of Douglas Adams, these monthly-ish chats are becoming increasingly inaccurately named. They started out happening monthly-ish. But I'm guessing it's been at least two years since we held one.

Basically, we all just get together on Zoom and talk about...whatever. You can ask me questions. You can ask each other questions.

Whatever floats your boat!

Just a note. The service I use to track RSVPs won't let me set the "suggested donated" to zero. But, seriously, this is free. Do not feel compelled to donate!

Karen