A Conclusion

What have I learnt this semester?

Well, firstly, there is so much more to literary journalism than I thought. I really thought it was similar to feature or magazine writing, but with more in-depth research, and a longer word limit.

There are so many ways to write, and you really have almost complete freedom with literary writing. The only real constraint is that it must be truthful, but as a journalist this should be a primary goal anyway. And there are ways to convey a certain image or emotion that is not strictly the truth, but is imagined by the writer (as done by Anna Funder), as long as it is clear you are imagining.

It doesn't matter what the topic is, literary features can be somber, humorous or personal. I always thought that for serious topics like war and death, it would be inappropriate to write in any other tone but solemn.

I have learnt that sentence length, pacing, structure and writing techniques are not boring. I honestly used to think that we just read into things too much if we were looking for techniques and style. I figured you just wrote what you wrote how you wanted to write it. I cannot begin to tell you how untrue this is.

The techniques used for writing are what make literary journalism. It just takes a bit of practice to be able to pick them out. The good writers plan it so that you don't notice the shifts in perspective, the moving from an internal dialogue to an external conversation, building time, place and character.

Literary journalism values are almost similar to news values, but with more to them. Literary values are
- reflections after the event, rather than timeliness
- the everyday as currency, rather than the current
- tension and ambiguity, rather than conflict
- novelty and irony, rather than just novelty
- it brings the far away close to you
- everyday, rather than celebrity
- symbolic, rather than impact

The stories are about the meaning of the stories, not just the chronology, and the rhythms and the pattern structure. Literary journalism includes personal involvement and passion, even if the writer isn't present. It is not just about a person or event, the writing can express a much broader concern.

All the readings we have done, all the in-class assignments have built towards this understanding. Although I found some of the readings insanely boring, or completely confusing, each one has helped me learn what I like about literary writing, and the kind of writing I will use for my final feature.

I like the way Anna Funder wrote Stasiland, but I cannot be so present in my writing. If there is one thing I would like to do in my piece, it would be to come close to mimicking David Finkel's The Good Soldiers. 


When my literary piece is finally completed, I'll post a link to it on here. If you are interested in reading more literary pieces, I've placed a reading list down the right side of this blog, as well as some links to more information.