What are the 'journalism techniques' used in story production?
A writer who transitioned from being a newspaper reporter to writing novels explains the ``four journalistic techniques'' that he found useful in the production of his stories.
How Dealing in Facts Helps Fiction Writers Hone Their Craft ‹ Literary Hub
After earning a master's degree from the University of Kansas in the United States, Australian author Tracy Lien worked as a reporter for the Los Angeles Times , a daily newspaper mainly subscribed to in the western United States. After several years of career, Liang decided to quit his job and study creative writing, but at the time he was worried that his training as a newspaper reporter would make it difficult for him to write novels. ” he was worried.
The first reason for this is that there is a strict rule in journalism that ``fabrication is not tolerated.'' Dates and numbers are double- and triple-checked, statements and people's names are checked in detail, timelines are cross-referenced, and articles already posted on the site need to be corrected if there is even the slightest mistake. there is. Therefore, when starting fiction, Lian says that he was not sure whether the characters and events he created felt realistic. Also, while an article in the Los Angeles Times is written with an average of 500 words, the 60,000 words needed to write a novel is equivalent to 150 articles, which feels like a high hurdle.
However, he says that his career as a newspaper reporter was of great help in completing his first work, All That's Left Unsaid, from drafting to revisions to the sales process. Mr. Lian says that in news, it is common to write according to 'discipline' rather than inspiration, and in novels, by relying on strict discipline rather than sudden ideas, he is able to continue with confidence little by little each day. After talking about this, he points out ``four disciplines for writing novels'' as key points.
The first thing to do is to prepare a hook that grabs the reader's attention. On web news sites that publish dozens of articles every day, you can often find yourself at the bottom of the daily charts, even though you've spent weeks thinking the article is important. Therefore, Mr. Lian learned from experience that ``It is not enough just to think that it is interesting, you have to make it interesting for the reader as well'', and he uses this knowledge in writing novels. Precisely because it has an attractive setting and colorful characters, it is necessary to have direction and storytelling that constantly keeps the reader's interest, without relying on them.
The second point raised by Mr. Lian is about ``memorable dialogue,'' which he learned from excellent articles that summarize interactions such as interviews and conferences. A good news article makes it easy to vividly reproduce in your mind the statements and conversations covered. The reason for this is that news articles sometimes quote what is said directly, and sometimes paraphrase it in the original text, and Mr. Lian analyzes that this distinction is important. On top of that, Mr. Lian said that he carefully scrutinized questions such as ``Is it necessary as a dialogue?'' and ``Given the nature of the character, wouldn't it be more appropriate to use the original text?''
The third point is that ``we research facts precisely because we write stories that are not facts.'' When writing newspaper articles, reporters do thorough research to convey the facts, but even in novels, Lian points out, ``It is through investigation and research that you can unleash your imagination.'' By researching and becoming familiar with matters related to the story's setting, setting, and character characteristics, you will have a clearer starting point for constructing your story.
Fourth and finally, Mr. Lian says that the experience of ``pitch'', which newspaper reporters cannot avoid in the field of journalism, is also important for writing stories. 'Pitch' is a business term used in English-speaking countries that refers to a 'very short presentation.' In the field of journalism, before you start writing an article, you receive the go-ahead from your boss, the editor, or the editor-in-chief, or get a front page slot. If I wanted to target someone, I would need to make a sales pitch, and before writing, I needed to summarize in a short sentence how important and interesting the news was. Mr. Lian says that he was able to put these skills to good use in writing story lines and plot summaries in order to create interesting and deep settings and character relationships without making them seem complicated.
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