<&>Wellington Corpus of Spoken New Zealand English Version One <&>Copyright 1998 School of Linguistics & Applied Language Studies <&>Victoria University of Wellington <&>side one <&>0:12 okay and you've got your notes there as well <{><[>is that right okay <,> well do you want to just walk me through sort of the kind of things that you're thinking about when you start doing um a story like this what kind of things you're trying to bear in mind right from maybe the start when you're taking notes <[>yeah um other than practising your short hand laughs <{><[>laughs <[>do you mind me listening because i'm about to write a story no no that's okay <{1><[1>i mean you probably have voc <,> um oh no i mean this is just one up you know how barry's sort of <.>going i mean i'll do it again with <{2><[2>you individually <{3><[3>i think is probably better <[1>yeah <[2>yeah <[3>so i just write this and not <.>print do you want me <{><[>to print it <[>yeah if you wouldn't mind <.>dumping um every so often just so we can see what you're doing what kind of changes you make that would be great <,,> tut well basically what i do is um <,,> go <&>1:00 straight from my notes i mean i go through and transcribe my notes straight onto the pad and then go through and order <.>an and <,> put them in like um <,,> written <,,> onto the computer <{1><[1><,,> um in reported speech and <{2><[2><.>then <[1>okay <[2>okay and that's just in <.>ex exactly the order that it comes out in the interview um <.>nor normally <.>wh <.>i i <,,> i go through maybe the first half or two thirds sometimes i go through the whole thing sometimes i go through the first half or two thirds and then get <.>to to a quote down here that related to something that i remember from back up here and then i start <{1><[1>arranging it but um <,> sort of to start with anyway i just go through in order um because it's the quickest way to get it onto the screen and then all i have to do <.>is is tidy it up <.>and and rearrange the paragraphs and make an intro for it <{2><[2>um so it's just <.>the if you go through in order it's the quickest <,> um way through <[1>mhm <[2>okay okay <,,><&>3 <&>2:00 um and then <.>from from there to there <.>is is just um going through and rearranging the paragraphs okay so <{1><[1>is the first draft that's actually just what you've taken off your notes that's <{2><[2>basically just a printout of your notes is it <[1>mm <[2>yeah yeah okay and so at that stage what are you trying <.>t um are you trying to impose any order on it at that stage or is <,> <.>just just to get this clear or are <{><[>you just trying to get it down <[>um <.>i i get it down <.>in in <,,> sort of adequate written <,> um form rather <.>than it's not in straight note form or i mean i've selected <.>the <.>the the quotes that i want out of there and the rest of it is um in um tut <,,> <.>my my voice i guess okay um do you do second edition yeah <&>telephone rings word miss much is that my phone <,,><&>3 where was i up to <&>3:00 oh it's okay we've just reached a stopping point um what i was going to ask was um <,,> tut somewhere along the way you've actually got no structure up until now <,> whether that was as a result of <.>the um i'm just trying to find out where that comes from i mean you know presumably when you worked out how you were going to do that interview you had an idea then of what kind of a story you wanted to write at the end of it? <,> um not especially for this one actually um which is why i'm doing a third one <{><[>now <[>okay yeah <{1><[1>no now that's <.>wh that's interesting <{2><[2>you see yeah <[1>um <[2><.>i <.>i i got <.>tossed i came in this morning and i was really busy yep and um i had <,,> i think TWO things to finish off and one complete thing to write this morning and then i got told that i was doing this interview at ten oclock mhm you know this is sort of what happens um <,> and <,> so i just sort of thought up a few <&>4:00 questions based on what was on the press release and what i knew about wine making which is what this is about mhm um <,> but didn't <,,> i mean <.>th the press release didn't look that enthralling and i didn't have any particularly clear idea of <.>what what in it was going to make an interesting story i just hoped that if i got her started she would <.>ma she would say some interesting things okay um and it turned out that she wanted <.>t to publicise her winery which i think an interesting story makes um mm <{><[>yeah okay <[>mm that's why i've been keeping in touch with her okay yeah so that's your problem then is it is that you know you wanted her to actually take control of this not to MAKE the story but then this <,> yeah well <.>there yeah <.>th there wasn't <,> on <.>the on the information we already had there wasn't an obvious angle for a story there um i <.>was i was only doing the interview because it had already <&>5:00 been jacked up for me <.>an i'd been told to <{><[>laughs basically <[>okay well what about the changes you made then between this the first printout and the second one um <,> what sort of changes did you make and WHY i mean i'm looking for example at the first paragraph which is new <,> okay um oh that's just an intro <{><[>um not a very interesting one <[>yeah yeah um based on what the <.>wh the story is about her coming <.>h coming back because <,> um <,> i feel a bit that she wants to promote her winery so that's <{><[><,> word <[>okay <.>s so is that you trying to turn the return home <.>into into basically into the story then are you yeah okay <.>i er it's just er an intro for news is basically a capsule of whatever follows okay <{><[>okay so <.>you <[>so <.