As most news stories are written in a rush, rewrites almost always come par for the course.   If you don’t revise, you’re likely to leave in plenty of mistakes and burden your editor with a load more of extra work.

Here are some things you should be checking for:

1. Paragraphs.  Keep paragraphs short.  Really short.  Pay particular attention to anything that goes five sentences or more — there may be room to split it.  And don’t worry about paragraphs with only one or two sentences, as they’re perfectly acceptable (provided their use is warranted).
2. Lead.  Is your most important and most interesting information in the lead? If not, change it to reflect that quality.
3. Nut graph.  Does your nut graph summarize the story adequately?  Make sure readers can glean the importance of the story just from that alone.
4. Wordy constructions.  Being short and quick informative pieces, there’s little room in news stories for wordy constructions, so cut down every possible phrase to the absolute minimum.
5. Sequence.  Do you present facts in a logical sequence that prepares the reader to understand a concept before it’s introduced?  Remember: your details will only make sense if the reader has the capacity to understand them.  And it’s your job to get them ready.

You don’t have to be working for a national broadsheet to write a news story.  School newspapers, community newsletters and even blogs regularly publish news as part of their content.

Preparation for a new story always begins by answering six questions:  who, what, where, when, why and how.  In fact, you can write one line each with one of those questions on each line, the corresponding answer right next to it and consider that as your outline.  Once you have those questions answered, you’re duly prepared to start writing.

A nut graph (aka nutshell paragraph) is a paragraph that explains the news value of a story.  For the most part, it consists of your answers to the six questions above, written in cohesive sentences.

When writing features, the nut graph usually comes as the third or fourth paragraph.    You start out with a short narrative to hook the reader in before presenting the nutshell of the details that make the story relevant.

Straight-up news stories tend to be written in an inverted pyramid form.  That is, you begin with the most important items and end with those of least significance.  The nut graph usually follows the lead, a short paragraph that conveys the most interesting elements of the story.    The lead hooks the reader, the nut graph demonstrates the story’s importance  and the rest of the piece fills in the details pertinent to the story.

Hard news, such as those you find in newspapers, are always written such that  the reader can stop at any time without losing grasp of the story.  As such, it reveals everything that’s relevant to the reader’s experience and understanding as early as possible.

This is in stark contrast to writing essays, where you can keep some of the crucial points towards the end.  In fact, it’s usually a good idea to keep your second best material right around the concluding paragraph to ensure that you leave the reader on a good note.

In news stories, headlines should attempt to convey as much of the message as you can fit.  You want it to be informational first and foremost — all the other qualities (such as cleverness and humor) can take a backseat if they will detract from that.

The lead should answer all pertinent questions — the who, what, when, where, how and why.  Your first sentence is crucial, since readers will base their decision on whether to move forward with the story or turn their attention elsewhere based on it.  As such, it should try to answer as much of the 5 Ws and one H as it can, following an inverted pyramid model for detailing information.

Writing a human interest piece?  Unlike most regular non-fiction work, the primary component for these types of writing is the human element.  That emotional component that lets people identify with the story is, ultimately what will truly define it.

For longtime non-fiction writers, that means avoiding some of the common habits that might have served you in more factual, communicative writing (that doesn’t include a powerful writing software, though – that’s a given, whatever you’re working on).  When producing human interest pieces, you have to:

• Aim to entertain as much as communicate.
• Appeal to your reader’s sensitivities by allowing them to experience the same emotions as the primary characters of the piece.
• Turn readers into vicarious participants, ultimately seeing themselves in the characters’ shoes.

Not every type of story can be turned into a human interest piece.  A few, however, merely needs a human angle to be adequately appropriate.  If you’re trying to gauge a subject’s viability for this type of writing, consider that all human interest pieces generally fulfill the following criteria:

• They involve an extraordinary experience, one that most people will likely not have gone through in their own lives.
• They involve a common, easily-identifiable problem.  Without conflict, there’s no story.  So there must be a struggle of some sort, one that your average reader can readily understand and, possibly, even identify with.
• They can be related to a national issue, one that’s running through the mind of people at this very moment.

If you have all that, then your topic might indeed do very well as a human interest piece.  Now comes the hard part – actually writing them.

When reporting news or current events, here are a few things to keep in mind.

Strong Leads. Your lead should be straight, powerful and to the point.  If you’re writing about an older event, try fashioning your nut graph the same way.  After all, it’s technically a lead, albeit one that explains why something that’s not breaking is so relevant.

The Iceberg Effect. While the beginning can draw in the reader, the overall strength of the story lies underneath the tip.  Its power and impact will depend on the quality of your interviews, detailed research and understanding that you can use to communicate the story to your readers.

Only The Most Precious Stone. As much as you can, include only the best information you can find – the most poignant quotations, the most revealing statistics and the most telling facts.  Leave out the rest, unless they are vital to the reader’s understanding.  Reporting is not about dumping information; it has more to do with sorting through the pile and finding those that will facilitate the best communication.

Check Your Facts. Reporting is particularly tricky with facts, as you’ll have to strike a balance between qualifying them and being able to reach the reader in a timely manner.  Your story’s accuracy depends on it.

Get Your Tools Handy. When you need to write fast, you have to work with the tools that can help speed up the process.   As such, always keep your best writing software, dictionary, style book and whatever other instrument you require within reach.

Ever wondered how newspapers choose which current events to write about?  It can get confusing sometimes, especially for those not involved with such publications directly.

If you write in any professional (even semi-professional) capacity, you will likely end up in a project, at least once or twice, where you’ll have to write about news stories.  Whether it be something as informal as an upstart blog, as simple as company newsletter or as high-profile as a glossy national magazine, recognizing news items worthy of seeing print could play a part in your on-the-job duties.

Different publications use their own criteria for deciding which items should be published.   Generally, though, the following items are ones you want to consider:

Relevance. Is the story relevant to your audience?  Stories regarding a business that’s marginally related to your own is probably of no interest to your office newsletter’s readers, but ones about a client could prove intriguing.

Timeliness. Is it recent?  Timing is crucial to news.  If it’s old, there’s a good chance your readers have already heard of it.

Complexity. This one’s tough, but it’s true.  The more complex a news story, the less likely people will read it.  You know why you use a writing software to clarify your work, right?  Because the less muddled it reads, the less troublesome it is to digest.  Folks like simple explanations, so give priority to stories that can easily be understood.

Unexpectedness. If it’s unexpected, it’s likely news.  An unlikely sporting event winner, a sudden typhoon and an 8-year old art protege are all newsworthy because no one sees them coming.

Schedules. Events and activities that are scheduled typically become newsworthy the closer they draw near.