| | While I was on the Culture Desk earlier this month, I edited Andrew Limbong’s obituary on funk singer Betty Davis. It was a story he pulled together in just a few hours for All Things Considered, and it came out so beautifully — despite confusion about the musician’s birth date and scant sources of actualities from the reclusive musician — that I asked him to share his secrets on writing obits.
Andrew follows a general outline for such stories: Start with “an indicative cut of their work — bonus points if you can slide in some tape of them talking about it. Then get all the boring and number-y bio stuff out of the way. Then move on to vibes that reinforce or add more depth to whatever idea you put at the top.”
Andrew started the obit on the iconoclastic singer with the startling opening line of the song, “He Was a Big Freak,” “mostly because I thought it was funny, TBH, but it also encapsulated everything about her.” Then he found a clip of a friend describing Davis’ quieter side, and pulled a cut of her ideas about the music business from a rare interview he was able to find.
“These were my tentpoles, and everything else is just in service of getting from one to the other to the next,” Andrew said. That approach, where you pick your tape and everything else is “bridge copy,” helps with the second guessing of “'oh do I need this? Can I work that in?’ because the answer to those questions is usually no.”
I asked him if he had any other insights to share, and this was his reply: “This is gonna sound corny, but I try to remember two things. One, breathe. Two, it’s just radio.” |
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Reduce methane emissions, reduce global warming. This GIJN webinar offers ways to identify and report on methane culprits. Yes, we KNOW cow burps emit methane. Haha. Are you 12?
Thursday, Feb. 24, 6 a.m. PT/9 a.m. ET
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Thursday, Feb. 24, 9 a.m. PT/noon ET
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Thursday, Feb. 24, 11 a.m. PT/2 p.m. ET
Inclusive Reporting Masterclass (Register here)
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Thursday, Feb. 24, 2:30 p.m. PT/5:30 p.m. ET
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Thursday, Feb. 24, 6:30 p.m. PT/9:30 p.m. ET
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Friday, Feb. 25, 11 a.m. PT/2 p.m. ET |
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