Jean and Ally

What an amazing story! Jean and her dog are both heroes. Most people hope to live to 90, while the rest of us dream to be walking our best friend [a dog, Ally] on a daily basis at age 90. Murray talks about the line of a story. From what I understand, he means the layout of the story. He starts with "the line" every time he writes a story. This is a great method. I believe it helps to make a good lede, strong body, and a great "kicker." It also ensures that nothing is boring. We don't like to read boring stuff.

In Bakke's story, the line starts with the background information that he provides about Jean and her dog, Ally. Then there's tension: "As in most farm fields, the ground was uneven and rolling. Jean lost her balance and fell. When she did, she felt intense pain in her right arm. She would find out later that her arm was broken in the fall. But all she knew at the time was that it hurt so much she could barely move."

Conflict: “Nobody was around,” she says. “I didn’t have my cell phone.”
While lying in the field, she examined her options and found out she didn’t have many. She tried using her legs to scoot along the ground, but the pain from her arm stopped that pretty quickly. With her arm useless, she couldn’t pull herself up."

Irony: "Usually when a dog hears coyotes howling, especially if they are nearby, one of two things will happen. The dog will run toward the coyotes. Or the dog will run away from the coyotes. Either way, the dog wishes to be elsewhere. Not this time."

Energy: "But Ally not only stayed by Jean all night, she climbed onto Jean’s cold body and laid there for." The energy is comforting. Without Ally, what would Jean have done?

Play: The sun came up, and she was found by her grandson.

Discovery: Well, I have discovered the "line" of this story. I love this story. It is extremely heart-warming to know that Jean will be OK and her and her dog Ally will continue to spend their lives together.

Music: The voice of the text is happy. I hear melodies of heroism and harmony.

Form: The intro/lede. The strong body. The kicker: Jean saved her dog and her dog saved her. Jean says, "“She saved me,” “We saved each other.” How sweet!

I think this feature story is a combination of both art and craft . Bakke uses craft in the style of his writing. The way he captures the reader's soul is craft. And the knowledge that he has about the story is craft, the way he executes it is the art. The art is his talent and he is an excellent writer.

I noticed a couple techniques that Bakke used to craft a good story. He uses a simile: "She is warm like a blanket." Also, alliteration. "She is big AND furry AND warm." (He saved the most vital term, warm, to list last.) Both of these techniques help to make a great story, one that is unique and not boring.