Front Page Story: About Us

Learn more about the Front Page Story and Sara Lain

My speciality: finding the story behind the story.

After more than 30 years as a journalist, one of the things I believe I am particularly good at is finding the story behind the story.

I specialise in true-life journalism and human-interest stories, and I have spent decades listening to people’s experiences and recognising the elements that could turn an ordinary conversation into a compelling newspaper story, magazine feature or real-life story for the national press.

People often contact me and say:

“I don’t know if my story is interesting enough.”

That’s where my experience as a journalist comes in.

Sometimes the most compelling part of a story isn’t the thing the person initially thinks is important.

That’s why asking the right questions matters.

I know how to find the story.

Over the years, I’ve learned to recognise the details that can transform someone’s personal experience into a true-life story or human-interest feature.

A relationship that went badly wrong can become a story about betrayal.

A divorce can uncover a remarkable family story.

An unusual experience can become a feature that millions of people can relate to.

A crime can reveal a story of survival.

Something that initially sounds like an ordinary family problem can turn out to contain an extraordinary twist.

That instinct has been developed over more than three decades of working in journalism.

From real-life experience to a newspaper human interest story.

My job is not simply to find an interesting anecdote. I look at the whole picture.

I consider what happened, why it matters, who is involved, what makes it unusual or relatable, what evidence or photographs are available and which media outlet might be interested in it.

I then look at how the story could be developed into a strong feature for you.

That might mean a national newspaper, a women’s magazine, a specialist publication or another media outlet.

Different publications want different things, and understanding those differences is an important part of being a successful true-life journalist.

This is also why I don’t believe there is a single formula for a good real-life story.

Your story has to come first.

What makes a good human-interest story?

Human-interest journalism is about people.

It can be funny, shocking, emotional, inspirational, extraordinary, heartbreaking or simply fascinating.

I’ve worked on stories involving relationships, betrayal, divorce, family conflict, crime, abuse, survival, extraordinary experiences and unusual events, as well as many stories that are difficult to fit into any particular category.

What connects them is that there is something about the human experience that makes people want to read about it.

Sometimes the story is extraordinary.

Sometimes it is surprisingly ordinary — but told from an angle that makes people think, “I can’t believe that happened.”

And sometimes it is a story that makes readers realise they are not alone.

Helping you understand the value of your story

If you’ve ever searched online for “sell my story”, “sell my story to a newspaper”, “sell my story to a magazine” or “how do I get my story in the press?”, you may already know that there are plenty of people offering to help sell stories.

What experience gives me is the ability to look at a story from the perspective of a journalist and an editor.

I can help identify what is genuinely interesting, what needs developing, what questions need answering and what could make the difference between a story being overlooked and an editor wanting to know more.

I also understand that people are often too close to their own experiences to see the story objectively.

Something that feels completely normal to you may be extraordinary to somebody else.

Something you think is insignificant may actually be the most interesting part of your story.

And something you believe is the main story may turn out not to be the strongest angle at all.

Finding that distinction is part of my job.

More than 30 years of knowing what editors want.

I’ve spent more than three decades working in and around the national media, developing professional relationships and learning what makes editors take notice.

That experience cannot be replaced by simply knowing how to write.

A good true-life story needs more than good writing. It needs a strong angle, compelling detail, authenticity and a reason for the reader to care.

My role is to bring those elements together and help turn a person’s experience into a story that a newspaper or magazine may want to publish.

So if you’re wondering whether your experience could be a true-life story, human-interest story, newspaper feature or magazine article, don’t worry if you don’t know how to judge it yourself.

That’s what I’m here for.

You may not realise you have a story. I know how to find it.