Anatomy of a story: Writing about ice cream
... and lessons learned from a very "easy" story...
The Clothesline is written by a real person: Me! I’m Vanessa Chiasson, a writer and business coach based in Ottawa, Canada. I write travel and human interest narratives and I love reading, birds, beach glass, lattes, and nachos.
Workshop News!
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Food For Thought
A colleague recently shared the following post she found on LinkedIn….
“What continues to interest me is the deluge of posts about the business of writing—the most boring part of being a writer. There are virtually no posts about the creative and intellectual parts. Few writers post a great clip and how it got that way.”
No need to mention who posted this – they’re a grumpy-grumpster but they do have a point about the creative and intellectual parts. And it did get me thinking… what kind of creative or intellectual processes can I share? Well, my most recent byline was about ice cream. That’s an intellectual subject, right? Sure! So let’s take a look at the anatomy of an ice cream story... Here's how my latest piece for Cottage Life about an award winning ice cream came together.
First, the editor reached out to me. A well known ice cream company that’s popular with their readers had won a big award and they wanted someone to write a quick turnaround newsy piece about it. If you knew how often I bombard them with ideas about ice cream and other delicious foodie stuff, this isn't exactly a surprise. My interests are well known to their office and I’ve been freelancing for them for a couple of years now. Plus, I was finishing up another unrelated story for them so they knew I was around.
Except... I wasn't around. I was in Hong Kong! I wanted to write this newsy story but would I be able to do so in a time sensitive way? I explained my schedule limitations, told them where I was, the kind of time difference I was dealing with, and that I wouldn’t be able to work on things until I was back in Canada. I was honest and communicated clear boundaries. They were fine with my schedule limitations. Lesson learned: Even time sensitive stories have a bit of flexibility in the deadline.
However, even though I’d be home when I started tackling this story, I knew I’d be dealing with some jet lag. Thankfully, my editor was clear on what they wanted and suggested some ways to go about the story and shared some resources (a recent press release) and suggested who to reach out to (the company’s corporate office). Helpful! This also isn't a surprise - I prioritise working with editors whose communication style is clear and kind. Their directives mean I'm writing more efficiently (yay for me and my time-is-money mantra and yay for them getting what they want). This is invaluable when jet lag might be in play!
First things first: I did a bit of research. I read the press release. I looked up information about the ice cream. I jotted down some quick and dirty notes on how I might frame this piece. I napped and drank some coffee. I reached out to the ice cream company for quotes but their media contact page is an online form. I hate online forms! It's so hard to follow up with ease. But I sent along my questions, making sure that they would give me quotes that offered something new, something that wasn't in their press releases.
Worried by the unpredictability of the online form, I also did a bit of digging. Turns out, the coffee used in the award winning cold brew ice cream comes from a coffee company in my hometown! I sent them an email right away with a few additional questions and patted myself on the back. GOOD JOB ME for reaching out to a source that I strictly didn’t have to connect with.
The coffee company owner responded right away and invited me to call him. DRATS! Unexpected phone calls... fellow introverts, you feel my pain, right? However, I was very grateful for their quick response and, ultimately, what matters most is connecting with a source in a way that works best for them.
Happily, our ten minute phone call was wonderful. He offered rich quotes and his company is now on my radar for a future potential story! He also mentioned that he's always in contact with the ice cream company - do I want him to send them a note and say to look for my questions? Uh, YES, I will take that help!
In the meantime, I sent a quick note to my editor saying I'm still awaiting a response from the ice cream company, however I have great quotes from the coffee company so things are looking good in terms of crafting a dynamic article. I don't normally send little updates like this - this isn’t exactly a crucial news story and they trust me to get the job done on time - but given that it was time sensitive and we were awaiting a corporate response, it seemed prudent.
The next day, the corporate answers came in! Isn’t this ALWAYS the way when you update an editor to say that you’re still awaiting on a source? I quickly pulled together the draft, just a brief 300 words, and sent it in.
The editor got back to me the next day with some edits - and explained why they had changed some things. HURRAH once again for clear and kind communication. The piece was shaping up!
Uh, hang on. What about photos? You see, the cone you see here is just a generic ice cream photo from my regular life. It's not the product we're talking about. It's getting late on a Friday afternoon, but I sent a quick note to the corporate source. Do they have any media images? They do! Forward to my editor.
Within the hour, the piece is live and my invoice has been sent. Here’s the final result.
This 300-or-so word piece paid $125 and took about three hours of work, from those initial emails confirming the assignment to the final steps of sending my sources a thank you email once everything was done.
What can we all take away from this?
First, communication is everything and kindness matters.
Second, even for an “easy” piece (and this piece was easy), there is SO MUCH that happens behind the scenes.
Third, if you get the chance to write about ice cream, do it.
Happy weekend, friends.
Vanessa