Writing Tool #13: Show and Tell - Poynter

Workshop: Read newspaper and magazine stories that have anecdotal leads followed by “nut” paragraphs that explain what the story is about. Notice if the level of language moves from the concrete to the more abstract. Find some stories about bureaucracy or public policy that seem stuck in the middle of the ladder of abstraction. What kind of reporti... See more

Good writers move up and down the ladder of abstraction. At the bottom are bloody knives and rosary beads, wedding rings and baseball cards. At the top are words that reach for a higher meaning, words like “freedom” and “literacy.” Beware of the middle, the rungs of the ladder where bureaucracy and public policy lurk.