6.4: Story Structure

All stories have a structure in the same way that people have a spine – it is something that holds the story together in an ordered way. Without a structure, stories would be a jumble of facts with nothing to hold them together. Structure is essential for stories to be understandable and meaningful, but not all stories should be structured in the same way. Good writers choose the most suitable shape for the story they are telling. One of the best ways to learn about story structures is to try to identify how the structures discussed below are used in news reporting you see around you. When reading news stories, try to identify which of the four structures below the journalist used.

Inverted pyramid

Many news stories begin with the most newsworthy information, following a traditional story structure developed more than 100 years ago. The “inverted pyramid” form puts the most important information at the top, followed by other information in descending order of importance. This shape is useful when reporting important or breaking news – when timeliness is of the essence. If you are the first to report a significant development, you will want to tell the audience what has happened right at the top of your story. A report on a massive storm and flood damage – such as the April 2022 floods in KwaZulu-Natal, for example – would likely begin with the death toll and the location of the heaviest damage.

Writers who do not use this structure when it is called for may be accused of “burying the lead”, making it more difficult for the audience to find out what the story is about. Like all news stories, those using the inverted-pyramid structure should provide the reader with the most important information right at the start of the story. If you do not get to the point quickly, the reader may think you could not identify anything newsworthy. When writing your lead (remember, we can also call this the intro), keep thinking about the 5 W’s and the H; if you can put most of the 5 W’s and the H in the lead already, it would be a good intro.

In the inverted-pyramid structure, information following the intro expands or develops the point that is made in the lead. In the case of the heavy-storm example above, the writer might describe the scene of the worst devastation and then include quotes from a survivor or an emergency worker. Supporting paragraphs would elaborate on the topic, filling in details and providing background on the storm, for example, why the flooding was so severe, why the rain was so heavy, why there was so much damage, where damage occurred, etc. Towards the end of the story, you might refer to other storms that happened in the area before. This is not important detail about the current storm and could be removed from the story without taking away any of the most important information. This is one of the reasons why the inverted pyramid structure is popular – it is possible for editors to cut the story (make it shorter) from the bottom by simply removing the last few paragraphs. Editors know they will not remove important information this way.

Below is a graphic representation of the inverted pyramid:

The article below from GroundUp is a news article written in the inverted-pyramid style. You can easily identify the inverted pyramid – the introduction contains the most important information. You can read the original article online here.

Article from GroundUp

Learners must get meals during Covid-19 pandemic, court orders

Minister and MECs to provide detailed plans within a month

21 July 2021 | By Tania Broughton News | South Africa

Minister of Basic Education Angie Motshekga and eight provincial education departments have been ordered by a court to provide meals to learners who need them during the Covid-19 pandemic. You can identify most of the 5Ws and the H in the intro. Who: the minister and provincial education departments; What: court order to provide food; When: 21 July 2021, it is in the dateline, just below the headline of the story; Where: South Africa, this is implied but not stated directly, the story is about the South African minister; Why: learners need food during the pandemic; How: the minister and education departments must provide meals.

From here the story provides additional information and details, on order of importance: The negotiated settlement, made an order of court, has put Motshekga and the provincial education MECs on terms to produce, within one month, a “realistic and practical” plan to provide qualifying learners with a daily meal during the pandemic.

Equal Education (EE), which launched the court proceedings, says it will be closely monitoring and evaluating the revised plans “in the spirit of cooperation and with the shared interest of putting learners first” and to ensure the successful rollout of the National Schools Nutrition Programme (NSNP).

This week, EE and two Limpopo schools sought an urgent order from the Gauteng Division of the High Court, Pretoria against the Minister and the MECs, claiming they were in breach of a previous order granted in July last year, that they ensure that all qualifying learners, whether attending school or not, were given a daily meal.

The most recent statistics in March this year, showed that some 1.5 million learners were still going hungry, EE said in its court papers.

EE and the schools said the Minister and the MEC’s were also in breach of the conditions of the July 2020 order, that they report back to the court on progress every month. In this regard, EE asked the court to grant an order that, with the exception of the MEC of Education for the Free State, they be directed to provide reasons as to why they should not be held in contempt of court and sent to jail or fined.

EE wanted an order giving Motshekga and the MECs a month to formulate and implement revised “realistic” school feeding scheme plans, detailing any challenges, and with proper roll-out directions.

In a joint statement on Wednesday, EE and its legal representatives SECTION27 and Equal Education Law Clinic, said in response to the urgent court application, the respondents’ legal representatives had proposed a negotiated settlement which had now been made an order of court.

“It contains clear commitments for the existing delivery of the NSNP to be revised and for reasonable time frames for implementation,” the statement said.

