Reporting
& writing & writing
reporting
Monday, 21 January 2013
New Journalism II
1
New Journalism II:
Structure and detail
Or, how films and novels can help your
feature writing.
»
»
»
»
»
Novelistic detail
Establishing scenes
Dialogue
Sketching
Feature structure
• Click icon to add picture
New Journalism II
Monday, 21 January 2013
Reporting & writing
Detail
The raw material of
scene and character
How people look
Their clothes
Their houses (inside and out)
Habits, tics and mannerisms
Accents
What someone is reading or listening
to
» What car they drive
» What watch they wear
» Etc.
• Click icon to add picture
»
»
»
»
»
»
» Tom Wolfe
2
New Journalism II
Monday, 21 January 2013
Reporting & writing
Detail
Today, Richards is a pirate in onshore
mode. The mood is tavernish. Even though • Click icon to add picture
we are in the Royal Suite at Claridge’s,
which has a grand piano (“Shall I have a
go? You can bootleg it —hargh! hargh!
hargh!”) and so many rooms that we
never even go in half of them, Richards still
brings an air of a man who has left his
parrot, cutlass and Smeein the hallway —
lest he need to make a quick getaway.
Interview with Keith Richards
» Caitlin Moran, The Times
» Packing details in tightly
3
New Journalism II
Monday, 21 January 2013
Reporting & writing
Detail
His house in Hertfordshire is far less showy
than I expected; it's a 40s pebbledash job with a • Click icon to add picture
shaggy lawn and a sauna hut at the end of the
garden. It was on the market for £500,000 three
years ago, but evidently he decided to keep it. It
reminds me a bit of JG Ballard's old house in
Shepperton, a warren of rooms into which he
has seemingly dumped at random all his
favourite things –a gold Ducati Monster
motorbike, stacks of paintings mainly by and of
Goldie, a tottering mountain of trainers, two
husky dogs and –eek! –a giant boa constrictor
in a tank.
Interview with Goldie
» Lynn Barber, The Observer, 2009
» “Status details”
4
New Journalism II
Monday, 21 January 2013
Reporting & writing
Scenes
» Think of five words to
describe this house
• Click icon to add picture
Drawing readers into the scene
» In screenplays and novels, stories are told scene by scene
» It gives the impression of being there while the story takes place
5
New Journalism II
Monday, 21 January 2013
Reporting & writing
Scenes
• Click icon to add picture
Drawing readers into the scene
» Think of another five words to describe this street
» (the house from the previous slide is on the right)
6
New Journalism II
Monday, 21 January 2013
Reporting & writing
Scenes
Eszterhas vs Berger –
a clash of styles?
• Click icon to add picture
» Berger was writing in the New York
Times.
» His story answers Who, What, Where,
When, Why and How in the top three
pars.
» Eszterhaswas writing for Rolling Stone
–he had more time, more space, and
comparative creative freedom.
» But both spend a lot of time setting the
scene of their stories, with a forensic
level of detail.
» Camden, NJ
7
New Journalism II
Monday, 21 January 2013
Reporting & writing
Scenes
He spent the night at the Family Theatre on
Market Street in Philadelphia to sit through
• Click icon to add picture
several showings of the double feature motion
picture there-“I Cheated the Law” and “The
Lady Gambles.”
[…]
On the peeling walls he had crossed pistols;
crossed German bayonets, pictures or armored
artillery in action. Scattered about the chamber
were machetes, a Roy Rogers pistol, ashtrays
made of German Shells, clips of 30-30
cartridges for rifle use and a host of varied war
souvenirs.
Meyer Berger
» Report for New York Times, 1949
» Spent hours at murder scene
8
New Journalism II
Monday, 21 January 2013
Reporting & writing
Scenes
The courthouse was built in the first decade of
the 20th century. It is red-brick, three stories tall, • Click icon to add picture
topped by a cupolaedbelltowerand a flagpole.
The bells ring once a year –on the Fourth of July.
(…)
The building sits atop a mound-like elevation
exactly 16 steps above the neatly-swept
sidewalk. A black iron railing leads to the south
side doors, which are flanked by four columnar
graystonepillars. The elevation transforms the
courthouse steps into a stage. If Old Lloyd
Foster, for example, who ebulliently runs South
Side Prescriptions, glances out his store
window at the courthouse, he is looking up. The
building is at the tip of his nose.
Charlie Simpson’s Apocalypse
» Joe Eszterhas
» Harrisonville court house
9
New Journalism II
Monday, 21 January 2013
Reporting & writing
Scenes
They wore their hair long and untrimmed and
grew chinboundmoustaches and billowing
• Click icon to add picture
beards. They wore all manners of beegum
strawhatsand cropdusterclothes –always
bluejeansand a lot of Army jackets, engineer’s
boots, and $2 teeny-shoes which Old Lloyd’s
son, Don, sold them at the Sears County
Catalogue store. They played riotous Frisbee in
the middle of the street and collected wilted
flowers in back of Vann’s florist shop and
decked themselves out with dead roses and
carnations. They wore “love crosses” around
their necks from which Jesus’ body had been
blasphemously ripped away.
