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Goodwin's Theory and it links to Newspaper Articles

Goodwin's Story Structure:

Charles Goodwin proposed a model of storytelling that highlights the interactive nature of storytelling. He suggested that there are six interactional techniques that speakers use when putting narratives together; these narrative features were:

• Story Preface: A signal that a speaker wants to tell a story and an invitation for others to show interest.
• Story Solicit: A response from someone else that they want to listen to the story.
• Preliminary to the Story: Background information to the story that provides context to it, this is usually in the form of 'who', 'where', 'what' and 'why'.
• Story Action: The main body of the narrative.
• Story Climax: The conclusion of the narrative.
• Story Appreciation: Signals from the audience that communicate their response to the narrative.

Application to newspaper articles:

Here is an application of Goodwin's theory to an exemplar article taken from a online news story in the Bristol Post:

The emboldened title catches the attention of the reader and 'invites' them to show interest in the article, this is the story preface, and the reader would respond by clicking on the link and reading the rest of the article, this is the story solicit. The paragraph underneath the title provides context to the reader so that they understand the meaning of the title, this would be the preliminary to the story.

This is the main body of the narrative of the article that follows up on the story preface that gets the attention of readers and the background to the story that provides context. Being the main body of narrative means that it is the story action in Goodwin's model of storytelling.

This is the concluding paragraph of the article that explains what chief executive the PA (Parent's Association) thinks about the charges against the hospital and how the parking prices of the hospitals. This piece of the article acts the story climax in Goodwin's theory of storytelling.

However, with newspaper articles it is difficult to apply story appreciation as it is difficult for readers to directly interact with the article (with the exception of reading the article). On the other hand it could be interpreted that the readers read the article then they discuss the article with others who have also read the article.

Story Conventions of Local Newspapers

Number:	Headline	Story Summary	Who’s interested and why?
1.	“Famous faces ride in Tour of Britain”	A number of renowned cyclists, that included Mark Cavendish and Sir Bradley Wiggins, were riding though Bristol during the penultimate stage of the Tour if Britain.	The people who likely be more interested in this article are cyclists fans who would want to know about the more infamous cyclists from the world of cycling riding through their local area.
2.	“Council prepares for winter”	Tells readers that roads in Pill, Portishead, Easton-On-Gordano, Clevedon, Long Ashton, Nailsea and Yatton will be closed for around two weeks.	Firstly, people who live in the mentioned areas will want to know which roads are closed and when. Secondly, people who need to drive to work may also want to know about this article because they might take these routes in order to get to work.
3.	“Rejection for High Street flats plan”	Plans for flats to be built in Portishead High Street have been rejected by the North Somerset council due to the fact that it would have appeared to be cramped and the belief that these flats would have had unacceptable living conditions.	People who require a flat to live in would be interested in this article because they may have recently just moved to Portishead and the article infers that there are too few flats in Portishead.
4.	“School crossing saved by generous villagers”	Funding for a crossing patrol at Wraxall Primary School have been found. This would enable for families to cross the road safely.	Parents whose children go to Wraxall Primary School would likely be more interested in this article because these parents likely walk their kids to school and a crossing patrol would mean that they can cross the road safely.
5.	“Pool café to stay open after summer success”	Following a successful summer season the Portishead Pool Community Trust has chosen to keep continuing the café throughout the autumn and winter despite the open air pool closing for the winter.	The locals who went to the open air pool during the summer and liked the café would be interested in this article because it tells them that the café will remain open despite the pool closing.
6.	“Port company reveals plan for land expansion”	The Bristol Port Company has revealed a deal to develop land in Easton-in-Gordano so that it can be used as storage space due to popular dam.	The people who work or the BPC would be interested because it means that they have more space to work.
7.	“Post office will not close in strike”	The Backwell Post Office will remain open during a strike on Thursday despite hundreds of post office workers going on strike on that day.	It says in the article that “the Backwell Post Office wants to assue customers that it will be open as usual this week”, this means that the customers of this post office will be interested in this article.
8.	“Smokers urged to quit for Stoptober”	Smokers across North Somerset are being encouraged to quit the habit in the event that will taking place this month.	Smokers who to stop smoking will be interested in this article because they want to ‘kick the habit’.
9.	“Skunk takes in the sights and smells of his new home”	A skunk from Noah’s ark zoo farm has been moved to an eco-friendlier enclosure.	People who are interested in the welfare of animals and the environment will be interested in this article.
10.	“Royal reply for preschool”	A letter from a group of pre-schoolers has been received a reply from the Queen. The letter contained questions to the Queen and the Queen sent a reply answering the questions.	The parents of the children will be interested in this article because it mentions their children, teachers at this preschool would also be interested.
11.	“Domino’s to sell pizza until 3am”	It was announced that the Domino’s pizza that will be opening in the Portishead town centre will be allowed to stay open until 3 am for two nights a week.	The locals of Portishead would be interested in this article because this Domino’s will be opened in their town.
12.	“Tickets to new Bridget Jones film up for grabs”	The newspaper is offering two tickets to one reader to go and see Bridget Jones’ Baby at the Curzon in Clevedon.	People interested in this article would also interested in seeing the aforementioned film.

What do these articles all have in common?

Many of them are broadsheet articles and can’t really be deemed ‘sensational’ stories as they are intended for a local audience where life is much simpler, this means that they can applied more easily to everyday life and to 'every man' that is very common in local areas.

What does this tell you about the features of local newspapers?

Many are focused on the news of local people rather than the lives of celebrities, many are based around local activities such as the examples above.

Who would be interested in these newspapers and why?

Mainly the local people or people that live in areas nearby that are interested in things that have happened or are happening locally.