A story before it is ready to print

A fictional invitation to a youth journalism evidence workshop. Original practice text.

The sentence is excellent. It has a sharp verb, a memorable ending and one small difficulty: we cannot yet show that it is true. At our journalism workshop, we will begin with the sentence we want to keep and ask what it would take to deserve its place.

That question is not designed to drain the energy from writing. Evidence can make a story more surprising, not less. The first account of an empty playground may suggest that nobody uses it. A visit at a different hour, an interview with a caretaker or a record of temporary closures may reveal that the original story began with the wrong question.

Participants will work through a fictional reporting file containing quotations, a timetable, photographs and notes whose authors do not agree. You will decide what each source can establish, what it leaves uncertain and which follow-up question is worth asking. There will be no prize for making every item fit the first theory.

We will also examine how a fair quotation can still give an unfair impression when its context disappears. A correction of wording is not enough if the arrangement of accurate sentences leads a reader towards an unsupported conclusion. The workshop therefore treats editing as responsibility for the whole account, not only for its individual facts.

You do not need a published byline. Bring a short piece of writing you are willing to reconsider, or use the sample provided. Nobody will be required to share personal material with the group. The aim is not to catch a beginner out, but to give a writer more ways to know when a confident paragraph is running ahead of its evidence.

Join the Saturday session at the media room. Keep the sharp verbs. Come and learn when a better question should interrupt them.

How does the writer persuade young writers to attend the evidence workshop? Support your response with evidence from the text.