Fan Fiction and Fan Practices: Integrating the Digital Wilds and the Language...Shannon Sauro
Online fan communities and fan sites are home to many different kinds of fandom tasks and projects, perhaps the best known of which is fan fiction These are stories that reinterpret and remix the events, characters and settings found in fiction and popular media. Other online fandom tasks include translation projects such as fan-subbing, amateur subtitling of movies and television series carried out online by teams of fans in different countries, and spoiling, in which fan networks track down and share information via social media for the purpose of speculating about a television show or movie’s plotline before it is released (Duffet, 2013).
Research in applied linguistics on fandom practices has explored how youth have used fan fiction, in particular, to foster identity and second language development in the digital wilds (see for example Leppänen, 2008 and Thorne & Black, 2011). However, less attention has been paid to the older language learners in online media fandoms who also represent a type of language learner engaged in autonomous and long-term extramural language learning (Sundqvist, 2009) in the digital wilds. Moving from the wilds to the classroom, more recent research has begun to explore the domestication of fan fiction tasks in formal classroom contexts (Sauro & Sundmark, in press 2016) and which also holds promise for the design of technology-mediated tasks to support the learning of both language and literature.
This talk, therefore, discusses findings from case-study research with older fans as well as classroom-based research to explore how these fandom tasks and fan practices are used to facilitate the development of linguistic, literary, and digital competences both in the wilds and in the classroom.
A Study in Sherlock: Bridging the Digital Wilds & the Language ClassroomShannon Sauro
This reflective practice presentation builds on prior work that has looked at the use of fandom tasks (Sauro, 2014) for language learning. Such tasks include those that focus on fanfiction, defined by Jamison (2013) as "writing that continues, interrupts, reimagines, or just riffs on stories and characters other people have already written about" (p. 17). Initial investigation of fanfiction in the advanced English classroom has shown that collaborative fanfiction tasks that makes use of blog-based role-play to tell a missing moment from a story can be useful in bridging both language and literary learning (Sauro & Sundmark, in press 2016). However, although such tasks borrow from digital and linguistic practices found in online fan communities, the resulting stories do not fully reflect the linguistic or literary norms of the fanfiction in the digital wilds. This was a concern for language learners whose interest in publishing their online fanfiction was to communicate with online fans and fan communities.
The means of addressing this may lie in better integrating fan practices and fan voices in the tasks themselves and in actual classroom practice. This presentation, therefore, explores the revision and implementation of collaborative fanfiction tasks and instructions that do just that.
Building on previous blog-based fanfiction projects, the current project, A Study in Sherlock, was carried out as part of a course for students in the teacher education program at a Swedish university who were specializing in teaching English at the secondary school level. Students self-organized into small groups of 4-6 to write and publish online a collaborative mystery inspired by a Sherlock Holmes story. As part of their preparation, students were guided in the reading of several Sherlock Holmes mysteries, but were also required to read Sherlock Holmes fanfiction that had been identified by online fans as representative of the tropes and specific fan genres found in this type of fan writing. In addition, online several fanfiction writers were contacted to share writing activities they used when helping other novice fanfiction writers and these were incorporated into class instruction. Once completed, these stories were shared with online Sherlock Holmes fan communities.
Analysis of the language, content, and formatting of the 16 completed online stories as well as the reaction of fans, in particular to the six stories that were published to online fanfiction archives, revealed advantages for integrating fan practices into task design and teaching to support greater mastery of fanfiction genres in a manner more likely to reach (fan) readers and thereby link the digital wilds with the language classroom.
“I’m going to get online and I’m going to talk to people and learn English”: ...Shannon Sauro
This presentations reports on a case study of the informal L2 language and digital literacy development of an adult fan.
The focal participant for this case study, Steevee, is a female fan in her early 30s originally from a small city in eastern Germany who first entered online media fandom six years prior with the goal of developing her English in order to live and work in London. Data analyzed include semi-structured interviews, email correspondence, and analysis of Steevee’s fan-based social media accounts on Tumblr and Twitter.
