“The best writer’s seek surprise, delight in what they do not expect to find. They come to the story with focus, an expectation, but they treasure the contradiction, the traitor fact, the quotation that goes against the grain, the unexpected that reveals” Murray. Tension of a story is “reporting for surprise.” The surprise is very important. The surprise alone sets the tone of the piece, making the piece stand out among the crowd.
Surprise does not have one definition, but it is the portion of the story that keeps the reader’s interest. Murray does not directly define surprise in the literature; however, he gives tips on how to obtain various stories with a level of surprise. Murray starts with the writer’s ten senses. The senses help the writer perfect a master piece by answering a few questions. The questions being answered are “what it is, what it isn’t, what should it be, what’s going on, and what does it mean.” The ten senses are as follows: sight, hearing, touch, taste, smell, change, effect, conflict, context, and self.
The senses can somewhat be commonsense. However, some of the senses have a deeper meaning to Murray. For instance, sight is simply a gesture, reaction, or expression that is or is not happening. Change refers to the indefinite change that occurs in our society. Reporters are to catch the change before, during, and after to grasp the effects from the change if any. Context must have detail and significance. Readers need to feel like they are in the situation. Background description allows readers to place themselves into the story. Self refers to personality. As a reporter and writer, self must be set at an objective point of view while reporting accurately with the truth. Self can be challenging when feelings and thoughts of a personal nature are molded into a suitable attitude.
Murray also suggests readers always have questions. These questions must be answered by the writer throughout the story every time a story is written. A reader should never feel that a question has been unanswered. Murray advises students to answer questions a reader would ask in the order the reader would ask them. In the text, Murray uses an example of the reader’s questions in regard to a school add on. The questions to keep in mind for this particular story are: What does it cost? Where is the money coming from? Why is the addition needed? How will it help the students and teachers? and Is there a temporary alternative resolution that is less costly?
I believe Murray’s direction toward surprise stems from the idea that “The reader’s appetite for fresh stories is never satisfied and as soon as you get an idea it is used up.” Reporters must be able to see what is new. There are so many stories about the same things. These days, reporters have to be able to take a generic story that everyone runs and discover a new light for it to be shown. It is the reporter’s responsibility to give the readers what they are looking for. Every story can be exciting and interesting. The report needs to find the right angle and run with it, keeping in mind the creative nature of writing and the audience.
This can be very tricky to do while keeping it accurate and professional. The writer must add personal feelings and thoughts along with an element of surprise that will draw more readers. Again, Murray has supplied us with ideas to help bring the surprise out. He recommends some good learning tools such as: brainstorming, mapping, changing your point of view, pursuing a new interest, keeping a notebook, composting, role-playing, reading magazines, looking for the authorities, trying another genre, reading outside personal interest, free writing, and thinking like an editor. These are just some pointers to get the writer to think about the story as a whole and choose the right moment for surprise.
Murray explains that unspoken gestures and surroundings are important. He states, “Listen to what your hearing not what you expect to hear.” Journalists, writers, and reporters have to train themselves to listen. I think we get caught up in what we think the story should sound or look like without taking into account the little details that could add the sense of surprise. We put our feelings and thoughts into play before the story is even told. Instead, we should take the story, the truth, feelings, and details along with our professionalism and create a great story. All of these things should be considered not just the story.
In order to find the surprise in old stories, you have to pursue a new interest and maybe change the point of view. Some ways to do this can be change the angel, focus on a single person, and look at the historical, social, and/or political perspective. It is very important to remember background not foreground. I have focused on ways to report for surprise, but how then do we find the tension associated to the surprise? Murray also gives us examples on how to focus on the tension. The writer must focus on the elements in a line. Each element should be given just as importance as its counterpart. The elements are tension, conflict, irony, energy, play, discovery, music, form, and ease.
I have learned that qualities of a good story include information, significance, focus, context, faces, form, voice, need, habit, tools, attitude, limitations, and experiment. As a writer being able to find a niche in writing that surpasses the “normal/regular” stories, Murray’s “surprise” in a story is personal to me. I have learned that this is what makes the story stand out. This gives an element of tension and helps the reader to be able to feel the words written on paper. The reader begins to imagine himself/herself in the story. He/she begins to relate to the characters and find empathy, joy, sadness, and apprehension. This is the essence of a good writer.
