DISCUSSION QUESTION #2: QUOTES

There are quotes, and then there are quotes. What is a good one? A great one? A bad one?

-- Did you find and use a good quote this week? (If not, no big. Find a good one from your paper.)
-- If so, post (along with brief context) and tell us what was good about it.
-- Did you run into any problems/ issues trying to nail good quotes? What were they?
-- Did anyone run into one of those Walking Bad Quotes, like a tight-lipped bureaucrat or a cliche-spewing coach? How do you handle/ work around?

DEADLINE: Valentine’s Day (Happy, btw...)

Don’t forget to check in with our other threads: WATER COOLER, for just hanging out, visiting, and talking about stuff; LEDES, for posting good ones or talking about issues therein; MISTAKES HAPPEN, for sharing stories about the inevitable s--- happens issue.

A good quote in my mind is one that advances the story towards the angle you are taking. Sometimes as a writer you tend to get writer’s block, but if you listen to the interviewee(s), they are telling the story. Our job is to craft those voice(s) into something someone else can read and say wow.

Great quotes are ones you can use in the first three grafs or your headline to tell the “whole story”. I know, it’s a bad website placement ad. Anyways. Great quotes are the ones you normally put the * next to and circle. For good reason, it’s something you believe people will remember that person by or feel conveys a point you are making in your story.

A bad quote. Hmmm. Usually I weed these out after I write my story and find no place to put them. Normally it’s jargon, a coach/player being long-winded or my favorite the one word answers. I usually record about 10 minutes of audio and come out with four to five quotes. Not that it’s the common ratio, but I let them tell the story of the game and pick out the little nuggets they say. Sometime you have to ask direct questions. Other times you get lucky and it slips.

-- Yes, I found plenty of good quotes. I have been fortunate in that aspect of my journalism career. I’ll post three and give my spiel.

1. “I don’t agree with the call, but I have to respect the decision,” Lincoln coach Santiago Molina said of the late penalty kick. “Unfortunately that’s the way the game goes.”

2. “That was definitely the most clutch kick I’ve made before,” Hyler said. “Tons of pressure, crowd going crazy — I just picked my corner and hit it in. That moment is one time I will never forget in my life.”

The first two quotes were from a game I was covering on deadline Feb. 8 for the Feb. 9 edition. The first one was the reaction I got from a coach. I asked him about his thoughts on the game, and he spoke of the “whole” game. I was fortunate enough to get this quote, which I led with in the story because I’m sure everyone who attended the game thought the same thing when it happened.

The second quote gives you the thoughts of junior Brennan Hyler, the kid who made the penalty kick on the controversial call. All I had to was ask him, “How clutch was your kick?” The awesome quote followed. He explained everything you would want to know about the kick, what he was feeling and how it ranked in his life. You can’t ask for more in my mind.

3. “He put my name in as ‘Merry Christmas,’” Smith said. “I was like great, now I will forever be known as Merry Christmas.”

This quote explains itself, and yes it’s from the mistake story. But I felt it conveyed something. Matt and other sports writers here can attest to this. Every high school athlete usually tells you the same thing. “I work hard everyday and go to practice. I do what the team needs me to do.” That’s fine and dandy but I need to make every story different, which is what this quote did. Mary Crit didn’t have to share this glib moment in her life with me, but the fact that she did told me a few things. She wanted people to know, and she trusted I would put it in the correct context. Incredible what you can get out of a 10 minute conversation. Again, awesome quote.

-- Like I mentioned before. The only problems I have are filtering through all of the “talk” most coaches give. That can usually be them trying to promote other players who are not apart of your story and so forth. High school students, especially freshmen are known for their one worded answers. “Yeah, Definitely” are just a few from their vocabulary. But if you do your homework and talk to them as you would a friend, they open up to you. It takes longer with others, but as I have heard billions of times, “Everyone has a story, you just have to find it.”

-- I have never run into that because I have never written anything besides sports. But if that occasion did arise in my writing, I would write my way out of it. In other words writing an anecdote, mention a play then use another quote.

Carlos - 09 February 2008 10:40 AM

Great quotes are ones you can use in the first three grafs or your headline to tell the “whole story”. I know, it’s a bad website placement ad.


2. “That was definitely the most clutch kick I’ve made before,” Hyler said. “Tons of pressure, crowd going crazy — I just picked my corner and hit it in. That moment is one time I will never forget in my life.”