Findings reveal how Steevee’s heavy involvement in the fan practice of spoiling, defined as the discovery and sharing of plot elements (Duffet, 2013), during filming of the television series Sherlock facilitated Steevee’s English and digital literacy development for the purpose of living an working in an English-speaking context. This study, therefore, documents the process through which an adult L2 English user makes use of popular culture, technology, and online media fandom to engage in informal language learning.
Discussion points: how does White racism work today, how do White Americans produce and reproduce the culture of White racism through their use of language in literary texts and mass media, how does folk theory help us to understand and unravel White racism
Fan Fiction and Fan Practices: Integrating the Digital Wilds and the Language...Shannon Sauro
Online fan communities and fan sites are home to many different kinds of fandom tasks and projects, perhaps the best known of which is fan fiction These are stories that reinterpret and remix the events, characters and settings found in fiction and popular media. Other online fandom tasks include translation projects such as fan-subbing, amateur subtitling of movies and television series carried out online by teams of fans in different countries, and spoiling, in which fan networks track down and share information via social media for the purpose of speculating about a television show or movie’s plotline before it is released (Duffet, 2013).
Research in applied linguistics on fandom practices has explored how youth have used fan fiction, in particular, to foster identity and second language development in the digital wilds (see for example Leppänen, 2008 and Thorne & Black, 2011). However, less attention has been paid to the older language learners in online media fandoms who also represent a type of language learner engaged in autonomous and long-term extramural language learning (Sundqvist, 2009) in the digital wilds. Moving from the wilds to the classroom, more recent research has begun to explore the domestication of fan fiction tasks in formal classroom contexts (Sauro & Sundmark, in press 2016) and which also holds promise for the design of technology-mediated tasks to support the learning of both language and literature.
This talk, therefore, discusses findings from case-study research with older fans as well as classroom-based research to explore how these fandom tasks and fan practices are used to facilitate the development of linguistic, literary, and digital competences both in the wilds and in the classroom.
A Study in Sherlock: Bridging the Digital Wilds & the Language ClassroomShannon Sauro
This reflective practice presentation builds on prior work that has looked at the use of fandom tasks (Sauro, 2014) for language learning. Such tasks include those that focus on fanfiction, defined by Jamison (2013) as "writing that continues, interrupts, reimagines, or just riffs on stories and characters other people have already written about" (p. 17). Initial investigation of fanfiction in the advanced English classroom has shown that collaborative fanfiction tasks that makes use of blog-based role-play to tell a missing moment from a story can be useful in bridging both language and literary learning (Sauro & Sundmark, in press 2016). However, although such tasks borrow from digital and linguistic practices found in online fan communities, the resulting stories do not fully reflect the linguistic or literary norms of the fanfiction in the digital wilds. This was a concern for language learners whose interest in publishing their online fanfiction was to communicate with online fans and fan communities.
The means of addressing this may lie in better integrating fan practices and fan voices in the tasks themselves and in actual classroom practice. This presentation, therefore, explores the revision and implementation of collaborative fanfiction tasks and instructions that do just that.
Building on previous blog-based fanfiction projects, the current project, A Study in Sherlock, was carried out as part of a course for students in the teacher education program at a Swedish university who were specializing in teaching English at the secondary school level. Students self-organized into small groups of 4-6 to write and publish online a collaborative mystery inspired by a Sherlock Holmes story. As part of their preparation, students were guided in the reading of several Sherlock Holmes mysteries, but were also required to read Sherlock Holmes fanfiction that had been identified by online fans as representative of the tropes and specific fan genres found in this type of fan writing. In addition, online several fanfiction writers were contacted to share writing activities they used when helping other novice fanfiction writers and these were incorporated into class instruction. Once completed, these stories were shared with online Sherlock Holmes fan communities.
Analysis of the language, content, and formatting of the 16 completed online stories as well as the reaction of fans, in particular to the six stories that were published to online fanfiction archives, revealed advantages for integrating fan practices into task design and teaching to support greater mastery of fanfiction genres in a manner more likely to reach (fan) readers and thereby link the digital wilds with the language classroom.
