Confessions first. I love Robert Redford. Yes, he’s twice my age and his skin looks like it’d make a good saddle for one of his horses but, I love him.

Why?

I blame my mother for sitting me in front of old classics, like The Sting, on BBC2 when I was a kid. Maybe that’s why Gone with the Wind is my favourite film and just the mention of Mandy, Carve Her Name with Pride or An Affair to Remember can still bring tears to my eyes. And, why no one in my family will play the Buzz! Hollywood quiz with me – apparently it’s no fun when I win.

But what's the lovely Bob Redford got to do with sharpening up your news articles?

I’ve written many newsletters for clients’ employees and customers. Often, the articles will be about a new project or product, or simply a department that wants to raise its profile with colleagues. Sometimes it’s hard to see exactly what the news is, let alone decide on an angle for the headline and first paragraph that’s going to grab the audience’s attention.

What do I do when that happens?

It’s a bit corny but there’s a sequence in Up Close and Personal I always think of. Robert, a seasoned TV news hack, is giving advice to newcomer Michelle Pfeiffer who is struggling to find the right opening sentence for her live report. I’ve boiled his advice down to:

1. Tell me a story
   If you were talking to someone who knew nothing about what’s happened, what’s the first thing you’d tell them? You’ll usually find it’s the most exciting, most recent, most newsy event.

   How many times have you seen articles where the writer spends three paragraphs talking about the background to something and then you find out what the actual news is at the bottom of the page? Get to the story – news first, background second.

2. What’s in it for me?
   What has happened that makes this story relevant to your audience? What’s the human interest? Make the story local not global. What will the company’s new production process mean to Joe Bloggs on the line in Nottingham? How can the HR department help your career?

Both of these points normally provide me with an interesting ‘in’ to an article. What about you? How do you get inspiration for a story when there’s no obvious angle?