Narrative Journalism

Telling it like a story

What is narrative journalism?

A few hints

• Reporting the news as if it were a story.

A few hints

• Reporting the news as if it were a story.

• Using literary devices, such as foreshadowing, detail and metaphor.

A few hints

• Reporting the news as if it were a story.

• Using literary devices, such as foreshadowing, detail and metaphor.

• It has three parts: a complication, a body of story (plot development) and a resolution.

A few hints

• Reporting the news as if it were a story.• Using literary devices, such as

foreshadowing, detail and metaphor.• It has three parts: a complication, a

body of story (plot development) and a resolution.

• It’s similar to a short story, not a novel.

Definition

• Narrative journalism is a story that consists of actions that occur when a sympathetic character encounters a complicating situation that he confronts and solves.

Complication

• Any problem encountered by any human being that complicates our lives.

• It could be a fly landing on your nose or a person who suddenly realizes that the whole world is insane.

• The complication must be basic… and significant to the human condition.

Example

• A young man who has an arrest record for drug possession.

• If he works as an auto mechanic, it may not be a problem in the future.

• But if he works as a teacher, it is a complication.

Complications…

• Create tension.

• Usually get resolved.

• Create a situation the opposite of the inverted pyramid.

Near-misses

• The complication is changed in its perception to the protagonist, but is not resolved.

• A woman fears going bankrupt.

• She becomes a born-again Christian.

• She resolves her fear of going bankrupt, but not the bankruptcy itself.

Endings

• Usually they are happy.

• Sad endings are tough.– Takes an experienced writer– Disappoints the audience

• Avoid trick endings:– It’s all a dream– Protagonist gets run over by a truck.

Outline your story

• Complication– Mary is taunted by another girl, Ann.

• Action– Mary resolves to talk to Ann/discuss it with

her teacher/beat up Ann.

• Resolution– Ann apologizes, Mary is happy.

Things to include

• Scene setters

• Character development

• Logic of action

• Viewpoint of character

• Reasons behind viewpoint

• Background knowledge. Dogs, trains, college, whatever; get to know it.

Description

Wearing a pair of loosely-fitting jeans, an old T-shirt and a thin jacket, with neatly braided hair and a pair of oval-shaped glasses, Zekiah Clark gets ready to change the face of education in the city that she both loves and hates passionately at the same time. She is a third-generation Newark resident, and a sophomore at Newark High School.

Scene setterThe voice was loud a piercing. The speakers

seemed to shake with every syllable. “As Muslims, we cannot sit back and watch from the sidelines,” yelled the Imam. “We have an obligation to make a change, and voting is one of the simplest ways to help our cause…”

His screams were eye-popping and motivating, forcing scores of men to sit up and take notice, children to awake from their slumber, and everyone to forget the hot, stuffy environment.

DetailsIn the smaller room, is a large bed he makes up

himself, several CD’s he rarely plays, a cell phone that rarely rings. The larger room has a kitchen on one side and, on the other, adjacent to a sofa, is a fireplace from which are hung boxing trunks and T-shirts to dry, and a photograph of him when he was a champion.

Writing process

• Collect information

• Do interviews

• Research background

• Write rough draft

• Re-write (up to 5-10 times)

• Check: Are all the relevant actions represented? Anything you can cut?

Three parts of narrative

• Transitional– Bridges gaps between focuses

• Preparatory– Builds toward a climax

• Climactic– The close-up description of the event

Absorb your reader

• Move the reader from her own world to yours.

• Put him in a different place and time.

• Emphasize time, place, character, subject and mood.

• Present an extract of reality, not reality itself.

Some pointers

• The date is not important, but the minute is. Let the reader hear the ticking of the clock.

• Don’t underrate the mood.• Flashbacks and flashforwards.• Stream-of-consciousness: How ad

agencies use pretty women to sell cars.• Foreshadowing. Like music in an opera.

“The master storyteller scrupulously avoids telling the reader how a character feels, or why he does a thing. Instead he shows the reader what happens, and what the character does in response, and what happened then. If he does this correctly, the reader will automatically understand where the character is coming from.”— Jon Franklin, Writing for Story

Follow your interests

• Write about what you know.

• Write about your own experiences.

• Write about others’ experiences, but only after conducting a detailed interview that includes all the things we discussed.

Make dry subjects interesting

• Look for the true dynamic at meetings.

• Understand the participants’ underlying motives.

• Listen to the meaning between the words.

Read narrative writing

• Tom Wolfe• Hunter S. Thompson• James Joyce• Leo Tolstoy

Convey emotion

• Ask questions about feelings.

• Research why the subject felt that way.

• Put yourself in his/her shoes.

Whom to write about

• Convey your ideas to students, but open their world.

• Find subjects outside of school that relate to school.

• Look for subjects that are overlooked.

Results

• The proof is when you see students reading your writing — and enjoying it.