Journalism and creative writing 2

In journalism and creative writing part 1 I said that journalists `scan ahead’ when they are writing their stories. When they are typing one part of a sentence they are simultaneously looking at the next part of the sentence, considering which nouns, adverbs and adjectives to use in it.
But really, this was going too fast. I forgot to mention one vital item. And that is, what about the composition of the sentence? The shape and structure of it? How it flows? Surely he has to consider this before he can start to consider which nouns, adjectives and adverbs to use?

Picturing the story

Well, the answer to this is, he has considered it. He has a `picture in his mind’ of how the sentence will look, and it is in his mind before he starts to consider which nouns, adjectives and adverbs to use in it.
Let’s say he has just started to write a story about a politician called Harriet Smith. Another politician called John Jones has accused her corruption, but she denies it.
He will start forming his picture of the sentence by trying to decide what its subject is. Is it Harriet Smith or is it John Jones?
At high speed, within a couple of seconds, he will probably decide that Harriet Smith is the subject of the sentence, so he will start it by writing something like: `Veteran\Highly respected Senator\Minister Harriet Smith….etc. etc.’
Why has he decided that she is the subject of the sentence? It’s because he has decided that she is the main character in the story, and the reason for this is, she is the most newsworthy character in the story.
There might be several reasons why she is the most newsworthy, but one reason will almost certainly be because she is in a crisis situation, and people who are in a crisis situation are almost always more interesting than anyone else.
So he might write something like: `Veteran\Highly respected Senator\Minister Harriet Smith has angrily denied allegations of corruption,’ and in the next few sentences will explain who is making the allegations and why.
Notice the short, terse, structure of the sentence. He has decided that the story is so powerful that a short terse sentence is enough, that it conveys just enough information and is intriguing enough to make the reader want to read more.

Copy the journalist

How can all of this be applied to creative writing? What has this journalist done that creative writers might want to do? 
One thing he has done is immediately decide who will be the main character in the story. Also, he has immediately decided that she has the right qualities - her crisis situation - to be the main character in the story. Finally, he has decided on the sentence structure.

Story decision-making

Creative writers don’t always do this; quite often they don’t immediately decide who will be the main character in the story, quite often they don’t immediately know what qualities this main character has and quite often they can’t decide how to structure their sentences - how to make their readers want to read more.

Equal rights for creative writers!

But this is being unfair to creative writers. The only reason why this journalist can decide who is to be the main character in his story is because this information has been supplied to him.
She is a well-known Senator\Minister, he doesn’t have to do any research on her. Also, he doesn’t have to devise a crisis, it’s been supplied to him. A creative writer, on the other hand, has to create these things.

Conclusions

So what can we learn from him? Well, we might conclude that it’s important to decide right from the start who is to be the main character in a story, and also decide right from the start what qualities - what crisis - this main character is to confront.
We might also conclude that this crisis has to be so powerful that a short terse sentence at the start of the story conveys just enough information and is intriguing enough to make readers want to read more.