Literary Journalism

New Deadline & an Explanation as to Why

Hi everyone,

I think my email's gone screwy, since I've been emailing people comments they're not getting, and not getting drafts they've been sending . . . so what I suggest is that instead of attachments, you copy-and-paste your articles into emails.  Now for the big shocker:

I don't have to turn my grades in until Tuesday, so your new deadline is 11:59 P.M. Monday night.  Enjoy! 

Part of the reason I've had to do this is that the student from last week seems to have gone ahead and lodged a sexual harassment complaint against me.  No, I can't believe he did either, but that seems to be the case.  So my head's been in some irrational clouds the past two days. 

Anyone home?

Hi guys! I was wondering if you guys knew the exact time our final drafts are to be turned in? Do we just send it through email? Thanks!

-Audrey

As Long As I'm Thieving . . .

Here is some more advice Barry sent his class which I think would do you some good to think about.

General:

1. The best stories have emotional appeal; you're trying to move the reader as you would in a fiction short story.
2. Don't overpack or frontload; let it unfold.
3. If you make your characters seem as real to the reader as they are to you, your reader will connect with them, will have empathy about their predicament.
4. If you want the reader to share your emotion, your passion, your best tactic is to let him/her also share the experience that aroused the passion in you.
5. Don't co-opt the reader's feelings; let the reader fill in the blanks, let readers come to emotional reactions on their own. Try to keep this in mind: The story happens not on the page but in the readers' imaginations.

Writing

1. Don't overwrite, don't try to hard; don't make it sound like writing.
2. Use only as many words as you need to say something; don't tell us more than we need, or what we already know.
3. Avoid imprecision; clarity is critical.
4. Avoid passive verb constructions ["DiMaggio hit the ball"; not "The ball was hitten by DiMaggio."]
5. Avoid over-use of "to be" verb (is, was, were)
6. Avoid over-use of adjectives and especially adverbs. You usually don't need that adverb to modify your verb, but if you do, you probably need another verb. (Such as "stroll" instead of "walk slowly.")

Structure

1. Structure goes to the heart of everything important in narrative writing. The secret of narrative lies in deciding what to tell first, what to tell second, right up to the ending. You must decide how you want to deal out your cards.
2. The structure is your vision, your take on the story, what you think the story is.
3. Structure leads your reader through the story. Structure is always moving the reader toward something.
4. Structure is what puts you in control of the facts, and allows you to present them in a coherent and compelling way.
5. Structure establishes an action line, but is not just that; it's an action line that also carries and gives dramatic form to your themes and your character's interior lives; to what your story is about.
6. Structure is story: How you order things, and how you juxtapose segments, defines the story.

Peer Review

Here are the teams:

Dzovak - Zach Sire
Rachel - Sally
Ge - Beth
Lauren - Sri
Audrey - Whitney
Monica - Zack Gale
Joy - Karen
Jamie - Mallory
Janet - Charla
Diana - Tracy

You'll need to turn in your peer review with your final essay, but I need you to email it to me (and your partner) by Tuesday at 11:59 p.m.  What should you do in the peer review?  Exactly what I did when I commented on your drafts: edit spelling errors, grammatical infelicities, and indicate when sentences just sound wrong.  In your final comments, I want you to answer the following questions which I've stolen from an email Barry sent to his class.  He seems to know what he's talking about. 

1. What's this story about?
2. Does the structure serve this story; does structure=story?
3. How effective is the opening? Does it grab-move us? Inform us? Frame the story?
4. Do you gain a good sense of the main characters? Do you care about them--do they matter to us?
5. Are there places where you'd suggests cuts or distilling?
6. Are there places where you want more?
7. Would you reorder segments?
8. How effective is the use of POV?
9. What about the writer's voice? Style?
10. Are there areas that confuse? Is there lack of clarity in places?
11. What are the elements of this piece you most appreciate?
12. How can it be improved?