How to Write a News Nugget

Writing news is actually pretty difficult. When you're in print journalism, you have to write your story and worry if it will fit inside the allotted amount of space your particular story has been given (usually about eight inches). Well, it's both easier and harder than that here on theO.

A News Nugget is essentially a flag to alert people that there is a story of interest out there. They condense the story down to the bare minimum to get the point across and provide a link to the story so people can read the full story for themselves.

We don't have a character limit in place for Nuggets, but typically, once a Nugget is published, it should only be about 3-4 lines long on the main page when it's the first Nugget that's seen. That way, it doesn't push all the rest of the content on the main page down a lot. Usually, this means that you have about three average length sentences to get your point across when you're writing. It's a bit difficult, but managable with most articles. To write a fully concise News Nugget takes some practice, but a lot of our members have got it down pretty well already. :)

Another thing to take account is the headline that you give your story. In print journalism, headlines are usually 5-7 words long. Here at theO, our headlines are usually 3-5 words long. A two-word difference, I realize, but those two words can make it really hard. Of course, we make exceptions (especially if the headline is funny), but that's the general rule.

Also, if your story fits into one of our many categories, be sure to file it under there so all the people that are subscribed to that category can get an update on their favorite series.