“I’m going to get online and I’m going to talk to people and learn English”: ...Shannon Sauro
This presentations reports on a case study of the informal L2 language and digital literacy development of an adult fan.
The focal participant for this case study, Steevee, is a female fan in her early 30s originally from a small city in eastern Germany who first entered online media fandom six years prior with the goal of developing her English in order to live and work in London. Data analyzed include semi-structured interviews, email correspondence, and analysis of Steevee’s fan-based social media accounts on Tumblr and Twitter.
Findings reveal how Steevee’s heavy involvement in the fan practice of spoiling, defined as the discovery and sharing of plot elements (Duffet, 2013), during filming of the television series Sherlock facilitated Steevee’s English and digital literacy development for the purpose of living an working in an English-speaking context. This study, therefore, documents the process through which an adult L2 English user makes use of popular culture, technology, and online media fandom to engage in informal language learning.
Discussion points: how does White racism work today, how do White Americans produce and reproduce the culture of White racism through their use of language in literary texts and mass media, how does folk theory help us to understand and unravel White racism
This session explores strategies for teaching media entrepreneurshipand includes a live pitch contest in which J/i Conference attendees pitch their ideas for media businesses. Moderated by Mark Potts, serial news entrepreneur and founder of Newspeg. Panelists include Dan Shanoff, director of audience development, USA TODAY; Amy Eisman, director of Media Entrepreneurship and Interactive Journalism, American University; and Lisa Williams, digital engagement editor of Investigative News Network.
The fate of community journalism in a time of cultural upheaval. My talk for TEDxLowell, to be given on April 27, 2014. Based on research for my book "The Wired City: Reimagining Journalism and Civic Life in the Post-Newspaper Age." (http://thewiredcity.org)
Effective Presentation and Pitching - Mr. Sohan B. KhatriMobileNepal
The participants were spellbound by the presentation of Mr. Sohan B. Khatri. He trained them on how to pitch their idea in front of judges or potential investors giving all the necessary ingredients to prepare for their presentation.
This session explores strategies for teaching media entrepreneurshipand includes a live pitch contest in which J/i Conference attendees pitch their ideas for media businesses. Moderated by Mark Potts, serial news entrepreneur and founder of Newspeg. Panelists include Dan Shanoff, director of audience development, USA TODAY; Amy Eisman, director of Media Entrepreneurship and Interactive Journalism, American University; and Lisa Williams, digital engagement editor of Investigative News Network.
The fate of community journalism in a time of cultural upheaval. My talk for TEDxLowell, to be given on April 27, 2014. Based on research for my book "The Wired City: Reimagining Journalism and Civic Life in the Post-Newspaper Age." (http://thewiredcity.org)
Effective Presentation and Pitching - Mr. Sohan B. KhatriMobileNepal
The participants were spellbound by the presentation of Mr. Sohan B. Khatri. He trained them on how to pitch their idea in front of judges or potential investors giving all the necessary ingredients to prepare for their presentation.
This project is done by a PNU 4th year students; Arvy Marinduque; Kristine Mojica; and Roan Montales of bachelor of elementary education to Dr. Macahilig which is their professor in subject world literature.
i hope you will enjoy it and will help you and of course inspires you. :)
Godbless!
Pausd presentation february 2015 final (deleted e59b5d53e66c5b7ec2cf16f3dd8dd...beatricemotamedi
A presentation on Global Student Square, a project under development by Beatrice Motamedi, a John S. Knight Fellow at Stanford University, to the Palo Alto Unified School District's professional development day on Feb. 12, 2015.
Presentation for the 2011 National Health Journalism Fellowship on "Growing Up In Oakland: The Long Arm of Childhood," a three-part series in the Oakland Tribune by Beatrice Motamedi, published May/June 2011.
A slideshow produced by the staff of the Aegis, the school newspaper at Oakland High School, documents how the garden reaches and teaches students. The garden was created in 2010 in memory of Philip Wright, a student who was shot and killed in 2009.
