What Is Literary Journalism?
“Things that are cheap and tawdry in fiction work beautifully in nonfiction because they are true. That’s why you should be careful not to abridge it, because it’s the fundamental power you’re dealing with. You arrange it and present it. There’s lots of artistry. But you don’t make it up.”
—John McPhee
Literary journalism has been described as the ‘fusion of journalism and literature,’ a hybrid genre if you like, blending the narrative style of fiction writing with fact-driven reporting techniques.
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Also known as narrative journalism, new journalism, and immersion journalism, this form of storytelling requires in-depth research, thorough interviewing, character development, scene setting, plot structure, and use of dialogue. It utilizes literary techniques to tell a true story about a person, place, event, topic, or experience. Since the characters and settings are real, this cannot be classified as fiction, but it’s not reporting or journalism in the traditional sense either. It calls for more intimate and firsthand interactions with the interview subject and issues explored, and the use of narrative techniques to recreate the scene and tell the story.
Literary journalism is a form of creative nonfiction similar in style to the personal essay and long-form journalism. The writer can choose first-person narration where they essentially become a character in the story, or they can opt for third-person point of view. Whereas a personal essay is focused on the writers themselves and something that’s happened directly to them, literary journalism documents another person’s life and/or experience, or a current event the writer has researched or observed. Many writers spend months embedded with their subjects, gathering information in the field, much like an investigative journalist, but with a different focus for the end piece.
Unlike news writing, which is formulaic, structured, and straightforward, literary journalism has no set rules. Its fluidity allows the journalist freedom to experiment and develop their own unique voice. The result is a piece that’s expressive and engaging, with dramatic, colorful, and emotive descriptions, anecdotes, and observations. They don’t just tell you the story from the sidelines as a detached reporter, they get into the story, immersing themselves in the world of the subject, extracting the essence of the story firsthand, straight from the people involved. Readers get all the details, including thoughts and feelings, the stuff that traditional reporting leaves out. “Nothing fuels the imagination more than real facts do,” Tom Wolfe told the AP in 1999. “As the saying goes, ‘You can’t make this stuff up.’”
And to use another famous saying, truth is often stranger than fiction.
So literary journalism offers readers a different experience than traditional news reporting and fiction, it’s a creative story that just happens to be true. Topics for literary journalism articles and books can range anywhere from lifestyle and popular culture to crime and social issues.
The History of Literary Journalism in a Nutshell
Among the pioneers of the New Journalism movement in the 1960s and 1970s were writers Tom Wolfe, Truman Capote, Gay Talese, Hunter S. Thompson, Norman Mailer, John McPhee, and Joan Didion. Deviating from traditional journalistic formulas, their voices and styles were distinct and unique, earning them great success in publications like Esquire, The New Yorker, and The Saturday Evening Post. Much of their work appeared as essays in serial form that later became books or anthologies.
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However, literary journalism as a style and form existed long before the 1960s, as is evident with the publication of such notable works, like George Orwell’s Down and Out in Paris and London, James Agee’s Let Us Now Praise Famous Men, and journalist and novelist Jack London’s The People of the Abyss.
Where Is Literary Journalism Published?
Literary journalism articles are favored by print magazines such as Harper’s, The New Yorker, The Atlantic Monthly, Esquire, and Rolling Stone. Narratively, Salon and Slate are just some of the many online venues publishing this genre, and literary journalism is also popular in book form.
Quick Tips on Writing Literary Journalism
Use dialogue liberally. Be descriptive. Develop your own voice and never attempt to copy anyone else’s.If you write fiction, then the rule of ‘show don’t tell’ will have been drilled into your brain, and it also applies in literary writing. Build scenes using emotive language and visceral descriptions. We need to bring the reader into the action, so they can experience everything through the writer, see what’s happening, feel the tension, hear the screams, smell the smoke.Tell the truth. This is not fiction, so accuracy is essential. If you embellish then you will lose credibility as a journalism.
Famous Works of Literary Journalism
Frank Sinatra Has a Cold, Gay Talese.
This was an essay written by Gay Talese and published in Esquire, where Talese profiles Frank Sinatra through interviewing the people around him rather than the singer himself. He never got an interview with Sinatra, and his excuse each time of having a cold became the essay’s title.
The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, Tom Wolfe.
Tom Wolfe is probably best known for this 1968 nonfiction book on the 1960s psychedelic culture, chronicling the travels of counterculture icon Ken Kesey and his followers, known as the Merry Pranksters. Wolfe’s book Bonfire of the Vanities was one of the top 10 selling books of the 1980s.
In Cold Blood, Truman Capote.
This book was originally published as a serial in The New Yorker and is the result of six years spent researching the 1959 murders of the Clutter family of Holcomb, Kansas. Based on extensive research and in-depth interviews, Capote tells the story from the perspective of the murderers, the victims, and community members.
The Executioner’s Song, Norman Mailer.
A Pulitzer-prize winning true crime novel that follows Gary Gilmore, who was convicted of murdering two people and was the first person executed in the United States once the ban on capital punishment was lifted in 1976.
Slouching Towards Bethlehem, Joan Didion.
Slouching Towards Bethlehem, published in 1968, was a collection of magazine pieces written by journalist and writer Joan Didion about her experiences living in California.
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Here is a list of more female nonfiction writers: https://www.thecut.com/2016/04/queens-of-nonfiction-56-women-writers-everyone-should-read.html
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Resources
https://normansims.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/The-Literary-Journalists.pdf
https://www.masterclass.com/articles/how-to-recognize-and-write-literary-journalism#
https://www.gq.com/story/50-best-literary-journalism-books
https://thebookcorps.wordpress.com/2017/03/21/9-amazing-literary-journal-articles/
https://lithub.com/are-these-the-best-10-works-of-journalism-published-in-the-last-decade/