tisdag, september 30, 2008

Skriv en krönika/kolumn

Dotterns läxa till idag. Skriv en krönika på 350 ord, som ska innehålla exempel och ett antal ord som är givna. 350 ord är ingenting. Känns visserligen oerhört mycket när pappret är blankt, deadline närmar sig och man inte vet vilket ämne man ska skriva om.

Som förälder som försöker dämpa sitt barns panik. Och vill stötta sina ungdomar så önskar jag att det fanns stöd. Förutom de tekniska riktmärkerna om vad krönikan ska innehålla. Så borde det både stå på uppgiften och stötta föräldrarna. Vad som är BRA. Alla ungdomar har inte tokiga ordnördiga föräldrar som mitt stackars barn har. Som knappt vågar läsa sina uppgifter för mig p g a av prestationsångest. Liksom jag med en journalistisk mamma fick totalt dåligt självförtroende när det gäller skrivande. Det är det jag försöker ta igen nu.

Nå det ledde till en sak bra som jag lärde mig i skolan. Söka information.

Vad ska en kolumn innehålla?

Här är tips från kolumnist och journalist i Malasiya Oon Yeoh - Mobile & Internet Researcher

Här är hans skrivtips:
1. Write with conviction: Put forward your opinion as something you truly believe in. Argue your case with conviction. Come down hard on one side of an issue. Be unequivocal. Never ever sit on the fence.

2. Maintain your focus: Make your column about one thing and one thing alone. Don’t muddle the message. Maintain your focus. That’s the only way to make a strong impression on your readers and to convince them that your point of view is correct.

3. Understand opposing viewpoints: Be mindful of the opposing argument. Anticipate objections to your point of view and deal with them convincingly with sound reasoning. If you’re not familiar with the opposing view, you will not be able to argue your points well.

4. Refer to facts: Your arguments, however logical, will not carry much weight unless they are accompanied by facts that support your position. Don’t overdo this and inundate your readers with statistics and figures. But do make use of facts from reputable sources.

5. Use analogies: Analogies are useful for illustrating a point, especially when the topic you are writing about is somewhat complicated or technical. Using a simple analogy from everyday life makes the issue more understandable and relevant to the reader.

6. Be critical: People like reading columnists who dare to criticize real life people – not just nameless concepts and policies. Naming names might create a bit of controversy but as long as you do not libel anyone and don’t go overboard in your criticism, it works well to make your column an interesting and exciting read.

7. Do reporting. It’s possible to write columns without doing any reporting but the best columns typically involve some form of reporting. When you report, you get on the ground and you gain a better sense of what’s really happening. When you write from an ivory tower, it shows.

8. Localize and personalize: Localize your story whenever possible. Also tie it to some personal experience – yours or that of someone you know. This makes an otherwise esoteric and distant topic more real, relevant and memorable to the reader.

9. Be passionate: Generally, people don’t like to hear a soft or passive voice when they read a column. So be aggressive – even arrogant, to an extent. People want to see passion. They want to feel energized. If the issue doesn’t seem to excite you, the writer, it’s certainly not going to excite the reader.

10. Provide a solution: Last but not least, don’t just raise an issue. Have the conviction to suggest a solution. Columns that criticize certain policies but offer no solutions are useless. People read columns because they want to gain insight and answers. If you don’t provide those, you’ve failed as a columnist.

Han har fler skrivtips på sin blogg.
advice for writers
guide to feature writing
interviewing tips

Att skriva blogginlägg är ofta som att skriva en krönika eller en kolumn. Nu är ju denna blogg lite mer åt tipshållet. För dig, dottern och även jag själv som vill utveckla vårt skrivande. Skrivandet gör jag ofta på annat håll än här.

6 kommentarer:

Anonym sa...

Hello,

Thanks for sharing the link - but unfortunately it seems to be down? Does anybody here at skrivtips.blogspot.com have a mirror or another source?


Thanks,
Mark

Peggy sa...

What I can see the link is working.

Anonym sa...

Hey,

I have a question for the webmaster/admin here at skrivtips.blogspot.com.

May I use part of the information from this post above if I provide a backlink back to your site?

Thanks,
Thomas

Peggy sa...

yes!

Anonym sa...

Hi,

I have a inquiry for the webmaster/admin here at skrivtips.blogspot.com.

May I use some of the information from this post right above if I give a backlink back to this website?

Thanks,
Mark

Peggy sa...

Webmaster says: yes!