A slideshow of the school garden at Oakland High School in Oakland, Calif., produced by the staff of the Aegis, the school newspaper, in 2010. The slideshow shows the memorial garden planted in honor of Philip Wright, a student who was shot and killed in 2009.
‘वोटर्स विल मस्ट प्रीवेल’ (मतदाताओं को जीतना होगा) अभियान द्वारा जारी हेल्पलाइन नंबर, 4 जून को सुबह 7 बजे से दोपहर 12 बजे तक मतगणना प्रक्रिया में कहीं भी किसी भी तरह के उल्लंघन की रिपोर्ट करने के लिए खुला रहेगा।
03062024_First India Newspaper Jaipur.pdfFIRST INDIA
Find Latest India News and Breaking News these days from India on Politics, Business, Entertainment, Technology, Sports, Lifestyle and Coronavirus News in India and the world over that you can't miss. For real time update Visit our social media handle. Read First India NewsPaper in your morning replace. Visit First India.
CLICK:- https://firstindia.co.in/
#First_India_NewsPaper
An astonishing, first-of-its-kind, report by the NYT assessing damage in Ukraine. Even if the war ends tomorrow, in many places there will be nothing to go back to.
01062024_First India Newspaper Jaipur.pdfFIRST INDIA
Find Latest India News and Breaking News these days from India on Politics, Business, Entertainment, Technology, Sports, Lifestyle and Coronavirus News in India and the world over that you can't miss. For real time update Visit our social media handle. Read First India NewsPaper in your morning replace. Visit First India.
CLICK:- https://firstindia.co.in/
#First_India_NewsPaper
31052024_First India Newspaper Jaipur.pdfFIRST INDIA
Find Latest India News and Breaking News these days from India on Politics, Business, Entertainment, Technology, Sports, Lifestyle and Coronavirus News in India and the world over that you can't miss. For real time update Visit our social media handle. Read First India NewsPaper in your morning replace. Visit First India.
CLICK:- https://firstindia.co.in/
#First_India_NewsPaper
El Puerto de Algeciras continúa un año más como el más eficiente del continente europeo y vuelve a situarse en el “top ten” mundial, según el informe The Container Port Performance Index 2023 (CPPI), elaborado por el Banco Mundial y la consultora S&P Global.
El informe CPPI utiliza dos enfoques metodológicos diferentes para calcular la clasificación del índice: uno administrativo o técnico y otro estadístico, basado en análisis factorial (FA). Según los autores, esta dualidad pretende asegurar una clasificación que refleje con precisión el rendimiento real del puerto, a la vez que sea estadísticamente sólida. En esta edición del informe CPPI 2023, se han empleado los mismos enfoques metodológicos y se ha aplicado un método de agregación de clasificaciones para combinar los resultados de ambos enfoques y obtener una clasificación agregada.
1. Journalism and the power of story, part 1
Where it begins ... how to get going ... and why we write
@ Beatrice Motamedi, Newsroom by the Bay 2011
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
2. It all begins with this guy ...
Homer Simpson. Photo courtesy of besos y flores on Flicker,
licensed under Creative Commons.
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
3. ... duh, oh. I meant, this guy.
Bust of Homer from the British Museum. Photo courtesy of
1way2rock on Flicker, licensed under Creative Commons.
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
4. Homer BC vs Homer AD ... and modern journalism
• Not one guy. Possibly several guys (and gals). And hundreds of
stories, not just one. And stories over time, not just once.
• Not a writer. Primarily, a speaker. The first podcaster?
• Probably blind. Thus, totally dependent on others for facts, quotes,
description. No single person = the whole story.
• Wrote for an audience that had already heard these stories, so his
versions had to be short, punchy, new, memorable.
• The world’s first war correspondent?
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
5. opening lines of the Iliad
(Homer’s lede)
Rage — goddess, sing, sing the rage of Peleus' son
Achilles,
murderous, doomed, that cost the Achaeans countless
losses,
hurling down to the House of Death so many souls,
great fighters' souls, but made their bodies carrion,
feasts for the dogs and birds,
and the will of Zeus was moving toward its end.
