Ten Writing Tips from Walt Bogdanich and Jim Neff

By Ben Gelinas

New York Times heavyweight and three-time Pulitzer Prize-winner Walt Bogdanich held a seminar on writing with Seattle Times editor Jim Neff at this year's IRE Conference in Vegas. Some of these tips are going to seem obvious, but sometimes it's good to be reminded of the obvious. :)

1. When you're ready to write: "Get into a place where you are lonely and no one else is around." Bogdanich often writes on the subway or in a library. He says it is especially important to disconnect from the Internet.

2. Show your work to other people (not your editor) before you turn it in. Don't tell your editor you've done this.

3. Writing a good story is like painting a house, Bogdanich says. You need to prepare before you start or you're going to have to go back and waste time cleaning up the spills and redoing sections.

4. Describe your story regularly to quiet people and watch their eyes. If what you're telling them makes their eyes glaze over, you're probably not on the right track.

5. You'll know it's time to write when you can summarize your story (no matter how big) in 25 words or less. "When I get stuck, it's usually because I need to do more reporting," says Bogdanich.

6. Timelines are key for developing a narrative. Do one before you start writing.

7. Create summaries of your best quotes, sorted by topic, so you can grab them quickly when you need them.

8. Before you write the full story, put away your notebook and write what you know, spelling mistakes and all. Then go back with your notebook open and build upon what you've written. (Rick will tell you to do this too).

9. To organize a bigger story by breaking it into chapters, even if the final product lacks chapters. Each should be its own, self-contained story, with ledes.

10. If you have a good narrative going and need to find a place to insert some somewhat dry facts, put the dry facts between a cliffhanger in the narrative to build suspense and keep 'em reading.

11. Special Bonus Tip!
A good kicker's almost as important as a good lede. "You want it to kind of haunt them afterward," Neff says.


Investigative Reporters and Editors Annual Conference, June 2010
Session: Writing the in-depth story
Presenters: Walt Bogdanich, The New York Times, and Jim Neff, The Seattle Times