How to write crime articles
How to write crime articles
That respect the story and the victims.
This week, I have been researching and re-reading the new evidence in the Lucy Letby trial. I have always thought that Letby was innocent, but I have never said this in any articles I have written on Murder Mayhem UK.
One of the factors I strive for the most in my writing is not casting my personal feelings into any case I write about. I try to present both views and let the audience make their mind up. The life of a true crime writer can mean keeping your personal opinions to your loved ones.
This is just one thing you must consider before writing the stories. Some of my favourite crime writers tell stories, and this is also what I hope to achieve with my writing. To take you on a journey, sometimes with the perpetrator or the victims.
It would be best if you also kept in mind that for any crime, there are victims. These need to be treated with the respect they deserve. Amanda Knox stated on her podcast that she thought crime writers forgot about the victims of the case for sensational headlines. She would know. I try to respect the victims and all those connected with the case as much as possible.
Keeping all this in mind, how do you write a crime article that is not just retelling the news? That is the simplest of things, but the hardest to execute. You find the finer details that you can make into your own version of the story.
Initially, I was going to write about a tragic accident on a hiking trip, but as I researched this week’s article, it became clear that there was more to this story than met the eye. That was when I uncovered how a school teacher led his pupils to death with ignorance and arrogance.
Sometimes, these finer details can’t be found. Everything has been told already, so you either forget about the article or write it entirely differently. I did that with my article about Cody Johnson; many people know his wife pushed him off a cliff, so I found a new way of writing the article. I wrote it from their perspective entirely.
This advice can work with any article regardless of the topic. If the subject has been written about many times before, find a unique perspective and write that story.
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Until next week stay safe
Sam 😊
Quote of the week
Collections do not leave the collector unaffected.The art of collecting results in a certain turn of mind - Douglas Wilson
