Narrative Journalism

1
Narrative Journalism

• Telling it like a story

2
What is narrative journalism?
3
A few hints

• Reporting the news as if it were a story.

4
A few hints

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

5
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.

6
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.
• Its similar to a short story, not a novel.

7
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.

8
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.

9
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.

10
Complications

• Create tension.
• Usually get resolved.
• Create a situation the opposite of the inverted
  pyramid.

11
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.

12
Endings

• Usually they are happy.
• Sad endings are tough.
• Takes an experienced writer
• Disappoints the audience
• Avoid trick endings
• Its all a dream
• Protagonist gets run over by a truck.

13
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.

14
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.

15
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.
16
Scene setter The 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.
17
Details In the smaller room, is a large bed he
makes up himself, several CDs 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.
18
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?

19
Three parts of narrative

• Transitional
• Bridges gaps between focuses
• Preparatory
• Builds toward a climax
• Climactic
• The close-up description of the event

20
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.

21
Some pointers

• The date is not important, but the minute is. Let
  the reader hear the ticking of the clock.
• Dont underrate the mood.
• Flashbacks and flashforwards.
• Stream-of-consciousness How ad agencies use
  pretty women to sell cars.
• Foreshadowing. Like music in an opera.

22
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
23
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.

24
Make dry subjects interesting

• Look for the true dynamic at meetings.
• Understand the participants underlying motives.
• Listen to the meaning between the words.

25
Read narrative writing

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

26
Convey emotion

• Ask questions about feelings.
• Research why the subject felt that way.
• Put yourself in his/her shoes.

27
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.

28
Results

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

29
(No Transcript)