Day 5 of the Thousand-Character Essay

"Deliberate Practice" says that if you want to learn knowledge in a new field and quickly become the best in it, a very important point is It is necessary to learn from the experiences summarized by outstanding predecessors in this field, step on the shoulders of giants and practice a lot consciously, which will make it easier to succeed.

I need to write a moving story. As mentioned before, I want to write a good story. And "Southern Weekend - Feature Manual" can be used as a textbook in this field. I only regret that I encountered it too late.

Zhan Jiang, the author of the preface, said: "The people here are not lofty 'role models', but ordinary everyday people, even people in suffering. Through the narration of people, Revealing their living conditions”

What is the use of excellent writing? According to Southern Weekend editor Zhang Jie, excellent writing is a powerful tool for communication. The positioning of the special article is: to pursue the beauty of words and present complex truth.

What is a feature?

Baidu Encyclopedia explains: Feature article, also called documentary feature article, documentary article, or news feature article.

"Journalism Dictionary" explains the feature article this way: "Special article is to use explanation, analysis, prediction and other methods to analyze historical origins, causal relationships, contradictory evolution, influence, development trends, etc. "A form of news reporting." Simply put, it is a report that reveals the essence of things in depth and explains the issues thoroughly through words. It is an in-depth news report, which can be divided into explanatory reports, investigative reports, predictive reports, service reports, character close-ups, etc. According to this definition, except for news, all news reports are special articles. Covering too much.

What is more worth learning about this book than other books in the collection of feature articles is that after each selected feature article, there will be an author's note: recording the background and process of writing this topic. , the reasons for choosing the perspective, interviewing techniques, why this article was selected, what the author thinks is good, etc.

As we all know, a good article needs to go through hundreds of painful deliberation, deletion and simplicity. A simple verb or adjective will become a tiny fishbone stuck in the throat, let alone be selected for a feature article. A unique perspective, valuable selection process and the author’s valuable writing experience. As for these experiences, it is difficult to find clues of thinking from an already formed article, let alone the reproduction of the scene at the time of writing.

For example, when Li Haipeng, a senior reporter who worked for Southern Weekend from 2002 to 2009, wrote the article "Car Stuck in the Forbidden City", he mentioned it in "Journalist's Notes: Not Just a Text" : What’s special about this article is the different angles chosen. Previous reports mostly focused on technical issues and paid less attention to cultural issues. My report is from a cultural perspective. Inspired by "The Important Role of Culture" by Heng Yanshun. When there is not much difference in the systems of the two countries, why are there very big differences in the level of economic development? Heng Yanshun believes that it is because of different cultures. Culture plays an important role in determining the level of material civilization that different nations and countries can achieve.

What preparations the author made during the writing process, why he adopted narrative and discussion methods, interspersed writing, etc. are all explained in his notes.

For example, Li Haipeng wrote in his note "News is not an inanimate thing" in "The Last Moment of the Disappearance of Manchu": This is a research report. Before leaving for Sanjiazitun, I bought I browsed more than ten books on Manchu and Satisfaction Culture, focusing on Jin Qishi’s works. With the basis of relevant research, I can judge whether the statements of the old people in the interviews are accurate. And give examples later.

He wrote in his diary "A Reporter's 24 Hours" on "Tragedy Flight MU5210": Whenever major news is released, there will be a large number of comments and comments on Sina and Sohu, among which there will definitely be The speeches of people around the person who have core information will just be buried in countless voices; when doing disaster reporting, you must take the time to read all these posts, there must be the content you want. This is basic skill.

Before becoming a reporter, there must be very few people who would understand something in such detail because they have to write a story or report an event, especially those people who are often ignored in feature articles. When the perspective appears, we will suddenly realize that the truth is like this after watching it.

Journalists are a group of people who are more sensitive and compassionate than ordinary people, and are more likely to discover details that others ignore. As for the special articles, what impresses people is that they use a third-party perspective to restore the scene of the incident at that time, and to explore the social causes and social impacts behind a single incident of universal significance, thereby stimulating people's independent thinking.

The language of the feature article, as stated in the last and best part of "What We Say About Feature Article Research": A good reporter will not just be satisfied with recording history, his hidden purpose must be to influence today. Great writing helps spread the word, and communication brings change. In the recording process, the first priority is truth, followed by verbal description. The language of description will be mixed with the author's own thinking about what he saw and heard, and the scattered materials will be screened and reorganized, and finally the theme he wants to express will be presented, without revealing the faint feeling of sadness, but every word This sentence tells you what a regrettable incident this is. The effect of moisturizing things silently is like this.

In the excerpt of "Southern Weekend Special Article Topic Selection and Narrative", the author Zhang Jie summarized three cuts through years of research and practice, the first topic selection, the second overview and scene, and the third chapter. 3. Judgmental narrative, which provides an incomplete and somewhat arbitrary explanation of the operation of Southern Weekend's special articles. It is well worth studying and reading, and will be of great help to writers who wish to pursue a career in nonfiction. I won’t spoil it here.

That’s all for today. I have only read 7 articles by Li Haipeng. I have not yet started reading the works by Nan Xianghong, Ye Weimin, Xu Nan, Cao Yunwu and others. I will read them later. During the two days, I will slowly write out my daily reading experience. I wrote a bit too much today, it exceeds the scope of a thousand-character article, and needs to be streamlined and revised.