Writing Online and Audio Stories

Book excerpt: Guiding readers through the unique challenges and choices presented by digital publication, this book provides a practical set of tools to help students, creatives, and content professionals craft emotionally engaging nonfiction stories for online readers and listeners. From considering what story to tell, to bringing narratives to life in practice, Anna Faherty explains what gives stories their unique power and demonstrates how to successfully combine techniques from short-stories and screenwriting with journalistic practices like fact checking and verification. Examples from corporate websites, personal blogs, podcasts, and social media set out how to attract and involve readers and listeners, and how to prompt them to take action. Readers will come away with a straightforward framework for planning and crafting storytelling projects and an understanding of text and script development, copyright, and editing. Each chapter includes summaries of key principles and practical writing tips, while case studies share insights from writers’ professional practices – including those who use storytelling to influence customers or advocate for change. Writing Online and Audio Stories is a valuable entry-point for creative writers, podcasters, and professionals in PR and marketing, as well as students undertaking courses such as Digital Writing, Creative Nonfiction and Multimedia Storytelling.