Writing a Digital Story
Content by Maggie Burch, Converted for the web by Amanda Haislip
(printable version here)

Writing the script for your digital story can pose challenges that aren't present when writing an academic essay. For example, you have to consider how your sentences will be heard, not read.

One page that even talented academic writers may want to explore when approaching a digital story script is this Writer's Web page on writing concisely. Concise writing is one essential aspect of developing a script. Long, complex sentences - when grammatically correct - can effectively embellish an essay for an English literature class; however, run-on sentences do not always read aloud as well as they look on paper. It is important to aim to write sentences whose subjects and verbs are obvious without going back and listening to that sentence three times. Definitely avoid dangling, or even confusing, modifiers in your writing.

Embellish your speech instead with your tone of voice. Also, the pictures featured in your video can provide additional details and a further explanation of your thoughts for your viewers that you will not need to include in your script. If you find yourself listing anything in your digital story, consider including pictures of the things in that list, to keep your viewer from tuning out or losing track of what you are saying. A personal-narrative digital story can certainly benefit from pictures of yourself or your family.

Writer's Web | Writing Center | Make an Appointment | Library | Copyright Info