Charlie Simpson’s Apocalypse
» Joe Eszterhas
» Soaked up scenic detail
10
New Journalism II
Monday, 21 January 2013
Reporting & writing
Scenes
» Pensioner killed with 20
stab wounds here in
2004
» Resident killed girlfriend
in 1994
» Resident killed pensioner
in 1992
» Nicknamed the “murder
house”
• Click icon to add picture
67 Kingsley Road, Maidstone
» History of the house gives it character
» Think about your five words that described it
» Draw on its appearance, setting, and mood
11
New Journalism II
Monday, 21 January 2013
Reporting & writing
Scenes
The Murder House
The house seems to be decomposing.
The paint is cracked like old skin, and smeared
with sickly stains. It looks damp. Touch it and it
might give way like tender meat. The garage is
gaping and hollow, like a wound.
On Kingsley Road, Maidstone, the houses are
lined up like tombstones in a cemetery but the
dead are all buried at number 67.
This is where Richard Cromarty, 67, was
stabbed 20 times in 2004. Michael Allen, the
killer of 17-year-old Cara Hepworth in 1994,
called this place home. So did James Ingram,
murderer of 79-year-old Edith Barrow, two
years earlier.
Why don’t they just tear it down?
• Click icon to add picture
» Intro to a feature
12
New Journalism II
Monday, 21 January 2013
Reporting & writing
Scenes
Using descriptive
passages in stories
» When the word count & tone allows it
» When it will benefit the reader
» When fine detail about a place or a
person is key to telling the story
» To set up action and tension (e.g. the
courthouse as a stage)
» To ensure interviews are not just long
uninterrupted sequences of quotes
» To turn key locations into charactersin
the story
» But don’t ramble.
• Click icon to add picture
» Describe every detail
13
New Journalism II
Monday, 21 January 2013
Reporting & writing
Dialogue
The power of dialogue
•
and real voices
Click icon to add picture
» Too often the voices of sources mirror
the editorial style of the newspaper.
» Short, snappy quotes in The Sun
» Long, complex quotes in The
Times (Tony Harcup)
» Real voices help to establish character
» They add variety to the text
» They add authenticity to people’s
opinions
» Quote this muppetverbatim
14
New Journalism II
Monday, 21 January 2013
Reporting & writing
Dialogue
Charlie Bell sat on a trunk by one of the
• Click icon to add picture
entries to the circus ring, watching the
elephants. “Ain’tnobody leaped over ‘em
for twenty-four years now,” he said
pityingly. “I don’t see how they handle ‘em.
Nothing keeps an elephant in place like
being leaped over. Makes ‘emfeel they ain’t
so big.”
» Interview with the last elephant leaper
employed by the Ringling Bros state
circus.
AJ Liebling
» in Randall’s The Great Reporters
» A keen ear for voices
15
New Journalism II
Monday, 21 January 2013
Reporting & writing
Dialogue
“There was no doubt about it,” said 60year-old J.W. Brown, editor and publisher • Click icon to add picture
of the Democrat-Missourian, a flatulent
pipe-smoking country gentleman. “What
we had here were our own hippies, settin’
up there, raisin’ hell, callin’ our women
names, drinkin’ wine and smokin’ some of
that marijuana. I even heard they was
right up there in the bushes havin’ sexual
intercourse. Yes sir. Sex-You-All
intercourse. Now those old drunks who
used to set up there, those old boys never
did any of that.”
Charlie Simpson’s Apocalypse
» Joe Eszterhas
» JW Pepper
16
New Journalism II
Monday, 21 January 2013
Reporting & writing
Dialogue
“I’m a friend,” the newspaper man said. “I
want to know what they’re doing to you • Click icon to add picture
down there.”
Unruh thought a moment. He said, “They
haven’t done anything to me -yet. I’m
doing plenty to them.” His voice was still
steady without a trace of hysteria.
[…]
“Why are you killing people.”
“I don’t know,” came the frank answer. “I
can’t answer that yet. I’ll have to talk to you
later. I’m too busy now.”
The telephone banged down.
Meyer Berger
» Report for New York Times, 1949
» Got dialogue from local editor
17
New Journalism II
Monday, 21 January 2013
Reporting & writing
Dialogue
Using dialogue
creatively: tips
• Click icon to add picture
» This won’t work in every story
» In hard news using people’s flawed
language will make them look stupid
» That might not be the tone you were
looking for
» But in features, interviews and profiles
clever use of dialect, turns of speech
and quirky phonetics can paint a vivid
picture of your subject
» Don’t mock his lisp
18
New Journalism II
Monday, 21 January 2013
Reporting & writing
Sketching
Holding up a “fun
house mirror”
• Click icon to add picture
» Political sketch writers use similar
caricaturing techniques to those of the
New Journalists.
