International Food Bloggers Conference 2012

Details & StructureKathleen Flinn

The “Who Cares Test” Focus, Theme and POV Service vs. Story Leads that make people read Supporting Details The “Magic” Middle – keep people reading Cliffs, slopes and speed bumps Why you want a memorable ending

In this session, we’ll discuss

“Sure, it’s interesting. But who cares?”

Dr. James J. Nyka, journalism professor

The competition is stiff in food blogging.

You build readership when you engage readers

Most people write food blogs because they have something to say/share – I believe you can push yourself and say it better.

Why do you care?

It takes a lot to pass the Who Cares Test when you rely on food blogging’s overused compositional crutches:

The Grandmother/mother post

The Weather report post (“It’s (spring, summer) so it’s time for (asparagus, peaches)”

The farmer’s market post(“I went to the farmer’s market and got some peaches..”)

The photo “dump” post (photos and a bit of text)

“Crutches”

What is your focus?

Is your entire point really about getting peaches from the farmer’s market? Or getting out of the house?

What is your theme? Food writing can be about more than a pie, consider a larger story: about friendship, loneliness, the hassles of motherhood, the fleeting nature of summer…

Consider changing your point of view What is it like to sell peaches at a farmer’s market? What is the seller’s point of view? The millions of question, people touching food they intend to buy… ?

Focus, theme and POV

The Power of Opening Lines

You get one chance to make a good impression

“Strawberries are in season.”

“I saw (berries, squash, etc.) at the farmer’s market and decided to bring some home…”

“I made this dish a few weeks ago, but my mouth is still drooling looking at the photos.”

“Did you know… ?” (Odds are the readers knows, and that it’s also an uncreative lead)

Do these pass “The Who Cares Test?”

“When I heard a knock on my apartment door a couple of weeks ago, I did what any normal person would do. I hid.”

http://foodforthethoughtless.com/2012/07/blueberry-oatmeal-cookie-recipe/

A classic “…and then what happened” lead propels people to find out what’s coming next.

…and then what happened?

“There are more recipes for

biscuits and gravy in the world than there are boob jobs in Beverly Hills. Many of them are passable, at best.”

http://www.saltyseattle.com/2012/04/make-perfect-biscuits-and-gravy-part-one-the-biscuit/

Humor always works

“Last night as I was cleaning up after dinner I found a piece of basil on the keyboard, stuck between the Z and the X key.

It was tricky to fish it out with a fingernail without holding down one of the keys, a good visual for what it’s like when I’m sitting down to write sometimes. Stuck right there, at the end of the alphabet.”

http://theplumpalate.com/2012/07/26/black-rice-salad-with-shelling-peas/

Moments & Metaphors

“We met over plastic tubs of chickpeas, carrot coins, and croutons.

Even if I‘d wanted to look at him, I couldn’t have. The salad bar’s sneeze guard obscured my view, and Colin’s face was refracted through its surface. But believe me when I tell you, I wasn’t looking at him. I was focused squarely on the task at hand -- spooning kidney beans into my bowl and searching for the freshest clumps of blue cheese…”

http://5secondrule.typepad.com/my_weblog/2012/08/love-at-the-salad-bar.html

A bit of Mystery

Writing Exercise – “The Postcard Turn”You have three lines to pique the interest of

someone about one of your favorite places so they turn the postcard over, hoping for more words

The Magic Middle

Keep it moving and keep readers interested

“The middle starts when the beginning starts to wear off.”

–John Rezek, former articles editor, Playboy

Cliffs: Drop-offs in the story. “Hey, what happened

to the person in the second sentence?”

Slopes: The story goes on too long with a lack of focus, detail or interesting elements

(“The Chatty Neighbor” effect)

Speed bumps: Your story gets confusing, brings up points or facts that make the reader pause, includes dropping in foreign words, references to the obscure

Pitfalls of the Middle

“You can’t let good (peaches, strawberries, etc.) go to

waste, so I decide to make (a pie, a tart, etc.)”

