Agenda and notes page for Navy Storytelling Workshop held in the Pacific Northwest, Coronado, Calif., and Norfolk, Va. the last week of September 2013.

1. Agenda
and references
Types of Features
Ref: Feature & Magazine Writing: Action, Angle and Anecdotes
by David E. Sumner and Holly G. Miller, pages 15-17
Story
Ref: Story Craft: The Complete Guide to Writing Narrative
Nonfiction by Jack Hart, pages 9-16
Action
Ref: Feature & Magazine Writing: Action, Angle and Anecdotes
by David E. Sumner and Holly G. Miller, pages 117-120
Anecdotes
Ref: Feature & Magazine Writing: Action, Angle and Anecdotes
by David E. Sumner and Holly G. Miller, pages 5 and 118
Ref: A Writer’s Coach: An Editor’s Guide to Words that Work
by Jack Hart, pages 150-153
Ideas and Angles
Ref: A Writer’s Coach: An Editor’s Guide to Words that Work
by Jack Hart, pages 8-13
Research and Interviews
Ref: Feature & Magazine Writing: Action, Angle and Anecdotes
by David E. Sumner and Holly G. Miller, pages 57-65
Color: Observation and Details
Ref: A Writer’s Coach: An Editor’s Guide to Words that Work
by Jack Hart, pages 167-181
Putting it all together
Navy
Storytelling
September 2013
Silverdale, WA
Coronado, CA
Norfolk, VA

2. types of features
Shorts
Interesting, informative and relevant nonfiction items of various lengths
How to
How to transfer 9/11 GI Bill benefits to your dependents
How to prepare your house for the movers
How to conduct the perfect spot check
How to retake your ASVAB
How to convert into a new rate and advance quickly
Lists
Five steps to get your budget under control
5 Places to visit during port visit
4 Ratings looking for Sailors now, ready to advance to PO1
Personal experience
How I overcame my fear of R-Supply, became hero of my shop
My Struggle to Summit Mt Saint Helens, AKA Hell Climb

3. types of features
Profiles
A story intended to reveal the personality or character of an institution or
person.
Seasonal Pieces
A story tied to a specific time on the calendar. Anniversaries, observances,
historic dates
Trends and Issues
A phenomenon that is increasing or decreasing in frequency. A development that
affects a portion of the audience or something the audience assigns value to.
Inspiration and Motivation Pieces
A story that teaches, inspires, motivates through highlighting a personal
example.
Dramatic Stories
A story that is about one person or group and one specific event.

4. story
Story = Action + Character + Complication + Resolution
Examples: Blackhawk Down by Mark Bowden
Soldiers battle Somali street fighters after helicopter crash
and attempt to get back to their base without being killed
Man Overboard
Sailors launch RHIB into freezing ocean and attempt to rescue
Sailor who fell overboard
Paying for child’s college
Sailor navigates complex websites and new rules to transfer
GI Bill benefits to child
Fighting for my son’s life when he wants to die
Sailor fights to understand suicidal son, resources available
“There have been great societies that did not use the wheel,
but there have been no societies that did not tell stories.”
Ursula K. Le Guin

5. Action is people doing something
Tell stories about people doing things using:
Narrative = people doing things
Dialogue = people saying things
Exposition = explaining stuff
Description = describing stuff
Narrative moves the story from Point A to B to Z
Dialogue brings character to life
Narrative + Dialogue = Engine and Frame of story
Exposition + Description = Paint Job + Rims
“Readers love action, any kind of action, and the story that
does not move, that just sits there justly labeled by some
editors as MEGO – My Eyes Glaze Over.”
William Blundell, The Art and Craft of Feature Writing
action

6. People like stories about people
Use anecdotes; they are important for 3 reasons
1. They take a general topic and demonstrate it to the reader
through a specific situation.
2. They show people doing things so readers can see them, empathize
with them and imagine themselves in the same situation.
3. They make stories more interesting, add credibility and
believability
anecdotes

7. “My working habits are simple: long periods of
thinking, short periods of writing.” Ernest Hemingway
Ideas come from your experiences, observations and
conversations.
- Get out more. Walk, talk, look, listen
Events are not stories
ideas and angles

