From Our Own Correspondent: A writer’s guide

Radio 4’s From Our Own Correspondent is celebrating 60 years on air this month. Some of the BBC’s most distinguished journalists - from Charles Wheeler to the show’s presenter Kate Adie - have filed short, memorable dispatches from every corner of the globe for the programme.

Fondly abbreviated to ‘FOOC’, it has been dubbed the journalist’s equivalent of the “jazz solo”. So is there an art to writing one? In this edited version of a briefing for potential contributors, longstanding editor Tony Grant outlines the team’s top tips, with reference to one classic dispatch from the 2003 archives.

“Honey-hunting in the south-western jungles of Bangladesh is by no means the gentle rural pastime it may sound. It’s a task fraught with danger, and not just because the bees are among the largest and most aggressive in the world.

“With a broad flashing grin, Latif Dhali was the grateful recipient of a pair of white women’s tennis shoes on the last day of our trip to the jungle of Bangladesh. They were given to him by a tourist who had spent a week accompanying him collecting honey from cones amid the stifling heat of the Bangladeshi mangrove forests. Like other honey hunters, he had, up until then, ploughed his way barefoot through the thick vegetation in search of the wild bees that provided him with a living. But now he had a pair of shoes, the first that he had owned in his life.”

So begins The Honey Hunters by Alastair Lawson, the transcript of which survives on the BBC News website.

How are you going to start and finish your piece? A pair of ladies’ tennis shoes could be one way in. They appear at the beginning. Could they appear at the end as well? It’s surprising how often that happens - the end mirroring the beginning.

Equally, a beginning could be a lyrical bit of description; an alarming quote; or a sound effect like the screech of a South African bus conductor (as we once had). But it’s got to pull us in. The way a FOOC ends is just as important as the start.

Remember, essential factual information can go into a cue. Don’t waste three paragraphs describing how you got to the place where the story starts. You can pitch us right into things. More from Lawson:

“Latif Dhali was small and thin, with the skin of a man who had spent most of his time in the great outdoors. The only clothing he had was on his body, which is why a pair of ladies' tennis shoes was such a welcome expansion to his wardrobe.

“He was extraordinarily fit, often running through the jungle in search of the honey cones, shouting with delight every time one was found. When that happens, there's a flurry of activity. Torches are prepared from the abundance of thick vegetation as the smoke irritates the bees and makes them fly away.”

Colour and description. There’s lots in this story of the honey-hunters of the Sundarbans, and it’s a golden rule for most FOOCs. Your story should take listeners to places they haven’t been. Fold in as many sights, smells, tastes, colours, clothes and meals as you can.

And if listeners are to really empathise with your focal character, you’ll need to name him/her, describe them, describe their home, what’s on the walls, what’s on the stove, what their hopes and fears for their children are.

Veteran foreign correspondent and broadcaster Allan Little talks eloquently about the need for a writer to have more than “a pleasing turn of phrase”, but to actually “have something to say”. Another golden rule.

He also thinks if you want to be a good writer, a good story-teller, you have to read books, and not just newspapers. “To use this language well, you have to love it,” he says. “Make time in your life for reading.”

Storytelling is what a FOOC’s about. It needs to be compelling, kept simple too. Be clear and precise. A FOOC needs to be no longer than five minutes maximum, ideally 4’40” - that’s about 750 to 800 words. So don’t fill it with characters, incidents, different stories. A simple, one-subject piece can work best.

Be likeable - listeners have got to want to accompany you on your journey. Or if not likeable, then perhaps irascible, ranting, exceptional, noticeable, different - just not ordinary.

A few more golden rules: 

• Write and rewrite. Make sure it’s written to be spoken - it’s a story, not a news report, so use your own language
• Read it aloud as you write - you’ll know if it sounds too formal, or if you can’t reach the end of a sentence without running out of breath or losing the point
• Be suspicious of the adjective and avoid boring, unimaginative clichés (‘he cheated death‘, ’death came calling’)
• Don’t use slang. There are perfectly good English words and phrases that won’t go out of date moments after they’re written
• Recording a five-minute monologue is demanding! The key is variation - fast/slow happy/sad etc in your voice.

Let’s talk about endings. Ending is not the same as just stopping talking. Your tale needs a punchline, a moral, a sum-up, a twist. A cracking good quote can work, but be very careful to signpost whose words these are - a listener often can’t hear the quote marks.

And just as we often lop off the initial paragraphs of over-written scripts, so we sometimes find that the penultimate paragraph has a better line for the out than the last one. Think about chopping it back. Here’s how Lawson does it:

“For a while, Latif Dhali would have been able to do that job with the added luxury of a pair of women's tennis shoes to protect his feet against the notorious Sundarbans thorns.

“But tragically he would not have had long to relish the experience. Within 12 hours of receiving them, he was attacked and killed by a tiger. But, for a short while, they were his pride and joy: one of the few indulgences he ever would have experienced.”

To sum up, a FOOC top 10:

1. Have something to say - something you’ve not already said in news reports/documentary

2. Keep it simple

3. Colour and description are what make a FOOC. Helps us empathise with your characters and picture your people and places

4. We love descriptions of food, clothing, smells, sights; jokes; wordplay - puns, slogans, figures of speech, wonderful foreign expressions; sound effects; irony; energy

5. We hate NGO-speak, mention of cameramen, taxi drivers, stolen childhoods, slang and clichés like ’vows‘ or ’ire‘, newspaper-style descriptions (‘“the 33-year-old-local resident’)

6. This is a story not a news script - you’re a storyteller as well as a reporter

7. Take extra time - hold those words up to the light, read and re-read

8. Read more than newspapers: books, poetry, movie scripts, comedy are all sources of creative ideas

9. Think pictures - take photos if you’re on the road and want to get your story online

10. Everyone can be a great storyteller. But it needs work.

Listen again to:

A discussion programme at London’s Frontline Club to mark FOOC’s 60-year milestone

The first of two special anniversary editions of the programme

Watch our video on From Our Own Correspondent with Stephen Evans

How to craft a radio dispatch - Jonathan Marcus

Principles of good writing: Allan Little

Our wider section on writing skills

BBC News style guide