“But first, let me tell you the story of Aunt Rose…” (unrelated to this story, but you go on for 200 words…)

“The good folks at (company name) called and asked if I would make a dish based on this product. I’d never used it, but I did see a recipe for it in a magazine once…”

(Disclosure is important, but uninteresting; consider a standard method of disclosure that doesn’t introduce a speed bump )

Mediocre Middles

“It was a delightful surprise. It also made me realize that I had been acting like a cynical shut-in…”

http://foodforthethoughtless.com/2012/07/blueberry-oatmeal-cookie-recipe/

Insight/Admission

“This week I read that there is a heart-shaped meadow in England. A man there mourned and celebrated the life of his late wife by planting thousands of oak trees on his farm.”

http://theplumpalate.com/2012/07/26/black-rice-salad-with-shelling-peas/

Layer in detail

“Don’t skip steps! Good biscuits and gravy cannot

be whipped up as quickly as the frothy libido of a teenager.”

“…I set out to make a biscuit flakier than Paris Hilton’s driver’s ed attendance record, not just one as fluffy as her ego…”

http://www.saltyseattle.com/2012/04/make-perfect-biscuits-and-gravy-part-one-the-biscuit/

Add in “gold coins”

“Cheryl Sternman tonged a tomato at me.”

http://5secondrule.typepad.com/my_weblog/2012/08/love-at-the-salad-bar.html

Toss in a great quote

“Strangely, I rarely cook for my parents. It

isn’t because I am afraid to, feel that they won’t like my dishes, that they will complain or that my dishes won’t be up to their standards. That isn’t it at all.”

http://www.monicabhide.com/2012/08/why-i-dont-cook-for-my-parents.html

Reinforce the title

Writing Exercise: Halfway through a letterYou have two lines to set up a second beginning – something fun, a new metaphor, a great quote

Ending Elegantly

People remember what they read last

“Most people don’t close it at all. They just sort of let their post end abruptly or trail off into the abyss.”

- Marianne Hale, a novice food blog reader

“Enjoy!”

“I hope you like it.”

“I thought this was great, but tell me what you think!”

“Here’s to you, grandma!” “I’m going to go eat now!”

Can it end better than this?

“Perhaps they’ve knocked again when I was away at work, or perhaps not. Two things are certain, however:

1.) People who bake cookies and leave nice notes for an entire apartment building are not by nature anti-social, so our eventual meeting is an inevitability and 2.) The next time I hear someone knock on my door, I’m answering it. There might be more food involved.”http://foodforthethoughtless.com/2012/07/blueberry-oatmeal-cookie-recipe/

What did you learn?

“…We will need to be together, doing little beautiful things that will eventually grow into something bigger, something that will someday look like the picture we have in mind. We’ll need to work together and eat together. To eat comfort food together. To climb out of our rut at the end of the alphabet, draw a map of the big picture, take a few bites and start planting.”

http://theplumpalate.com/2012/07/26/black-rice-salad-with-shelling-peas/

Bring it full circle

“…Maybe I loved him already, way down in my tippy toes, in a place so hidden it was reachable only by a pair of nondescript, plastic, salad bar tongs, a pair of tongs that knew me better than I knew myself.”

http://5secondrule.typepad.com/my_weblog/2012/08/love-at-the-salad-bar.html

Clarify the metaphor

“I’m going to spare you the sausage making

and gravy coaxing for Part Two, which you can read here. I promise it’s not quite as long, but you will need it if you want to nail biscuits and gravy the way my daddy nailed your mama last night.”

http://www.saltyseattle.com/2012/04/make-perfect-biscuits-and-gravy-part-one-the-biscuit/

Shock & Awe

“Make them remember you”

- The Hunger Games

Tell the same story starting in at least two to three

different places

Go to the supermarket instead of the farmer’s market

Write a post using verbs and descriptive words you’ve never used before

Change the point of view on a story – instead of being you, what does another person in the story see?

Writing Exercises

Howdy Neighbor http://foodforthethoughtless.com/2012/07/blueberry-oatmeal-cookie-recipe/Black rice salad with shelling peashttp://theplumpalate.com/2012/07/26/black-rice-salad-with-shelling-peas/We met over the salad barhttp://5secondrule.typepad.com/my_weblog/2012/08/love-at-the-salad-bar.html

Posts from this session

The Greatest Food Blog Giveaway Ever!

http://www.saltyseattle.com/2012/05/win-it-the-biggest-giveaway-a-food-blogger-has-ever-given-away/

Why I Don’t Cook for My Parentshttp://www.monicabhide.com/2012/08/why-i-dont-cook-for-my-parents.html

Biscuits & Gravy: Part I http://www.saltyseattle.com/2012/04/make-perfect-biscuits-and-gravy-part-one-the-biscuit/

And more…

Enjoy!