Storytelling 102: Finding a story
Last updated
August 25, 2021
Sometimes the hardest part of writing a pitch is finding a story. Not just a topic, of course, but the real, interesting narrative that will run through your piece. You learned all about that in Storytelling 101, but where do you actually find out about breaking news, recent discoveries, or quirky science?! Here are a few ideas from our editors and staff.
- Twitter: See what other scientists are talking about, especially if they're fired up about something. That's usually a sign that it's a good story. In addition, people often like to drop hints on Twitter about any upcoming announcements or where their studies are in the publishing pipeline. Keep an eye out - and don't be afraid to reach out to the scientist if you'd like to pitch the story early.
- EurekAlert: This site has a whole bunch of press releases from tons of institutions across a range of disciplines. That said, other people will also be looking at it, so try to find something that other people aren't covering, or that you think you have a new perspective on.
- ArXiv or other pre-print sources: There's one for math/physics, and one for biology. One great feature they have are routine emails that sum up recent pre-prints, and you can filter for just the fields you're interested in.
- Mailing lists: Whether it's a mailing list from a specific scientific journal (e.g. PLOS ONE) or a particular community (e.g. the Science Media Centre for Canadahttp://www.sciencemediacentre.ca/), you can often quickly read through these emails to either find an interesting finding to cover - or prompt a different story.
- Your institution's press office or communications department: the staff in this office are in charge of finding great stories all around your institution, and you're welcome to ask them about what they're thinking about! They may even have press releases to help get you started
- Your community: This refers to both your physical community (your neighborhood, your city) and your identities. Listen to people around you — what stories aren't being talked about outside your community? What do people need to know about? This is especially good for Life in Science stories.
- Conferences: You may get ideas of what to cover by listening to talks, but don't forget about the poster sessions! Posters offer one-on-one time with the scientist who is carrying out the research, and you may find real gems to cover as you engage in more conversations.
- Databases: Try finding new people to cover by looking at databases of researchers, like POC Also Know Stuffhttps://sites.google.com/view/pocexperts/poc-experts-directory/find-poc-experts?authuser=2 or the 500 Women Scientistshttps://500womenscientists.org/request-a-scientist database
- Reading the news and other writers' work: There's no better fire for the brain like simply reading what other people are doing. Most stories have multiple angles, or multiple ideas within them, or something else that'll spur your thought process. You might have a novel angle on a story, or a sense that there's more to write about something, or you're simply curious and want to do more digging. Keep reading articles and books on things you're personally interested in. That goes for both science and non-science news; non-science news often has science angles to it.
Assignment 1: Pitch us a story
When you're ready, write a pitch based on a story you found in a new way! Try to be creative, while also sticking to science you're familiar with. You can note that this is part of your storytelling 102 training, and where you found the story, in the pitch. It's ok if you don't use one of the sources suggested above! Things to think about:
- What can you say about the paper that is different from previous coverage on the same topic?
- Who (or what) will your sources be? Are you furthering the diversity of voices in science communication?
- What is the arc of the story? Did you find a topic that still needs a narrative?