The ... quote gives you the thoughts of junior Brennan Hyler, the kid who made the penalty kick on the controversial call. All I had to was ask him, “How clutch was your kick?” The awesome quote followed. He explained everything you would want to know about the kick, what he was feeling and how it ranked in his life. You can’t ask for more in my mind.

Folks—really great learning point here from Carlos: So much about “getting a good quote” can depend on the question the reporter asks! Notice that Carlos handed the player a question he could emotionally connect to ("How clutch was your kick?” as opposed to the more pedestrian (and oh-so-common), “Hey, Brennan, tell us how you felt when you made that kick!”
Only Answer: “It felt great....”
Great job of reporting, Carlos!

Here is a quote from a student at the local community college who filed a sexual harassment complaint against another student/employee. She is upset because the college fired the student (but did not expel him) and assured her it was safe to return to campus. She also filed for and received a restraining order against him from the county court.

“That was ridiculous to say that it was safe - he wasn’t kicked off the campus,” she said. “I understand he didn’t touch me, but that was what it was coming to. I hear so many cases about people not doing anything sooner. Well, I did something sooner, and it didn’t do it justice.”

It’s a little bit of a mouthful, but I thought it works. It isn’t particularly strong in terms of its structure and eloquence, but given the context of the story, it provided a lot of emotion and that “human element” I’m always looking for.

My journalism adviser at Chico State had a rule for direct quotes (something I always keep in mind).
It went something like this:

“Use a direct quote only when you can’t write what the person is saying any better. For the most part, people do not speak as well as we can write, so don’t use a direct quote unless it’s really special.” -Glen Bleske

The quote I used for my example probably could have been paraphrased, but by using a direct quote, I feel I captured the essence of the whole story (as Carlos said) by letting the student speak for herself. The quote showed her frustration, and more importantly, it put in perspective her dilemma with the college. Last week, she attempted to go to class and saw the accused student nearby. She said he just stood there - not abiding the restraining order - and stared at her. Since then, she has refused to return to school and is looking at colleges elsewhere.

Sometimes I fall into the trap of looking for the “golden quote” that will elevate the story another level. But I’ve learned that when you do that, you lose a lot of what the person is saying and by the end of the interview, you really don’t have a grasp of the story. The best way to get a good quote is to listen (duh, Chris). But I mean really listen to what the person is saying and follow up with questions about emotion and affect - questions that dig deeper and keep the conversation going. That way, you don’t get filtered quotes from people who are more concerned about how they’re going to sound than how they really feel.

And always remember Dr. Bleske’s rule, if you can rewrite what someone says clearer and shorter, it’s probably not worth quotations.

Chris - 12 February 2008 08:05 PM

“That was ridiculous to say that it was safe - he wasn’t kicked off the campus,” she said. “I understand he didn’t touch me, but that was what it was coming to. I hear so many cases about people not doing anything sooner. Well, I did something sooner, and it didn’t do it justice.”

Chris—agreed, this is a nice one. And I do agree in general with Dr. B’s advice— better to write thru than quote a tangle—...but sometimes the tangle, i.e. above, is so very human. When you look at this quote, above, closely, you can see the range of emotion she is experiencing and expressing, from “ridiculous” to “justice,” all in one breath. I say, go for the emotional hit! Nice job.

A good quote in my mind is one that summarizes the whole story.  A story I wrote last week about national football signing day is a good example.

National Signing day is much like a second Christmas for college football coaches, who are eager to open their new presents for their football teams.
“You don’t get to open it up yet,” Tennessee-Martin head coach Jason Simpson said. “But we will in August”

This quote sums up, in my mind, the excitement of national signing day.  It summarizes their hard work in putting together a quality football team, and breaks it down to where normal readers can understand.

It also is one that is impactful, and strikes an emotion or shock into the reader.  Quotes that can make a reader smile or get angry are important to the story.

Some issues that I run into with interviewing coaches and athletes is to get them not to say cliche statements, like “We played with more intensity tonight,” or things like that.  I’m noticing a lot of trends when interviewing, so I have done more to detail my questions and make them more specific to get out a better quote.

This is a quote from an 11-year-old child who saved his grandmother from drowning and he got recognized as a local hero.

“It looked liked she was playing around, but then I noticed she was panicking so I just jumped right in,” said Kadin Mello. (By Alicia Doyle correspondent for the Ventura County Star)

I think this is a good quote because it summarizes the whole story in a few words and it describes what happened and how the boy saved his grandma. I agreed with Chris that a good quote is a phrase that you can not say it better than the speaker. I also think that quotes should have strong words that draw the reader in and help to put a human face to the story.

