Good Feedback

A little praise goes a long way. One of my editors will give us a little praise and that's awfully nice when it happens. My other editor never gives praise. Never. While we don't really need to be praised, it's nice to have a little feedback.

I got some great feedback from a reader today.

I love making a hum-drum story interesting with unique details. When I was an intern at a daily waaaaaay back when, I remember some of the reading materials I was instructed to read focused on details. Instead of saying a blood trail led away from the scene of the murder, a reporter wrote about drops of blood about the size of a nickle. For some reason I remembered that focus on detail and I use it in my own writing.

My details are the more about the things people say and how they say them. I note when and where people pause, laugh, sigh, sound dejected or elated. People who are used to being interviewed know what to say and when. I also take note of the things people say when they don't think they are being observed. It's not necessarily off the record, its more like out of the scope of the normal conversation.

A couple of months ago the Knights of Columbus presented a check to the special education department at a local school. Hum-drum, right?

We'll there happened to be a lot of peripheral things going on. We took photos with three of the kids, the director of the program inspected the check, we chatted in her office with the Knights of Columbus guy.

The check presentation was one thing. What made the story was the conversation surrounding that event. After walking away from the photo shoot the director mumbled, "I love those kids." When she put on her glasses to read the check she said, "Whoa! We did really good this year!"

I added those details and others to the story. It wasn't really about the presentation of a check. It was about the loving administrator and the kids she works so hard for.

Today I called her about another story. She happily talked with me and I was grateful. When I apologized for my slow note-taking (she was my fifth major interview this morning) she told me not to worry. "You can tell you take your time with an interview," she said. "You put a lot of humanity in your writing."

Humanity in my writing. Wow. That's a huge complement.

And some nice feedback.

TARB