Tell 'Life Truths'

By JILL GEISLER
Poynter Leadership & Management Group Leader

While you are looking for the little details that make a story special, you may find what I call "life truths." A "life truth" is a piece of common wisdom, something in life that we all understand. Woven into your story, it resonates with the viewer or reader.

Small Stories, Universal Truths

In Search of Story, tips from Jan Winburn with accompanying features: • Catch of a Lifetime • A Lesson in the Cards • One Good Thing After Another • The Perfect Dress • Thoroughly Modern Madam • Tricks Up Her Sleeve Tell Life Truths by Jill Geisler Make Routine Stories Special by Steve Buttry Visible News, Invisible Stories by John Sweeney

• Hot dogs taste better at a ball game.
• Parents aren't supposed to outlive their children.

Within the context of a story, there are life truths. In a story about a program that gives gift packages of clothes and school supplies to homeless children, the reporter wanted to end with a reminder that the children still had serious needs. So she wrote "but homes don't come gift-wrapped." She wrote a life truth.

When a reporter told the story of an all-day retirement party for a store's popular greeter, he included the fact that cake and coffee was served. To transition to the end of the story, the reporter wrote "the coffee only lasts so long," and used the little life truth to help us bid farewell to the man.

Look for the life truths as you gather details for your story. The life truths provide a common ground for your story and your viewer to share. They make your story believable.