The first thing you need to do today is read this story by New York Times reporter C.J. Chivers. It’s about a boy in Afghanistan who was bitten by a viper and faced certain death if he didn’t receive medical treatment from U.S. troops.

Go ahead, read the whole thing. Chances are, you won’t be able to stop.

All done? Did you notice how Chivers piqued your curiosity?

He didn’t give away the ending.

Chivers began the tale by telling us about the boy and the snake bite, and the father who knew his son could die.

Related: Top five books every student journalist should own right now

But then Chivers left us hanging. He didn’t immediately tell us if the boy lived. And that suspense is a good thing.

Not all news articles can be told in a simple but compelling chronology. But many stories that could be, aren’t. Imagine how the story about the viper bite would have been handled by most writers. The first two sentences are Chivers’; the last one is mine:

KHAN NESHIN, Afghanistan — Five-year-old Sadiq was not a casualty of war. He was simply unlucky. The boy had opened a sack of grain at his home early on Wednesday morning, and a pit viper coiled inside lashed up and bit him above the lip.

His father, Kashmir, knew his son was sure to die. With no hospital anywhere nearby, he rushed the boy to an American outpost to plead for help. By midafternoon, Sadiq’s breathing was labored. Respiratory failure was not long off.

But after a harrowing night, U.S. troops saved the boy, who is alive and well today.

Most readers would have scanned the beginning of that story and said, “That’s nice.” Then they’d turn the page to scan the top paragraphs of the next inverted-pyramid-style news article.

Chivers took a different approach. The engine of his story, the thing that drives readers all the way through it, is the question: What happens to the boy?

Read more: Sign up for blog updates from John Tedesco

To find out, you have to sit down and invest yourself in the whole the story. And along the way, you get lost in the article and forget you need to pack lunch for the kids before they go to school. You’re half a world away in Afghanistan, hoping the snake-bitten boy survives.

(Photo credit: Nic’s events on Flickr)

The post How to spark readers’ interest and tell a hell of a story they won’t forget appeared first on John Tedesco.

One solution is a handy feature in Microsoft Word, Google Docs and other software that allows you to insert bookmarks and hyperlinks within the document you’re working on. These tools are usually found in the “Insert” menu. With bookmarks and links, you can create a table of contents at the top of your document, and use it to jump to different sections of your notes.

Related: How to contact an investigative reporter in Texas

Here’s my notes template in Word. I crank this puppy up whenever I start a new story, whether it’s a quick article or a long project. Here’s a Google Docs version I created today.

I use eight sections in my notes: Chronology, Contacts, Draft, Resources, Interviews, Art Ideas, To do, and Questions. You can change or move these around as you see fit. Clicking on one of the links at the top of the page takes me to the section. Here’s a description of each one:

How do you create a new section? Let’s say you want to create a “Contacts” section in your notes. First you have to make the bookmark. Go to the spot in your document where you want to keep your phone numbers, click on the “Insert” menu, and select “Bookmark.” Create a bookmark called “Contacts.”

Then go to the top of the document where you have your table of contents and type “Contacts.” Outline the word with your cursor, and under the “Insert” menu select “Hyperlink” or “Link.” (A common shortcut is “Ctrl K.”) A menu pops up that allows you to select what kind of hyperlink you want. There should be an option to select a bookmark within your document. Select the “Contacts” bookmark, and you’re done.

Now every time you’re at your table of contents and click on “Contacts,” you’ll instantly see your Contacts section.

To outsiders this might seem like mundane stuff but it’s actually important. When we create order out of the chaos of our notes, we become better writers.

Any suggestions? Fire away.

(Photo credit: Derbeth)

The post Writing tip: Using bookmarks and links to organize better notes appeared first on John Tedesco.