Home -> Law Blog Directory -> Legal Writing Blogs -> Writing Tools

Legal Writing

: Writing Tools

Live Chat Today: How Do I Decide When I'm Done With My Reporting and Research?

By Roy Peter Clark

One of the hardest things to do is to figure out when it's time to stop reporting and start writing. While it's true that reporting and writing are parts of the same process, it's also true that reporters spend much more time on their research than on other important tasks such as story planning, drafting and revision.

How many investigative reports turned out to be unreadable because the reporters spent a month on the research and less than a day on the writing?

I've devised 10 tests to help you solve this problem. For example, when you hear an important anecdote from more than two sources, it may be time to wind down the reporting and to climb into the drafting cockpit. So please join us to chat about writing, reporting, time management, planning and creating the best possible fit between research and storytelling.  

Join us Thursday, May 6, at 3 p.m. ET. for a live chat on this topic.

Twitters can tweet questions to #poynterchats before or during the chat.

You can revisit this link at any time to replay the chat after it has ended.

Full post as published by Writing Tools on May 06, 2010 (boomark / email).