8. blundell chain
Navy Budget
Reduced
Ship maintenance
deferred
Sailors to do
more upkeep
maintenance
Ships spend more
money on
Maintenance
Command
Budgets reduced
Less money for
departments
Less trained
Sailors
Less money for
training
Less money for
departments
High risk
evolutions
become riskier
Shipboard Safety
decreased
Minor
Maintenance
deferred
Minor
Maintenance
deferred
Ship deployments
extended
Extra stress on
ships, crew
Maintenance
deferred b/c
deployment
Sailor retention
decreases
Shipboard
manning
decreases
Takes longer to
accomplish task
Longer work hours
= less sleep = more
tired Sailors
Takes longer to
accomplish task
Longer work hours
= less sleep = more
tired Sailors

9. ladder of abstraction
Damage Controlman Fireman John Doe
Sailors in DCFN John Doe’s Flying Squad
Sailors aboard DCFN’s ship
All Firefighters – military and civilian
All Sailors
Americans
All of Humanity
Everything there is
Your story = Sailor saves ship,
people by putting out fire
Action: DCFN John Doe leads flying squad to the Aft Main
Machinery Room which is on fire.
Character: DCFN Doe
Complication: First real fire, overcoming fear of failure
Resolution: Leads hose team to extinguish fire
Story exits on a continuum from the absolute concrete
to the abstract.
DCFN also represents all the other Flying Squad
Sailors. This story also talks to what they
accomplished. Description is more generalized
though… “They wore FFEs, looked through face shields
attached to their yellow helmets….”
DCFN also represents all the Sailors on the ship. They
all were affected/worried by the fire.
DCFN also represents all Sailors. We’ve been there. We
relate. We respect. Same thing with all firefighters.
DCFN’s struggles of fear, wanting to save others,
wanted to be challenged, tested… they apply to all
Americans and humans. We relate.
Great story moves us up and down the
ladder of abstraction with ideas, themes that
give us all something to relate with…

10. Good stories come from good research
- Read, ask, read more
If you can’t explain your story in one sentence, you
don’t have a workable idea
ideas and angles

11. Good research = good stories
Research past stories on the subject
Get bio information first; know who you’re interviewing
Conduct pre-interviews with many people around the story
Interviewing
Interviews aren’t conducted to just find quotes;
Interviews are conducted so you can understand the story
(and find anecdotes and quotes that breathe life into the story)
research and interviews

12. Interviewing basics
• Prepare a long list of questions you can’t find through research
• Phrase questions so they encourage the subject to express opinions and
feelings
• Don’t crowd the interview – give plenty of time for the subject to answer
and don’t ‘guide’ them to an answer
• Ask questions that elicit anecdotes
• Cluster questions into categories to keep their thought in one area at a
time
• Listen to the answers and try to ask follow-up questions
• Take notes about body language
• After the interview, take time to write down your observations during the
interview.
– How did the person talk? Fast? Slow? Deliberate? Did they take time to think first
and then answer? Reserved? Energetic? Rapid-fire?
– What were the mannerisms of the subject? Foot-tapping? Always checking email?
Relaxed? Warm?
– What were the subjects facial features? Kind, weathered? Quick to smile?
research and interviews

13. Authenticity
• We are there each day. Our world is normal for us, but exotic for most
others. Observe the surroundings. Make the SCENE part of your story.
– Written pieces: Use specific language to set the scene
– Audio pieces: Give me natsound bursts to fill my mind with what’s going on
– Video pieces: give me NATSOUND bursts to fill my mind with what’s going on
Specificity
• Use concrete words that add meaning
– Use specific nouns to add clarity
– Use specific verbs to add vigor
Details matter
• Was the subject wearing a flight jacket, or a flight jacket with 32
patches from her five deployments in eight years.
• Was the subject dragging tie chains across the flight deck, or was the 140
pound Sailor lugging 50 pounds of tie down chains strung over her neck
color: observation and details

14. • Entice me first
• Tell me people stories
• Understand what your theme is
• How does your story relate to people at different levels, different places
– The best stories are ones that people can relate to… they tell us
something about being a person
• Show me, don’t tell me
• Story = Action + Character + Complication + Resolution
putting it all together