Can a personality profile be done in alternative story form? Of course.

This example from The News & Observer features section shows how. Here's the recipe:

• Take this profile from The New York Times.

• Remix liberally.

• Add bold lede-ins.

• Sprinkle with carefully selected information from the Web.

• Enjoy!

Should every profile be done this way? Of course not. But this packs a lot of information into a small space, and it's easy to scan. It comes in bite sizes but is still nutritious. Stories about speeches can be done the same way. (Thanks to N&O copy editor Chuck Small for the "before and after" insight on this regular feature.)

For all the talk here lately about alternative story forms, I'd like to point to two well-done stories written as old-fashioned narratives, both from the N&O:

• Assistant managing editor Dan Barkin on getting a tattoo with his son, George.

• Dan Hartmann and Andrea Rogers, freelancers on a world tour, on the visiting the temples of Cambodia.

No recipe needed. Just enjoy!