>it this is sort of instant summary okay so you're trying to define then what the rest of the story is going to be about are you yes okay <,> tut you haven't done much rearranging <&>6:00 of what's actually inside of it i notice <,> that most of it's just a straight transfer is that right? that's just a quick look so i'm not too sure mm <.>i i can't actually remember but it could be <,,> see <.>al all the information comes out in groups and <.>j you just have to group it <,> sentences or paragraphs up and down on <{><[><.>the <[>okay but it's <.>qui <{><[><.>it's it's a little bit longer so i'm just wondering what else you've added maybe it's just the first paragraph <[>i can't really remember possibly yes mm <,,><&>3 yeah it might be <,> <{1><[1>yeah the second one is this long <{2><[2>the third one is the same the fourth's the same <,> the bottom's the same <[1>okay <[2>yeah yeah it looks as though it may be just a straight <.>th that the only real change is in <.>the in <{1><[1><.>the in the first paragraph <{2><[2>okay you've just added an intro <[1>yeah <[2><.>it's it's probably <.>been it's probably been tidied up a bit as well okay <.>wh what <.>i i'm trying <.>to <.>that's that was actually them calling back to say where i could <&>7:00 get in touch with her so that um <,> cos what i want to find out <.>is is how she actually landed the job because it's in a top winery um <.>and and it's this little new zealander i want to know whether <.>th that's common for new zealanders <.>to to land top winery jobs in australia and how she actually got onto it and things like that <{><[>and why she went back to australia <[>okay so you decided to do that on the basis of what the um chief reporter said to you or what <{><[>yeah okay <[>yeah <,,> <.>i i think if it was up to me i probably wouldn't have done the story at all so <{><[>laughs <[>yeah okay because it doesn't interest you that much right okay well in general then what are you trying to remember when you're writing a story what sort of principles do you try and keep in mind when you're doing it tut um i'm not really sure cos it's sort <{><[>of fairly habitual process <.>th <.>on only um the only thing that seems to difficult in news writing is tenses because you've got um there's a sort of convention using present tense when you're stating the part that you're stating and past tense when you're <.>quoting when you're paraphrasing someone else um and if you in the same sentence mix something that you're saying with something that <.>someone <.>w that the person you're quoting is saying <.>then then you get into all sorts <.>of of tense trouble <[>mm <&>8:00 mm um but other <.>than i'm not <.>really okay so that's a learned convention that you have to pick up yeah it is yeah are there any other learned conventions you've had to pick up <,,> um yeah oh <.>there <.>there there's um <,,> there's the structure pyramid structure which is <.>starting starting at the most important point and then gradually <.>going going towards the least <{><[>um but i'm not sure <[>okay why do you do that um um because of the <&>9:00 importance of the first sentence in terms of um getting the reader into the story that's the convention i don't know <{1><[1>whether voc that's always necessary <{2><[2>for it <[1>okay <[2>so it's to get the reader into <{><[>the story okay <[>yeah <.>it's it's like it's um it's also for convenience sake because if you've got a lazy subeditor um they're going to chop <.>off <,> they need to shorten the story then they've chopped off the <.>par the last four paragraphs so that should have the least important stuff and that sort of thing laughs wondering whether <{><[>you've got into that cynical phase yet here laughs <[>laughs no <.>that's that's not i mean <.>that that <.>you're <.>you you're taught that it's not <{><[>laughs <[>oh yeah oh good okay yeah <,,> right <{><[>so you <.>want <,> sorry <[>word yeah carry on i <.>was voc just going to ask so you're trying to make sure that you get your most important points as well as your most general points up at the top <{><[>then are you <[>mhm okay is that something you're trying to <&>10:00 remember all the time <{><[><.>or <[>um it's fairly habitual i'm <.>not i'm not <,> entirely sure whether it's a completely taught thing or whether it's something you do when you're write anyway mm but um <.>i <.>i i guess <.>it's it would depend on the type of story <,> <.>s <.>some <.>li like especially for something like this which is sort of a semiprofile you can quite easily start it <{><[>off with it a um <[>mm mhm <.>with with a more imaginative voc draft mhm mm mm but in terms of basic writing if you start with the <.>most you have to start with the summary <,> sentence or <.>a or a sentence which <.>give gets across your most important fact <.>because mhm then the whole process is a lot quicker okay what's <{><[>hardest <,> mm <[>otherwise it's different from <.>writing otherwise <.>it's otherwise it's like writing a short feature right yeah um <&>11:00 yeah okay and you will have made that distinction yeah mm so what's the hardest thing for you when you're writing a <.>story a new story um right from the word go what's the absolutely hardest thing <,> it's not a terribly difficult process really mm like okay <{><[>all things are relative but there must be something that's harder for you than the others <[>if you're <.>writing if you're writing and er if you've got a really close deadline i don't like working against um tut i don't <.>li don't like having to write under extreme time pressure but that's possibly because that's what i'm least used to about news writing <&>11:45