Pulitzer Prize Inspiration (blogpost 3.0)

http://www.tampabay.com/features/humaninterest/article750838.ece

My choice of the Pulitzer Prize winning articles was The Girl in the Window by Lane DeGregory. The article is of a severe case of child abuse centered around a girl named Dani, who was found in a closet when she was seven, covered in maggots and her own feces, unable to speak or communicate. I can tell it won the Pulitzer Prize for a reason; it was possibly the most compelling and captivating article I've ever read. After reading, I found myself reading other articles on Dani. I looked through photos of her and read up on more of her history because Lane DeGregory found an incredible story that is not only easy to care about on it's own, but is so skillfully written that it was difficult to break away from my computer screen while reading.

So, what makes a good story? One that pulls the reader in so quickly then wins Pulitzer Prizes? (Okay, there might be some steps I skipped here and there, but what are those steps?). I've examined Lane DeGregory's writing for evidence. I found 3(ish) major things that Lane McGregory does to make the story leave an impact on the reader.

1. Her descriptions. McGregory paints a wonderful scenery to set the story she is telling. When reading The Girl in the Window, I visualized every moment vividly, whether I wanted to or not (some images were upsetting/disturbing, but that means she's that good of a writer to be able to achieve such things)
 
     1a) Zooms in on details to pull at emotions of reader. McGregory often describe the Dani's eyes and how they never seemed to look at, but through. Dani's lack of basic human understanding as a result of her abuse was described in little moments, like her inability to laugh, to understand peek-a-boo, to nod yes or no. All these are basic and natural concepts to us that it's hard to fathom not having them.  These details register certain ways with humans to make us sympathize. So the reader is pulled in.

2. Examines all sides and people within story in order to give a broad perspective with many sources with play off of. McGregory interviewed with Dani's adoptive parents, her birth mother, policemen, court officials, Dani's school teachers, doctors and psychiatrists; all of which added rich detail and insight of Dani's background.

     2a) Thoroughness; the story spanned over 3-4 years of time and manages to pull the reader in enough so that they want to know as much as possible.

3. McGregory picked a specific, intriguing story to discuss a broad topic. Child abuse is a widely spread issue that is (unfortunately) common to hear about and happen. Dani's case was not only a specific case of child abuse, but an especially extreme one that some say is the worst they'd ever seen. Dani's physical and mental health is permanently damaged because of what happened to her. This is the type of story that makes people feel something. It makes people sad and frustrated and angry and can ultimately influence a person to take action against a pressing issue such as child abuse. That's why The Girl in the Window is a good story. It educates and inspires.