Chapter 1, Sept. 4

Browsing through the list of outstanding portfolios again and again, the first portfolio by Poh Si Teng still allures the most of my attention.

No doubt, the website's home page has done the best job. The author does not use thousands of redundant words to describe herself. Rather, different videos of hers tell more than about her. The videos are the stories she has been working on. As a multimedia journalist, she uses a video camera to observe, report and tell stories around her. The "Suicide at the Sunshine Skyway" tells about a man ending his life at Florida's landmark bridge. Meanwhile, "60 seconds, see them, know them" illustrates the hardship of life in Little Havana of Florida. From all of these, readers know not only about her job, her work, but also her talent in capturing the picture and angle in the stories as a multimedia journalist.

The graphics are nicely done. The background page is clean and clear but still able to fill out the space very well. After getting stunned by the excellent home page, readers can search for her resume, biography and other stuff on the bar below. From the biography, we know that she comes from Malaysia but has settled in the United States for five years. And also, her work experience tells us that she has worked for Associated Press in Florida and the Miami Herald before. But before knowing these, we can already expect this since most of her video stories are located in Miami.

How amazing is that.

This is why videos do a better job because they leave more impressions than merely words in readers. And because of the videos, we know about Poh faster and more thoroughly even before her plain resume. This is why her portfolio stands out. If a picture speaks thousands of words, then definitely, a video speaks more than thousands of them.

Definitely, we are not just talking about the cover but the book itself.

A good video does not constitute a good story. The best of a story still traces back to the most original question - the story. Answering the question "Where do good ideas come from?", there are some ways writers and editors can generate better ideas.

First, "seek the best possible ideas", not the first acceptable one. It means putting the greatest effort in selecting the top one among many, rather than being lazy by only "picking the first idea that meets the minimum standard". Then, "turn good ideas into great ones". If it is not good enough, make it better. Things like pushing the ideas by asking questions like 'What is the best story that could come from this?" and "Is there a twist or angles that could make this truly unforgettable?" can become some of the criterias.

A good story idea has to be creative. It must be able to answer people's "why" in hearts. It must also be impactful, shaping the future in readers' life. Getting readers involved in the stories mean that it would better be interactive, "expanding reader participation". Media nowadays are not defined as in telling the stories to readers but "changing the ideas between writers and readers", especially in new forms like emails, weblogs and news groups nowadays.

So, how to be creative?

A writer can schedule weekly brainstorming sessions with the editor, broaden the sources like reading and visiting a new place and even hold a "creative conversation" for every story. The main idea is still "Get outside and Think out of the box." And lastly, we definitely must kill dull ideas. Dump them into a garbage bin if they do not belong to the world!

Some say, writing is an art, but I would rather call it as a science. Instead, it is "the result of a number of rational steps, practiced and perfected over time, of constant writing, rewriting, editing and reading". The science of writing exists because there is a process of it, not necessarily chronological though.

First, "generating story ideas". The best writers do not write an assignment as what they are told but make the story their own from any parts of the world. After a writer gets the idea, he starts collecting information. He or she has to hunt and gather more information, but not forgetting the accuracy and credibility with sources at the same time. Extracting from stacks of information, a writer then has to find a focus with the lead, and create a plan around it for a story. Selecting the best material of all the information, a draft should be "created, then revised and clarified" again and again until reaching the best result.

Maybe, the beauty of an art lies beneath the art of a beautifying science.