notes on narrative nonfiction writing
1. All knowledge and cultural reference is assumed. [Anyone reading your story also has access to Google, Wikipedia, and millions of websites and blogs.]
1.1. Therefore any explanation placed within the body of a narrative [For example: "He had on a boina, the South American version of a newsboy cap," or "He was listening to Outkast, a hip-hop group from Atlanta] tends to slow down or obscure the narrative flow and/or potentially alienate the reader (if he/ she already knows what the referent is).
1.2 Therefore the narrator should simply describe / narrate, and if necessary, add references via (a) links, (b) words in parenthesis, or (c) footnotes.
2. Emotions are never assumed [Ex: "She seemed happy that morning."], but can only be portrayed the way they were perceived by the narrator, [Ex: "She stood in the corner punching herself in the stomach."]
2.1. Any changes effected by or perceived by the narrator either (a) within him/herself or (b) outside of him/herself, must be placed in temporal context* [Ex: "Right now she would be around 6 months pregnant and we’re both grieving this in our own ways."]
2.1.a. *unless it is fiction.
3. Narrators should be self-aware and transparent about (a) their connections (and / or lack of connection) to the subject, (b) the temporal / historical context of the subject, (c) the potential effects of their writing on the subject, (d) their acknowledgment of using various mimetic or diegetic devices as storytelling “vehicles.”
3.1. Logical fallacies, incorrect information, hyperbole, and other potential “issues” are all “ok” as long as they are recognized transparently.
4. Narrators should develop / operate from a lexicon faithful to the way they speak / think in real life.*
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While I think that points 1 and 1.2 have some validity, I also have a point of contention. In the examples you mentioned, the boina and Outkast, it would be unnecessary to give an explanation of who or what type of cultural object or icon it would be. However, with other concepts such the ones you use in point 3, mimetic and diegetic, I do not think that posting a link to their definition is sufficient. As we know, the meaning of words change with the context they are in. Simply relying on another source to explain concepts that are more complex and varied in meaning, I think, relies upon an abstraction that leaves the specific embodiment of that idea you are trying to illustrate, obscure. What does it look like to use mimetic or diagetic devices as “storytelling vehicles”?
thanks for the comments margaret.
a quick clarification: points 1 through 1.2 are all part of the same set, which deals specifically with the idea of no longer needing to ‘explicate’ things within the linear (or nonlinear) flow of a narrative.
point 3 is separate–it describes a different aspect.
you are correct that certain words/concepts would be obscured if simply linked to, however, the point is that this is about narrative; the writing above is just notes / possible structures to use.
if i were writing this as a narrative (and following #3), it might look something like this:
I’ve just forwarded the link to my journ class. The points about assumed cultural references and what we perceive vs what we would like to read into it on behalf of the audience are particularly useful in a lot of the journ writing we have been doing. Thanks for putting these thoughts out there.
thanks richard.
what journalism class is it? what school? interested to know.
Postgrad diploma in journalism and media studies at Rhodes University (South Africa). It’s no NYU, but for journalism and questions on media in Africa specifically, it’s unrivalled.
The postgrad diploma crowd is actually a nice mix of people, all of whom originally qualified for something else and specifically chose to come and study journ instead of doing that. I’ve never been in a class with this much energy before – it’s inspiring how far beyond the curriculum it drives people.
Woah. Fuck.
David. Reading this now in my fourth year of college, as opposed to my second semester….It’s different. I feel engaged the conversation in a real way. These are the thoughts in my brain, and the actions and expressions of those thoughts on the page that I contend with.
Jared