Descriptive writing is always the aim, even on squirrel hunting

Is it possible that a newspaper article can be too well written?
In a profession devoted to storytelling, such a question normally would be heretical. But a reader raised the issue last week after we

published an A5 story Monday on a squirrel hunter.
Actually, several readers – all women, incidentally – raised this issue. They thought the story was “disgusting” because the protagonist of

this profile not only hunts and kills squirrels, but he eats their brains.
Clearly, the story failed the “Cheerios test” – an unwritten newspaper rule that questions whether readers will lose their breakfasts over

breakfast by reading or seeing something offensive in the newspaper.
I confess that when I read and edited the story before publication – and it was I who insisted it be published – I wasn’t considering the

Cheerios test. I simply had never read a better-crafted, 80-inch tome on a squirrel hunter.
Usually, when a reporter gives me an 80-inch story, there had better be some sex or violence, corruption or other malfeasance. This story,

however, featured only violence, albeit against furry-tailed rodents.
I wasn’t offended, however. I’m a gun owner but not a hunter.
And while I’ve never sampled squirrel brains, and still have no plans to do so because it doesn’t make the Top 100 on my Bucket list, I just

marveled at the writer’s passion and descriptive writing.
The writer is Nate Hubbard, who works for our weekly newspaper in Wytheville, Va. His editor, Mark Sage, landed Nate a couple of years ago

right out of the University of North Carolina.
Nate is writing-wise well beyond his years. Take this line: “While many hunters today – especially adults – scoff at the virtues of a good

squirrel hunt and meal, [Cecil] Sink still exudes an unsullied, kid-in-the-woods enchantment with stalking the bushy-tailed critters.”
There are some rather gamey quotes in the story, I’ll concede. “I still cook the heads and eat the brains,” Sink said.
So as the editor who insisted we publish this story, where do I stand now amidst the criticism from more than a few readers that the story

was simply too much?
The headline and blown-up quote didn’t help our readers with less than iron stomachs: “ ‘I still cook the heads and eat the brain’,” was the

secondary headline. The quote had to do with Mr. Sink’s earliest memory, at age 3, of his mother cracking the squirrel skulls with the back

of a spoon and feeding him the brains.In addition to toning down the headline and quote, I suppose I could have edited the story in half and

removed the graphic parts. But wouldn’t that have gutted – pardon the expression – the story’s essence?
It’s a tough call, especially when one of your female journalist friends says on Facebook: “Ding, ding: Todd wins the award for publishing

the grossest story.”
My other Facebook feedback included this from a woman: “Nice story - My 12 year old just went through the required hunting course - He & his

dad were just squirrel hunting yesterday - no brains were eaten ...”
Another Facebook female friend said: “I liked the story. We lived away from this area for many years and I had forgotten about this custom.

This used to be fairly common ... along with roasted calves’ tongues ... and eating tripe and pickled pigs feet. You ought to do a story on

all of that, too! Why do you have to pass a Cheerios test? This is real! And in many places it is ‘survival’ ... for those of limited

incomes.”
In the end, I’m torn about our handling of this story. Not torn about this though: I want that Nate kid writing for the Herald Courier some

day.

J. Todd Foster is managing editor of the Bristol Herald Courier and can be reached at jfoster@bristolnews.com or (276) 645-2513.