28 March 2009

My Kind of Journalism

There are so many different types of journalism these days - hard news, print writing, features, online writing, blogging... Sometimes it seems daunting. Sometimes it seems like I want to dabble in every medium. Sometimes I think that I don't want to do any of these things, and that I just want to write a novel - a fantasy novel, preferably, one that probably won't make me any money at all, or fame either. But since I do want to stick with journalism, I think I'm looking for a journalism that combines novel-writing with reporting, researching facts that I can piece together like a complex puzzles, mixing them up with quotes, weaving the entire thing into a story with a plot and diverse characters, one with more than a 2,000 word limit to tell. I want to write journalistic novels, like my Journalism of Empathy professor Ted Conover. Literary journalism seems like an extended, yet exciting, way to tell a story. And after reading "Coyotes" by Conover, and a couple of other books of the same genre (like "The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down" by Anne Fadiman), I've decided that this is the type of writing I'd like to do in my future. I want to travel somewhere yet un-written about, find some topic unexplored, and delve into a world where I can shine light on a person, place, or idea. The only problem is finding that idea.... Any suggestions?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

These days... There's not much we haven't explored.

We've been to the moon. To the bottom of our deepest oceans. We've mapped out and divided up every bit of land on our earth.

But no one listens to those who don't have a voice. The poor, you know... We're taught to blame them for their misfortunes.

It works for you. Not too many people are interested in hearing about the poor, we just want to know about our celebrities and stuff.