Tom Huang

Tom Huang

Tom Huang, the Sunday and enterprise editor at the Dallas Morning News, offered some good ideas for sharpening storytelling skills during a writing panel at last week’s Asian American Journalists Convention in Washington, D.C.

Here are Tom’s five tips for developing a storyteller’s eye– and heart:

  1. Immerse yourself in other story forms – movies, comic books, songs, short stories, poems, plays, operas. Pay attention to the choices the storytellers make.
  2. Shadow a photojournalist and watch how they capture pivotal moments.
  3. Visit a day care center and a nursing home. The young and the elderly can be difficult to write about, and you’ll need to adapt your interviewing skills and know that quiet observation is key.
  4. Travel abroad. Venturing into an unfamiliar place opens the storyteller’s eyes.
  5. Stay away from your phone (or any screen) for a little while. You will begin to see stories all around you.

What would you add to his list?

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