» They hold a “fun house mirror” to
Parliament.
» Like any caricature, they only work if
the end result is recognisable–and
based on exaggerations of real detail.
» The more detail you collect the more
material you have for your sketch.
» Sketches use fine detail
19
New Journalism II
Monday, 21 January 2013
Reporting & writing
Sketching
The minister, charged with answering, a Lib
Dem called David Heath, usually quite a
• Click icon to add picture
measured fellow, adopted a highly aggressive
manner. He charged into the fray like a bull who,
thinking he has just found a pleasant china
shop, realises he has stumbled into an abbatoir.
The gist of his argument was that (1) he wasn't
to blame, (2) it was someone else's fault and (3)
he had nothing to do with it. The rest of the
Commons, chiefly Labour MPs who loathe the
Lib Dems, and Tories who believe that the Lib
Dems are the horsemeat in the coalition, didn't
entirely accept this. In fact they were extremely
cynical.
Sketch of horse meat debate
» Simon Hoggart, The Guardian
» Clever use of detail
20
New Journalism II
Monday, 21 January 2013
Reporting & writing
Sketching
The best way to describe how dull a dull
• Click icon to add picture
event is, is to tell it straight; the trouble
with writing ominously about this sort of
thing is that you make it sound ominous,
and the trouble with being amusing about
it is that you make it sound amusing.
AJ Liebling
» in Randall’s The Great Reporters
» Sketch advice
21
New Journalism II
Monday, 21 January 2013
Reporting & writing
Structure
Putting it all together:
long form journalism
• Click icon to add picture
» Carrying a story over 3,000 words
requires planning and structure.
» Think about:
» Narrative arc
» Recurring and repeating themes
» Moving from scene to scene
» Use box-outs and sidebars for:
» Factfiles
» Case studies
» Background
» Multiple case studies
22
New Journalism II
Monday, 21 January 2013
Reporting & writing
Structure
Charlie Simpson’s
Apocalypse
• Click icon to add picture
» Intro describes the town.
» Is this effective?
» Then jumps to the shootings.
» Flashback
» Goes to chronology: who are key
characters? Why is there friction
between generations? Builds back up
to the shootings & aftermath.
» Starting at (or near) the end
23
New Journalism II
Monday, 21 January 2013
Reporting & writing
Structure
Meyer Burger’s more
conventional style
• Click icon to add picture
» Tells you right at the beginning who
did it, how many dead, where it
happened, how it happened etc.
» Then goes back over everything
chronologically in painstaking detail.
» The intro isn’t a spoiler –the level of
detail in the main piece keeps you
reading even though you know how it
ends.
» The howdidhedoitplot
24
New Journalism II
Monday, 21 January 2013
Reporting & writing
Structure
» Tyler Durdenpoints out
that a new reel needs to
be put on during Fight
Club.
» Known as breaking the
fourth wall.
» Similar to “Reader, I
married him” (Jane Eyre)
• Click icon to add picture
Subverting the form
» Journalists do this too (e.g. when a source won’t talk, and why)
» Used sparingly and effectively, letting the reader see behind the curtain can give
them extra context by which to assess sources or themes.
25
New Journalism II
Monday, 21 January 2013
Reporting & writing
Structure
I was wearing a tie and a blue blazer and the
next few days I wore the same get-up,
• Click icon to add picture
exaggerating the effect, walking around with a
fat Special Corona 77 cigar sticking out of my
mouth. I sought out townspeople in the most
razor-backed bars in town, buying them beer
and malt liquor and getting them to talk. I
slicked my hair back above my ears and bought
a bottle of gooey hair-oil and –with cigar and
coat and tie –I must have looked respectable
enough to them because pretty soon they were
buying me beers. I told them I was from a
magazine in San Francisco and forgot to say
which one.
Charlie Simpson’s Apocalypse
» Joe Eszterhas
» Breaking the fourth wall
26
New Journalism II
Monday, 21 January 2013
Reporting & writing
Structure
Breaking the fourth
wall: advice
» Readers don’t want to read about you
just doing your job
» “I called x on the phone” or “I
interviewed y in her office” is boring.
» But if you’re tracking down a recluse,
then howyou did it will help to
establish how much of a recluse they
are.
» Be aware of “Chatham House rules”
though… some things should not be
shared.
• Click icon to add picture
» RabFlorence: full disclosure
27
New Journalism II
Monday, 21 January 2013
Reporting & writing
Next week
Interviewing – and a
little challenge
» Write a sketch or caricature of a
person, place or event –max 400
words by 5pm Friday. Prize for best!
» It can be anyone: someone you know,
or a celeb, but it must be well observed
and detailed.
» Next week: Long form interviews
» Lynn Barber
» Caitlin Moran
» Tuesday: Bring one you like, and be
prepared to say why!
• Click icon to add picture
» Lynn Barber
28