A few things to think about:

“The Ira Glass manifesto,” parts 1-3 http://transom.org/?p=6978

Listen: This American Life, “Act 2: Denying the invisible,” from episode 431, “See no evil” (The story starts at minute 31) http://www.thisamericanlife.org/play_full.php?play=431&act=2

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I love Ira Glass. I know, I know, everybody loves Ira Glass. But there is something about the way he speaks that makes me want to tell stories. What is that quality?

As the introduction to the Transom piece mentions, he is a listener. In some respects it is ironic that a man who is lauded for the stories he tells is most effective in his use of silence. This can be applied to the work we are launching into in Powering a Nation; Silence isn’t the most comfortable state for us humans, so the skillful use of a pause can add tension and drama to piece. Silence is also useful because we aren’t as good at multitasking as we think we are. Oftentimes we need a moment to absorb what we’re listening to, what we’re looking at. In the high-pace world of contemporary journalism, so many stories are driven by deadline, and there is a temptation to grab at the first story that comes easy. But sometimes the best stuff comes when you take the time to listen.

But that patience should be tempered by an awareness of when to give up. Give up, that sounds bad. I first encountered this concept through the phase “Kill your darlings.” Yikes.

Let’s have it in Ira’s language:

“Killing your story is nothing to be ashamed of. I figure, if I’m not killing at least a third of the interviews I do for the radio show, we’re not taking enough chances. Killing stories is just part of the process of finding great stories.

"If one interview doesn’t work, try another, and another. Follow the things that interest you and attract you. Amuse yourself. Keep getting more tape until luck kicks in.

"Luck will always kick in.”

I wonder if it gets easier? Taking risks, not being afraid to fail and fail and fail again. But there is something about the search for a good story that’s akin to the joy of the hunt. As a journalist, I’m still wet behind the ears, but I’ve experienced that moment where you know you got it – they said that thing you hoped they would say, and so much better than you expected. The light wasn’t even all that bad!

For our Powering a Nation class, we’ve pitched our topics and started researching.  Now we need to find our sources and start listening. And hopefully we’ll get lucky!

~Kelly Izlar