The court order states that the plan will take into consideration the challenges experienced so far in delivering the NSNP during Covid-19; the need for realistic and responsive plans that ensure every qualifying learner receives a meal - either through hot meals or food parcels - under the NSNP; the need to feed every qualifying learner during the school calendar year, regardless of whether schools are closed due to COVID-19 or whether learners are at home because of a rotational timetable; and, the need for communication plans that ensure that all learners and schooling stakeholders are aware that meals are being provided, the manner in which meals will be provided, and the availability of scholar transport where applicable.

The plan must also include the steps taken by the education authorities to comply with their obligations, and when each step will be taken.

The first report must be filed within one month and then further reports must be filed monthly.

“This order is a victory for learners’ rights to basic nutrition, basic education, equality and dignity,” the statement read.

“It is a victory for over nine million learners and the millions of households whose food security has been compromised during the Covid-19 lockdown and the current unrest within South Africa.” There is no ending to summarise the story. The story simply ends with another quote.

The T structure

The T structure has become popular in the online environment. This structure, like the inverted pyramid, provides the most important news in the introduction (this is signified by the horizontal line of the T). This is important because, in the online environment, you need to tell the readers quickly what the story is about, otherwise they will not read it.

The online environment is full of choices for the reader; they can go anywhere with the click of a button. If a story’s introduction is not interesting, readers may just click elsewhere. But once they start reading, they have a reason to continue. You can then tell the story in any way you like, for example, as a narrative (traditional story format, from beginning to end) or by using an anecdote and then telling the story (Dube, 2003). This structure is now also used in printed media.

Below is a graphic illustration of the T structure:

The story at this link by Al Jazeera is an example of the T-structure being used in practice. The writer provides the most important information in the intro – many months after a huge earthquake in Peru, people are still homeless. The story then follows a free narrative by jumping back to the elections a year earlier, discussing people’s hopes and expectations during the elections., before jumping back to the present again.

Hourglass

A modified form of the inverted pyramid is known as the hourglass structure. It begins in a similar fashion, with the most important information, but after a few paragraphs, it takes a turn and becomes a narrative, usually told in chronological order. Using the example about the massive storm in KwaZulu-Natal above, a journalist could start with a hard intro, giving the facts about the storm, provide a few paragraphs of support, and then tell the story of the storm as witnessed by one survivor. This kind of story form requires a clear transition between the opening section and the narrative. The hourglass is a good shape to use when you want to report the news, but you also want to tell a story (Scanlan, 2003).

Below is a graphic representation of the hourglass form:

This story by the BBC, about a couple who was hijacked at sea, is written in the hourglass form. The story starts like an inverted pyramid story, with the most important information, but then it shifts to the hourglass form, a chronological telling by the couple of their story. They describe the events from beginning to end. The writer mostly uses the couple’s quotations to tell the story. There is a clear transition between the first part of the story and the start of the narrative. After providing the most important information (the 5 W’s and the H), the journalist writes that the couple are back home safely. This indicates that they are back home after their ordeal, and then the narrative part of the story begins with quotes by the couple explaining everything that happened to them from beginning to end.

Endings

News stories have different types of endings, but these are not traditional “endings” like in narrative stories. Narrative stories usually start at the beginning (“once upon a time”) and end with a clear ending (“they lived happily ever after”). News stories do not work like that. In each of the structures discussed above, there are specific ways to end your story, but these structures all have one thing in common: they do not end with a summary of the story. Stories written in the inverted-pyramid form have no real endings; the last paragraph simply contains the least important information. Stories written in the T-structure and the hourglass shape may end in various ways – for example, by returning to the beginning of the story; with a quote; with an anecdote; or in the case of a narrative, with the logical last part of the story. If a story has raised a problem, the ending might offer a solution. Endings can also look towards the future – to what might happen next. Let’s look at the examples we discussed above.

• In the inverted-pyramid example, the story about the children and food ends with a quote that describes the court decision (that school children should get food) as a victory. This is interesting information but not essential to the story. The most important information is about how and when children would get food – this is what is discussed in the body if the story.
• In the T-structure example about the homeless people after the earthquake in Peru, the story ends with a quote that looks towards the future – a survivor says that she still hopes that things will change and get better.
• In the hourglass example about the couple who were abducted at sea, the story ends with a quote by the woman, saying that she always believed they would survive and return home. This is an emotional quote that will linger with the reader.

These examples show that news stories do not simply end with a summary of the story. News stories should either end with the least important information or with an ending that will somehow linger with the reader. This is similar to feature stories; such a story should always end in such a way that the story lingers with the reader, i.e., they still think about the story for a little while after they have read it.