By Author Name

Pre-Hole

When writing short-form articles, we tend to apply an element of narrative theory, specifically graphs that can be drawn to analyse the structures of novels and short stories.  

Amuse me—the above graph measures a stereotypical story structure. B and E refer to the beginning and ending of a narrative. G is for Good Fortune, and I is for Ill Fortune, referring to how the events impact our protagonist's life.  The red line is the most interesting however. "Man In Hole" tells the story of a man getting stuck in a hole. Life is good, being in hole bad, getting out of hole is great- and after that experience the man grows a little bit as a person. He learns not to get stuck in holes, doesn't like getting stuck, etc. It's simple and direct.  

In A Hole

To apply the structure to writing articles, let's think of how we can explain an event, experience, obsession, etc., as a hole either for us, the author, or one the reader finds themselves falling into. I want you to think about the idea of delivering information. See... 

The narrative of "Man In Hole" can be told in as little as one sentence or, several: 

"A man fell in a hole, but he got out." 

OR 

"A man fell into a hole. It was a large hole and he got stuck. He was walking down high street to visit friends in Randwick and didn't notice the hole..." 

There are several ways to tell this story, endless ways we can explain the action of a man falling into a hole... you can tell it is out of order, spend more time before or after the hole, and describe what the hole is like or how long it's been there. But at the end of the day, there are three key facts we need to explain for the story to work: 

1. Man wasn't in hole. 

2. Man fell into hole. 

3. Man got out of hole and felt better. 

Use it as a structure to write about an event or observation in an engaging, simple way- to either act as a start or how we explain the entire event. The important thing is to have this narrative arc remain, however, so we can ensure both a story is being told and the touch points of explaining it remain.

Example 1: 

An Arc event stops because the ice cream machine malfunctions.  

 

(PRE-HOLE) 

Yesterday, like clockwork, volunteers for wellness warriors wheel out the ice cream maker. The sun blasts down and while set up continues students walk by, eyeing the set up. Ice-cream is being served. Cone after cone, the line continues to extend further down the quad.  

 

(HOLE) 

However, reports say the event was cut short with a brief Ice Cream machine malfunction. With the machine suddenly stopping, the students were unable to continue to serve the frozen beverages.  

 

(POST-HOLE) 

Yet, students persevered, and the machine got up and running again. The malfunction was a common error and Arc has responded by updating the user manual for new volunteers to use the machine easier. 

Post-Hole

There you have it. You have just learnt how to write a Blitz Article. To summarise, the formula is, 

• Breakdown your topic into: PRE-HOLE, HOLE and POST-HOLE.  

• Consider how much detail is required; 

  • For example, what's the topic? Do you have a deadline? How much of the article do you think someone would read? What is the message of your article?? What is the 'hole'???

• Consider how your communication skills 

  • How can you play with tone 

• Retain an emotional journey 

  • Make sure you're informing, entertaining, analysing 

Author Bio:

The fantastic team at Blitz wrote this. As you have read this how-to guide, you are now guaranteed to write an amazing article with excellent structure and powerful messaging!