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Title: Telling Stories/Taking Risks: Journalism Writing at the Century's Edge by Alice M. Klement, Carolyn Matalene ISBN: 0-534-52272-6 Publisher: Wadsworth Publishing Company Pub. Date: 18 August, 1997 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $34.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.5 (2 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: A Refreshing Look At Journalism Today - There's Still Hope!
Comment: It seems rather presumptuous to begin an introduction with a self-indulging complement. Luckily, Alice Klement and Carolyn Matalene's Telling Stories/Taking Risks rises to the challenge. Klement and Matalene both saw a common strategy amid their peers, a universal theme appearing amongst today's journalistic creations: a need to "get involved, [and] get others involved;" a need to take risks.
They assembled a rousing compilation of short stories, taking examples from magazines, newspapers and alternative 'zines, that illustrate to aspiring writers and readers how exceptional reporting can be when a journalist goes with their gut feeling, disregards conventional journalistic law and explores the world 'outside the box'.
Angered by the way today's society has cast non-fiction to the bottom of the ranks, Klement and Matalene successfully show that real stories can be great stories too. When a human face is attached to the facts and to our immediate concerns in life, the story leaves much more of an impact.
Telling Stories/Taking Risks is a cascading tower that begins with the writers who remain unseen as they give the accounts of others, then finishes with the journalists who have decided to impart their own life experiences.
Journalists in the first section are taking new risks in their writing by telling the stories of those who are rarely noticed, and writing in irregular forms. Julie Sullivan manages to fit the essence of someone's life into 4 inches of copy in Desperate Days at the Merlin, while Greg Raver-Lampman, in his story of a lottery winner, presents the importance of occasionally withholding the end of the story till the end, contrary to the reporting practice of putting the most powerful component of the story in the lead.
Telling Stories/Taking Risks asks the question of why we should leave the story telling up to the fictional writers, when journalists can get the real story. In the second chapter, the writers become more than conveyers of information; they observe and partake in their stories, allowing us to learn along with them about everything from small town reporting and snake handlers to following ancestral lines.
It is in the third section that the greatest risks are taken; the writers bestow upon us their opinions. Klement and Matalene's choice of stories here is at times questionable, but successful none the less. Keith B. Richburg's Continental Divide seems to long-winded, drawing the readers attention away from the main focus of the book, and Dave Barry's The Name Game, and Read All About It, Dude, although humorous, lack the edginess and solidity of all the other pieces. However, this brief slip-up is compensated greatly by Eugene Izzi's piece on child molestation, Innocence Lost, and Laura Miller's Parkland's Pink Pinafore Problem. Klement and Matalene cause us to become strikingly aware of the importance of the educated journalist to impress their positions and opinions on us, in situations where a greater knowledge can be gained.
Although most of the stories presented in Telling Stories/Taking Risks contradict the most standard rules of news journalism, most people will agree that they also seem to hit harder than your average local story. We listened more, learned more and most importantly, felt more. In the final and most impacting chapter, the writers expose themselves. We are touched by Chip Scanlan's triumph over his temper; educated and moved by Jim Fussell's lifelong battle with Tourettes; and saddened by Jonathan Dahl's seemingly futile search for his brother.
Not only do Klement and Matalene effectively show the benefits of taking stylistic risks, but they also stress the importance, in today's world of monotonous information, to put a human face on your story.
Rating: 5
Summary: Great collection of journalism-rule-breaking stories
Comment: If you're frustrated by the rules in journalism that seem to favor simplistic non-literary structures accessible to ninth grade readers, you'll marvel at this collection of published stories that break all of the rules. The editors chose works from a wide range of media - GQ to Sports Illustrated to mainstream and alternative newspapers - where writers put the writing first. There's a story that's all one sentence; one that shifts from first to second person throughout; one that uses a false third-person narrative to tell a first-person account. These stories are intense, and the work on the writing/editing is evident. It'll restore your faith in print journalism as a means of communication. The title is misleading - these stories are timeless.
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Title: The ART OF FACT: A HISTORICAL ANTHOLOGY OF LITERARY JOURNALISM by Kevin. Kerrane, Ben. Yagoda ISBN: 0684846306 Publisher: Scribner Pub. Date: 03 August, 1998 List Price(USD): $18.00 |
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Title: Writing for Story: Craft Secrets of Dramatic Nonfiction by a Two-Time Pulitzer Prize Winner by Jon Franklin ISBN: 0452272955 Publisher: Plume Books Pub. Date: 01 September, 1994 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: On Writing Well, 25th Anniversary : The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction (ON WRITING WELL) by William K. Zinsser ISBN: 0060006641 Publisher: HarperResource Pub. Date: 18 September, 2001 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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