Читать книгу Listen Wise - Monica Brady-Myerov - Страница 11

Writing in an audio story is as critical as the sound. In the gorilla story, I used words to describe the scene, explain the silence, and enhance what audio I had. Simple, direct sentences work best in audio storytelling. Good writing for audio is active and succinct. Later, I would learn how critical this is for students to learn, too, as they develop their own writing skills. Audio journalism can teach them valuable lessons about active voice, descriptive writing, and perspective.

Now a word about video. At this point you might be thinking, what about a video clip of the gorillas or someone crying or shouting in anger? The next time you see an emotional scene on TV, mute the audio. What happens? You lose connection with the scene unfolding. Hearing stimulates emotions. Additionally, seeing a video can turn you into a bit of a lazy listener. For example, if you're shown a picture of a crying mother, you see her grief as only hers, rather than forming a mental picture of what she might look like using a composite of things familiar in your life. I explore in more detail how audio engages the mind later in the book.

When writing for audio, you can't rely on pictures to tell the story, you must use your words in the most descriptive way possible. Writing for broadcast involves using shorter, more active sentences. Newspaper or magazine writing often employs long complex sentences, but that does not work for audio. Writing for broadcast needs to take into account that you need to breathe while reading, creating natural pauses. People are usually doing another activity while listening, so I was often told to write at a fourth-grade level. At the time, I didn't know there existed reading measures such as the Lexile Framework for Reading, but I understood I needed to make my sentences short, declarative, and straightforward. Most people listen to a story, or a conversation, only once, often not giving it their full attention, and can't rewind to hear it again. It must be easy to understand the first time.