Begin, Muse…
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
6. Compare to Edward R. Murrow,
CBS, April 15, 1945
• “Permit me to tell you what you would have seen and heard, had you been
with me on Thursday. It will not be pleasant listening. If you are at lunch, or if
you have no appetite to hear what the Germans have done, now is a good
time to switch off the radio. For I propose to tell you about Buchenwald ...”
• “The prisoners had crowded up behind the wire. We entered. And now let me
tell this in the first person, for I was the least important person there ... Men
and boys reached out to touch me. They were in rags and the remnants of
uniforms. Death had already marked many of them, but they were smiling
with their eyes. I looked past them to the green fields beyond, where well-fed
Germans were plowing. (One person) ... came up and said, ‘May I show you
around the camp?’”
• Listen to Murrow’s report
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
7. What makes Homer and Murrow so good?
• and how the heck do these old-school guys connect to journalistic writing,
online journalism, multimedia storytelling, and all the rest?
Left: Edward R. Murrow. Photo courtesy of KUOW 94.9
Public Radio on Flicker, licensed under Creative
Commons. Above right: Edward R. Murrow’s star on the
Hollywood walk of fame in Los Angeles, Calif. Photo
courtesy of bsoist on Flicker, licensed under Creative
Commons.
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
8. News values that create good stories*
• Impact: so what? who cares? Troy? Buchenwald?
• Immediacy: when did it happen? Yesterday? Today? Last Thursday?
• Proximity: can I get a grip on this? Is it local to me? Lunch?
• Prominence: who’s my Achilles?
• Novelty: is it new or recycled? what’s really fresh? am I hitting the story at the
right point in time, i.e., the latest iteration in the story cycle?
• Conflict: who’s pro and con? who stands to lose? what’s the problem?
• Emotions: what’s the story behind the story? Beyond facts, what is it about?
*from Tim Harrower’s “Inside Reporting” (McGraw-Hill: 2007)
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
9. Testing for emotion and subtext
• The Godfather (President Obama’s favorite film. Why?)
• The Matrix: the red pill and the blue pill. What are they, really?
• Harry Potter: the best-selling children’s series, ever. Why?
• Avatar: the highest-grossing movie of all time. Why?
• Others?
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
10. Meta-topics for Newsroom by the Bay 2011
• “High School Confidential”– News, views and stories about what matters to teens,
from homework to hobbies
• “Science @ Stanford”— News, views and stories about all things science
• “Heart of the Art”– News, views, etc. about artists, art happenings, museums,
performances, exhibits on campus
• "News 2.0" — News, etc., about multimedia journalism, digital journalism, citizen
journalism, backpack journalism, etc.
• "One World" — News, etc., about multicultural topics, including diversity, students of
color, world music, comparative lit, poli sci or other departments, etc.
• Other?
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
11. What’s your meta-topic?
• 5-minute reflective write: what topic has your news team chosen? Why were
you drawn to it? What is it really about? What’s the essential question at the
root of your topic? How can you be creative in addressing this topic? (You do
have to do this but you don’t have to turn it in. It can be your opening
blogpost for your website, however).
• 2-minute dyads: pick a partner. Tell your partner what you’ve written (one
minute). Partners don’t speak but listen silently. After you speak, your partner
repeats to you what he/she has heard (one minute). Did he/she get it right?
Does your topic, your question, your story have legs? Do the same (listen,
repeat) for your partner. (Do this, and report back to your team/team leader ...
think of this as a tiny focus group/crowdsourcing your ideas).
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
12. Testing for story: An Imam in America*
• News happens, but stories matter — they tend to embody more of the news
values, and they go on to have a deeper and more lasting significance. Is this
news for today only, or is it a story?
• Does this story have impact? Immediacy?
• How do the headlines/decks add to your understanding/peg the emotion?
• What jumps out at you? What are you most likely to remember?
