Hearty, heartfelt, human interest writing :

Off-beat stories from a ‘Bleeding Heart’

Gaston de ROSAYRO

News reporters, or any journalist as a matter of that, may be asked to occasionally write a human interest story. These are ‘soft news’ pieces feature stories about events or issues that get people’s interest in a general way. Such stories take a break from the more serious news material to highlight something light or funny, something unusual and often something inspiring.

They tickle the fancy, cause feelings of sorrow or pity or amazement. Human interest stories deal with the qualities of love, hate, compassion, sympathy, curiosity, anger and grief.

When it is time to pen one of these more humane news stories, a beginner might have questions about how to go about this kind of reporting. Some common guidelines apply to writing most human interest stories. 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 are 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 would not have been likely to have gone through in their own lives. They involve a common, easily-identifiable problem.

Without conflict, there is 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 is running through the mind of people at this very moment. The most visible approach, however, is to aim for some controversial topic in the hopes of motivating the audience towards an action.

An example would be an article on a small family living in fear of a local brutal gang which terrorises a village. Through the lens of a group of people, the article would also be aiming to raise awareness of a social wrong and trying to urge the audience towards an action (in this case, pressuring police to crack down on the gang).

If you have all that down pat, then your topic might indeed do very well as a human interest piece. Now comes the hard part - actually writing them. How to write human interest stories.

Your approach when writing a human interest story will be different to a news story or general feature. Remember, the story is about the person, so it would be good to name them in the introduction - something you might not normally do in a straight news story. Your aim is to create mood, emotion and atmosphere, so it is acceptable to use adjectives (brave, heartbroken, plucky), without going over the top. Try to enable the reader to experience the emotion of the story. If it is sad, your reader should feel sad. If it is funny, your reader should laugh.

When producing such pieces, you have to aim to entertain as much as communicate. Appeal to your readers’ sensitivities by allowing them to experience the same emotions as the primary characters of the article. You have to increase the psychological volume a bit to turn readers into vicarious participants, ultimately seeing themselves in the characters’ shoes.

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. Use plenty of quotes. Let the persons tell the story themselves with as little interruption as possible.

Use the ‘delayed drop’ as they say in the business. Go for the Alfred Hitchcock technique by using up two or three paragraphs painting the picture, building suspense, before revealing the angle in the fourth paragraph.

Newspapers may want to put a ‘human face’ on the news by covering a story more in depth. Sometimes called ‘the story behind the story’ or an emotional news story, the human interest story may look at news in a more personal way. This can be achieved especially by interviewing people affected or creating a report on one or several people facing challenges that have been covered in the news.

The goal is to engage the reader emotionally in presentation of the news.

It is common to see at least one such off-beat story on a nightly TV news broadcast or in your morning newspaper.

Unlike in straight journalism, where it is hoped that journalists will remain objective, human interest stories may be more flexibly written. Sometimes details of a human interest story are so intense, that the journalist would hardly need to insert any editorial information.

At other times, coverage of these stories has a decided slant, and the decision to include a human interest story to flesh out other reports may be deliberate. Putting a human face on bare facts can move an audience to react in a certain way, and push an agenda by the media source that is not at all objective.

There is some contention that these stories should not make it into objective journalism at all, but many people find them beneficial, moving or entertaining diversions from bare facts news. A human interest story does not always have to be deeply moving, and may be added more for entertainment value.

Most such stories focus on ordinary people doing extraordinary things. They must carry an emotional and personal appeal that draws our attention. Everyone loves to hear and read stories about heroes, and human interest stories frequently tell these stories. In journalism, human interest stories are commonly used as sidebars juxtaposed with the hard news main story.

When focusing on the human interest aspect make sure the ‘feel’ and emotion you put into the article are critical. Do not think about writing a ‘science’ story - think about writing a ‘human interest’ story. Be clear about why you are writing the article. Is it to inform, persuade, observe, evaluate or evoke emotion?

Write in the active voice. In active writing, people do things. Passive sentences often have the person performing the action at the end of the sentence. Accuracy is important. You can interpret and embroider but not fudge. Avoid clichés (cutting edge, world beating, revolutionary ) and sentimental statements especially at the end of your article.

Some journalists describe human interest stories simply by saying they are stories about people and events with which the reader can identify. If the occurrence is unusual, strange, or has never happened before, it is likely to be newsworthy. People like to laugh, so some incident that is humorous is likely to be reported. Make sure, however, that such reports do not become hurtful or inappropriate in content.

Then there are the many waspish remarks made by the right wing about how all journalists are bleeding heart liberals. To that I say, what else do you expect? We are exposed to so much suffering and need and greed and corruption. On our best days, we try and do something to rectify it.

Bleeding heart? Call me crazy, but that has never struck me as much of an insult. It is a label I do not mind being slapped with. To me, it describes someone who cares about the way other people live, who sees injustice in gross inequities. Someone who does not think of themselves first in every situation, who tries hard to banish the “Me, me, me” tendencies that are all too common in society.

And should my grandkids grow up to have a bleeding heart, .I will be one proud Grand Guru!