15. Clouds of smoke and showers of burning embers spread over the city. (Further details follow. The foregoing, with the headlines, fills one column.)
(A laboratory guide to the analysis of the story:
Paragraph 1.--Note that the essential points are summarized in the opening sentence. There is no attempt to describe the “lurid flames,” no philosophizing, but a plain, terse account of what happened--the result of the fire. A brief statement of the cause follows. Often a story of this kind begins coming into the office just before an edition goes to press. If the story is constructed on the right plan, the lead can be sent to the composing room as a complete story for that edition, while the rest is put into type to be added in succeeding editions.
Paragraph 2.--Further details concerning the loss of life. Observe how the elements of greatest interest, those relating to persons, not things, are kept uppermost. Temporarily the fire itself is ignored; what the reader wants to know about is the effect of the fire on its victims. So, too, the destruction of the factory, under ordinary conditions worthy of being “played up” in the lead because of the heavy property loss, is passed over as of minor consequence. Detailed information about the victims is properly given early in the story, to answer the questions that first come into the minds of their families and friends.
Paragraph 3.--Here the name of the deputy fire chief, who was hurt while on duty, is singled out for special mention.
Paragraph 4.--Detailed story of the fire begins. The facts here told indicate the magnitude of the disaster.
Paragraphs 5 and 6.--Further human-interest details.
Paragraphs 7 and 8.--Note the short sentences. The story moves swiftly from fact to fact. The writer is telling what happened, without commenting on it.
Paragraph 9.--Human-interest feature deemed worthy of a prominent place in the story.
Paragraph 10.--Effective description of the quick spread of the fire by means of incident. At this point the “fine writer” might have lugged in his artillery of adjectives. Note the opposite method--the right news method--of telling specific details.
Paragraph 11.--Continuation of the same method. “The elevator made one trip, but took down no passengers and never came back,” is finely descriptive.