Literary theft: Lifting technique from classics

Literary theft: Lifting technique from classics Author: Lynn Franklin Published: December 02, 1998 Last Updated: May 20, 1999 National Writers' Workshop If I have seen further, it is by standing upon the shoulders of Giants. - Sir Isaac Newton, 1675 Too few journalists appreciate Newton's idea of building upon past discoveries. The emphasis on breaking news focuses attention on only the present. Yet the same deadline pressure that forces journalists to live in the present also creates the best reason to steal writing techniques: Reporters simply don't have time to reinvent the wheel. While the basic commitment of any nonfiction writer is to the unvarnished truth, the language of the newsroom is fundamentally no different from the language of Shakespeare: a story is a story is a story, whether spun out of the fancies of a Gertrude Stein or the notebook of an experienced reporter. And most of the devices and techniques needed by narrative journalists can be taken or adapted from the classic masters of literature. Our literary inheritance includes the craft of character and place description, foreshadowing, symbol, mood, rhythm and pacing, story craft and plot; these are also apparent in two modern nonfiction classics: Joan Didion's "Slouching Toward Bethlehem" and Tom Wolfe's "The Right Stuff." The most directly useful techniques come from the realists: John Steinbeck, Harper Lee, Mark Twain, Ernest Hemingway, Edith Wharton, F. Scott Fitzgerald. In "To Kill a Mockingbird," for example, Harper Lee reveals the secret of writing good description: It is a quality called movement. Movement is obtained in part by making your words serve multiple purposes. In her hands description does much more than just describe. It sets a scene, creates mood, hints at character traits. If it is to move the story along, description should always serve at least three purposes - but take no more space than if it served only one. From "To Kill a Mockingbird": Calpurnia was something else again. She was all angles and bones; she was nearsighted; she squinted; her hand was wide as a bed slat and twice as hard. Not only does Harper Lee tell us something about Calpurnia's physical appearance and personality, she tells us about the personality of the narrator. Scout clearly had firsthand knowledge of the hardness of Calpurnia's hand. Other devices can be found in works by the authors mentioned earlier. The first chapter of Hemingway's "Death in the Afternoon" explains how journalists can reveal a character's inner personality by describing his exterior actions. The opening of Steinbeck's "Grapes of Wrath" reveals a way of using place description to set mood. Twain made his dialect readable by using rhythm; his works provide an excellent example of using rhythm and pacing to keep a story moving. Twain's work is also a great place to learn how to write without falling into cliché. For an excellent use of symbol, read chapter 3 of Steinbeck's "Grapes of Wrath." His "Of Mice and Men" uses foreshadowing to build tension and character; Jane Kramer used these same techniques in her nonfiction "The Last Cowboy." The journalist would be foolish to ignore this heritage. It obviously applies to narrative nonfiction, but even inverted pyramid stories can be improved through the use of literary techniques. Once you know where to look for techniques, you'll find many, many ways to stand on the shoulders of these literary giants. Lynn Franklin is the moderator of Writer-L, an e-mail writing workshop.

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SI's Fifty Years of Great Writing

SI's Fifty Years of Great Writing

The Players
The Boxer and the Blonde by Frank Deford
Yogi by Roy Blount Jr.
The Last Angry Men by Rick Telander
The Year, The Moment and Johnny Podres by Robert Creamer
Gifts That God Didn’t Give by John Papanek
All the Rage by Richard Hoffer
The Ring Leader by Frank Deford

Main Events
“Lawdy, Lawdy, He’s Great” by Mark Kram
There’s Never Been An Open Like It by Dan Jenkins
The Day Bobby Hit the Home Run by Roger Kahn
A Pay Night for Old Archie by Budd Schulberg

Sweet Spots
Finally, We Were Left Alone, Just Me And My Bike by Thomas McGuane
A Personalized History Of Scottish Golf Or You’ll Not Do That Here, Laddie by Dan Jenkins
The Univesrity of Eighth Avenue and Part II by A. J. Liebling
Sons of the Wind by Kenny Moore
Road Swing by Steve Rushin

Wild Kingdom
Mirror of My Mood by Bil Gilbert
Snakes Alive! by Jeff MacGregor
Pure Heart by William Nack
Grim Reapers of the Land’s Bounty by Jim Harrison
We Are Destroying Our National Parks by Wallace Stegner

Supporting Players
“There Ain’t No Others Like Me” by Mark Kram
Master of the Joyful Illusion by William Barry Furlong
The Coach and His Champion by Alexander Wolff
“I Managed Good, But Boy Did They Play Bad” by Gilbert Rogin
Baseball’s Babbling Brook by Huston Horn

Playing for Laughs
Hype (Absolutely, Positively the Greatest Article Ever Written!) by Bruce Newman
‘Ring Tossed by Steve Rushin
We All Had a Ball by Roy Blount Jr.
The Curious Case of Sidd Finch by George Plimpton
Lake Wobegon Games by Garrison Keillor
Worst Baseball Team Ever by Jimmy Breslin
On the Winter Tour by Herbert Warren Wind

Personal Fouls
The Case Against Brian Spencer by Pete Dexter
Total Loss Weekend by Don DeLillo
This Is the Game of the Name by Franz Lidz
Crime and Punishment by Gary Smith
Broken Promise by S.L. Price
O Unlucky Man by William Nack

Music to the Ear
King of the Sports Page by Rick Reilly
Then My Arm Glassed Up by John Steinbeck
Heavyweight Championship Of The Word by Jeff MacGregor
Would You Let This Man Interview You? by Myron Cope
The Big Wind in Chicago by Ron Fimrite
Kentucky: May: Saturday by William Faulkner

Examined Lives
Farewell, Teddy Ballgame by Leigh Montville
The Ripples From Little Lake Nellie by Gary Smith
The Best Years of His Life by John Ed Bradley
He’s Burning to Be a Success by John Underwood
Laughing on the Outside by John Schulian
The Best There Ever Was by Frank Deford

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