I've read To Begin the Beginning by Deneen L. Brown in Telling True Stories, and I found it quite interseting and useful.
I alway feel that the hardest part of writing a passage is the beginning, and it indeed requires skills to compose a good beginning. Brown offers several useful tips, which base on his own experience.
The importance of a attractive beginning is obvious: you are establishing a relationship with your reader with it. Even the peofessional journalists may worry about the beginning of a story. The auhthor's way is to ask himself many questions like "What is the story about" or "How can I tempt the reader".
Among all the elements, the theme is the most important. Every story should have a theme, and we need to focus on the theme. For example, Brown was preparing a report about a woman who sued the state for she couldn't get abortion, and he was inspired by his editor that the story wasn't about a woman but about choice, which is the theme of the story. The theme serves as the core of a story.
Another good suggestion of the passage is the function of beginning. The beginning determines the content, to some degree. Brown specially mentions "go deep". In journalistic essays, we need to "go deep into the darkness and find the story". The story is not about what the interviewee said, and the writer should pay attention to the interpretation why the interviewee said so.
2012年2月26日星期日
2012年2月17日星期五
Book Club: Fast Food Nation
The book Fast Food Nation is about the the history and management of the American fast food industry, which is a symbol of the country. I've read the introduction and the first chapters.
The first chapter The Founding Fathers talks about the founding of the primary fast food brands. The author focuses on the story of Carl Karcher, the originator of Hardee's. He also briefly introduced McDonald brothers, the founder of McDonald's, as well as how the other fast food companies were created. And from the book we know the the birth of fast food industry was closely related to the car culture of USA, for these companies all originated in southern Califonia, where the car culture was booming.
In the next chapter Your Trusted Friends, the early management of McDonald's is detailedly discussed. There're many similarities and relationship between McDonald's and Disneyland, which both are outstanding representatives of American consumer culture. They both valued the significance of brand, and thought highly of the importance of science, and, the most important, comsidering children as their main marketing target. Disneyland created wonderful theme parks, while McDonald's, and its followers, give bonus toys along with meals to the children. Besides, the advertisements of McDonald's also mainly aims at children. These are quite controversial topics.
The first chapter The Founding Fathers talks about the founding of the primary fast food brands. The author focuses on the story of Carl Karcher, the originator of Hardee's. He also briefly introduced McDonald brothers, the founder of McDonald's, as well as how the other fast food companies were created. And from the book we know the the birth of fast food industry was closely related to the car culture of USA, for these companies all originated in southern Califonia, where the car culture was booming.
In the next chapter Your Trusted Friends, the early management of McDonald's is detailedly discussed. There're many similarities and relationship between McDonald's and Disneyland, which both are outstanding representatives of American consumer culture. They both valued the significance of brand, and thought highly of the importance of science, and, the most important, comsidering children as their main marketing target. Disneyland created wonderful theme parks, while McDonald's, and its followers, give bonus toys along with meals to the children. Besides, the advertisements of McDonald's also mainly aims at children. These are quite controversial topics.
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