Matt Coop - 13 February 2008 04:26 PM

This quote sums up, in my mind, the excitement of national signing day.  It summarizes their hard work in putting together a quality football team, and breaks it down to where normal readers can understand.

MattCoop & others: really good point, above: a good quote sums up, summarizes, and breaks down (this is crucial!) so Joe Schmoe can get what’s going on. Terrific, Matthew....

Ana Cubias - 13 February 2008 06:57 PM

“It looked liked she was playing around, but then I noticed she was panicking so I just jumped right in,” said Kadin Mello. .

What’s really cool about this one is you can hear the speaker remembering the emotional hit of what she’s doing… this is the kind of stuff you can’t make up! Nice!

“Ooooo, I get a chill when I think about that,” Bob says, reliving the moment.
-By LORI BASHEDA/The Orange County Register

This story had a number of eye-catching quotes, but this one stood out the most.  I love the beginning, “Ooooo” because it reveals a sincere reaction.  Good quotes are those that surprise you, are unexpected and add that special something to the story. 

The quote came from a story on remembering your second first kiss.  It’s the tale of two high school sweethearts who lost touch and fast forward (50 years) reunite and fall in love all over again…GAG!  I know, precious huh? 

Quoting numbers, facts and boring information that any random Joe could figure out is a huge no no.

Clichés are a given.  I get the sense people spew them out because they can’t come up with something original to say.  But hey, when that happens, I just don’t use them.  Simple.

The worst thing is when I have to pull teeth (there I go using a cliché, or is it?) Anyway, it surprises me when I get a “yes” answer from a question that constitutes more than a one word answer.  Even when I attempt to re-phrase the question, it doesn’t always make that much of a difference.  Some people are just not quote-worthy.

I find myself dealing with one extreme or the other.  It’s either someone who barely says a word or someone who won’t shut up.  I prefer the latter.  That way, I have more to work with.  I don’t like limiting myself.  Who does?

Martha Ramirez - 14 February 2008 07:31 PM

“ Some people are just not quote-worthy.

GUYS—GREAT LEARNING POINT FROM MARTHA!!!! Some people are just not quote-worthy!! .... It’s a skill , I think, to learn to be able to not quote someone rather than quoting ‘em just because you talked to ‘em. I can’t tell you how many (not only young!) reporters say, “But I spent an hour with him… I need to use him.”

No you don’t—not if he doesn’t add something useful or special.

Thanks…

keep posting those great quotes here, so we can keep learning from them....

Argenis Villa - 15 February 2008 01:27 AM

“I’m not afraid of dead people,” said Shannon Nolte. “I’m more afraid of the living.”

This is the kind of quote that movies are made on ....

I think quotes are good to describe emotions that the writer couldn’t show better, or to give information that couldn’t be supported with facts.

Bad quotes are the ones that sound like sound bites:
“It was fun” “It was a great show”

In that case, it’s up to the reporter to follow up with questions until the source gives a good quote, although, like Martha said, some people just don’t give good quotes.

I used this quote today for a story about rabbits digging warrens all over the soccer field of a high school:

“There are hundreds of them,” Johnson said. “The coaches are pointing out to the holes in the field. They are all over campus.”

I used it because I wouldn’t date to write that there were hundreds of rabbits so he does that for me. Also, I think the quotes shoes the principal’s frustration, the coach pointing at the holes and him not knowing what to do.

I had difficulty trying to find a good quote. I did proof a story tonight which I thought had a good quote. The story was about the government lifting a ban on HIV-positive diplomats who wanted jobs in the area. If a person had the virus they weren’t able to get the job for “possible health” concerns but that will no longer be the case after an HIV-positive diplomat filed a lawsuit. So after the ban was lifted a director for an organization that helps or deals with people who are HIV-positive was quoted as saying this:

“At long last, the State Department is taking down its sign that reads ‘People with HIV need not apply.’”

There is something about this quote that stands out to me. I think that it was the quote within the quote that did it for me. It was like a huge weight was taken off the shoulders of those people that HIV. Like they won a big battle, some would say that it is a big feat.

Sergio - 16 February 2008 01:40 AM

“At long last, the State Department is taking down its sign that reads ‘People with HIV need not apply.’”

Yep, sometimes quotes can be stark and direct and oh-so-meaningful, like the above. FOLKS—read thru these posts. There are wonderful examples, all good ones, all different, offering different things to learn ... And remember, where possible, TRY TO GET THOSE GOOD QUOTE UP HIGH IN THE STORY ... they tend to open a story up, like a giant can opener....