breakable rules for literary journalism… Thursday, Oct 22 2009 

REFLECTION stefanie 4:56 am

Written by Mark Kramer, this article is interesting and informative. Here is a photo i found of him:

In his article he explains the ‘breakable rules for literary journalism’.
  • Literary journalists immerse themselves in subject’s worlds and in background research.
    -in order to capture the true essence of the topic, literary journalists must spend months (on occasions years) with the subject of their feature, to completely understand and be able to tell the story totally.
  • Literary Journalists work out implicit covenants about accuracy and candor with readers and with sources.
    -literary journalists are solo operatives, establishing their veracity with readers by displays of forthfightness and street savvy.
  • Literary Journalists write mostly about routine events.
    -literary journalists are drawn to routine events because of ease of access and the need to gain material in places that can be visited. It is often the experiences and theories of the subjects that create the story, as routine dosen’t equate to humdrum.
  • Literary Journalists write in ‘intimate voice’, informal, frank, human and ironic.
    -the narrator of literary journalism has a personality and a voice embedded throughout the piece. The journalist doesn’t speak on behalf of any institution and delivers no agenda. The genre’s power is the strength of the author’s voice.
  • Style counts and tends to be plain and spare.
    -the mark of literary journalism is efficient, individual, informal language. Clean lucid, personal language draws readers towards experiencing the immediacy of scenes and the force of ideas.
  • Literary Journalists write from a disengaged and mobile stance, from which they tell stories and also turn and address readers directly.
    -literary journalists take the position of the host, entertaining and immersing the reader into the story being told, to allow the reader to totally understand and enjoy what is happening and feel a sense of involvement.
  • Structure counts, mixing primary narrative with tales and digressions to amplify and reframe events.
    -most literary journalism is primary narrative, telling stories and setting scenes. Literary journalism carries readers along one, two, three story lines, sculpting stories as complex as narratives do.
  • Literary Journalists develop meaning by building upon the readers’ sequential reactions.
    -readers care about how a situation came about or what happens next if they are experiencing it with the characters. Literary journalists need to be able to be entertaining and style and structure knit story and idea alluringly.

It was an intersting article to read, expanding my knowledge of literary journalism and enabling me to be better prepared as to what needs to be done when creating my own.

 

the technicalities of literary non-fiction… Thursday, Oct 22 2009 

REFLECTION stefanie 4:19 am

So, in an attempt to try to understand more about this complex style of writing, i headed to my bookshelf containing many journalism textbooks i have accumulated over these past years.

An interesting book i found collecting dust, was by David E. Sumer & Holly G. Miller, titled ‘Feature & Magazine Writing’. Here is a little info on literary non-fiction:

  • It is a term that eventually replaced ‘New Journalism’. Both refer to the use of fiction techniques in non-fiction reporting.
  • New Journalism is a writing genre that developed during the 1960’s, later called ‘literary non-fiction’. Its distinguishing characteristics is the use of fiction techniques – especially narrative, dialogue, description and scene-by-scene reporting: in non-fiction reporting.

Stephen Tanner’s book, ‘Journalism – Investigation & Research’ claims that Literary Journalism is often clouded by controversy regarding the accuracy and truthfulness of the piece. The book goes on to explain that Literary Journalism is often associated with the problem of accuracy and objectivity. As a writer of literary journalism, we must think about how we are portraying the topic of the piece and understand the inherent bias that is delivered through the way we write about the topic. The book outlines that it is impossible to be entirely objective – the facts are there are the reader is being informed, however their is a ‘slant’ to the story, delivered by words that are chosen to describe certain situations, adjectives and the underlying message being sent to the readers.

An online book i discovered during my researching, titled ‘Literary Journalism’, by Norman Sims & Mark Kramer outlined the characteristics of literary journalism to be:

  • immersion reporting
  • accuracy
  • symbolic representation
  • complicated structures
  • voice

However, they explained that in order to create a true masterpiece of literary journalism, it is essential that you build a bond of trust with the subjects of your feature. You need to enable people to forget that you’re a reporter, and for them to feel comfortable to say things to you. This is the real way to be able to create a story that is personal and can draw in the reader to the situation and story that is unfolding as they read.

 

the literary journalism world… Thursday, Jul 30 2009 

REFLECTION stefanie 12:45 am

So we have had our first class for literary journalism and i must say I’m feeling rather overwhelmed. Here’s what i first thought the class was about when i enrolled in it:

  • It was to do with journalism theorists
  • We may have to study different journalism theorists and their view on the structure and construction of journalism pieces of work
  • We may have to study and take a test

Here is what the class is REALLY about:

  • Literary journalism is a type and style of journalism.
  • Whilst there are different literary journalists, we have to analyse their style of writing and how a literary piece is structured
  • We have to write a 6000 word literary feature ourselves!!!

So, bringing me back to my original point – I’m feeling slightly overwhelmed.

 I did the first couple of readings. The two Vanity Fair articles, titled ‘Anatomy of a Miracle’ and the Michael Jackson one. I must say they were both very interesting in style and content. Whilst both different in topic and deliver, there was still a strong structure that was followed.

I’ll admit at this point that i had no idea what literary journalism was, i mean, i had of course read longer styles of writing, but i didn’t know that it was literary journalism, nor that it followed a certain style of structure. I am hoping that the more i read of this style of writing, the more i begin to understand the true fundamental elements that make up the literary journalism style of writing.

 

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