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How do you find stories to tell?

That is a question journalists are asked all too often. One of the answers is that we try to look at the subject from multiple angles. It could be an event, trend, idea, or person—the trick is in sifting through different perspectives. 

So this edition, that’s what we’ll focus on: finding good stories and telling them well. And we’ll do it with some examples. 

In case you missed it, yesterday was World Heart Day—dedicated to increasing awareness of cardiovascular diseases and how to prevent them. And through the week running up to it, hospitals, doctors, NGOs, and healthtech companies all looked at the heart and found their own story to tell. 

Let’s see how. 

The different stories of the heart

Remember the line ‘the moral of the story is ____’? Every fairytale, nursery rhyme, and children’s story has one. 

These are the simplest kind of narratives. They are prescriptive because they lead up to a very specific call to action. The stakes are high, the storyteller has authority, and the upside of acting on the call is non-debatable. You can find all those elements in the message that Dr Devi Prasad Shetty, cardiac surgeon, chairman, and founder of hospital chain Narayana Health, shared with the media earlier this week. 

The stakes in this story are literally life and death. Heed the call to action and live a long and healthy life. Or ignore it and don’t. It’s also a story rich in visual detail—famous people, six-pack abs, and yet the possibility of a weak heart.