• Click on the package
*This story was part of a series in the New York Times, which won the 2009 Pulitzer for feature writing.
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
14. Testing for story: Being a black man*
• News has great immediacy, but story tends to have a longer line: a story will
begin with news, but is also capable of going forward and backward,
providing context and perspective.
• Does this package have proximity? Prominence?
• How do the various elements in this package work together to create a
multimedia whole?
• What jumps out at you? What are you most likely to remember?
• Click on the package
*This story was part of a series in the New York Times, which won the 2009 Pulitzer for feature writing.
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
16. Testing for story: the troubles at King/Drew*
• While news strives to be objective, stories are aware of the subjective stakes
— who stands to gain, who stands to lose, who will be hurt or helped by a
story’s publication. Does this story have stakes? Who do you think got pissed
off when this story appeared in print?
• Does this story have conflict? Emotion?
• How do the headlines/decks help tease out the emotion?
• What jumps out at you? What are you most likely to remember?
• Click on the package
*This story was part of a series in the Los Angeles Times that won the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service,
the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award, and the Sigma Delta Chi Award for Public Service in 2005.
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
18. Tracy Weber’s Top 5 Storytelling Tips
• Do use documents and data, but open with one small story that says it all,
e.g., the imam wakes up, the little girl who died
• Ask questions again and again until you get to the heart of the story, the
quote you need. Be patient. Listen.
• Take notes; write down everything you hear and as much as you can. But
when you quote, be judicious. You will not use all of your quotes.
• Be honest; if you don’t understand, say so: “I really want to find a way to put
this into basic English, so could you help me with that?”
• Prepare to rewrite. The lede for Tracy’s story was rewritten 70 times. Talk it
out; talk over what you’re writing with a friend who knows nothing about the
subject.
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
19. Final flicks
• Literature is news that stays
news, says Ezra Pound. News
without story doesn’t last. Story
without news isn’t journalism.
• Stretch the text: how can your
headlines, captions, pull quotes
tease out the news values in
your story?
• Think beyond text: how would
you tell your story without
words? What parts of the story
could you tell with photo,
podcast, slideshow, surveys? Is
your story only text, or
something else? Ezra Pound, poet. Photo courtesy of Steve D. Hammond
on Flicker, licensed under Creative Commons.
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
20. Journalism and the power of story, part 2
Story types, feature packages and elements of feature style
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
21. Types of journalistic stories (roughly in order as they occur)*
• Advancers • Investigative/enterprise
• Breaking news • Columns
• Spot news feature • Reviews
• Roundups • News analysis, editorial,
commentary, opinion
• React
• Profiles
Examples are all from the San Francisco Chronicle @ sfgate.com on 6/21/11
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
22. note day,
time story
was posted
Advancer: it hasn’t happened, but it will
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
23. Note repeated references to time of
day; this story will be updated hour by
hour with new details (victim’s ID,
Breaking news: just facts quotes from neighbors, etc.)
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
25. Deeper in the story, comment
from tobacco makers,
American Cancer Society, more
The react: what’s your take? gov’t. officials — tomorrow, AP
will lead with this
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
26. The profile: up close and personal
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
27. Notice how AP makes sure you know they got
this through their own initiative/enterprise
Investigative/enterprise reporting
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
32. Assemble your own feature package
• Work with others from your news team to identify the types of stories that you
are doing so far for your meta-topic, e.g., profile, advancer.
• Examine your list and answer: is this a list, or is it a package? How do the
stories relate to each other? How do they (or don’t they) cohere? Does each
story (or video, or podcast, or gallery, etc.) tell a different part of the whole?
How can you create stronger connections between stories?
• How many of your stories depend on words? Which stories could you tell
without words?
• What do you need to write, photograph, shoot (video) or podcast that you’re
not doing already?
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
33. Elements of style: remember these guys?
Bust of Homer from the British Museum. Photo courtesy of Edward R. Murrow. Photo courtesy of KUOW 94.9 Public
1way2rock on Flicker, licensed under Creative Commons. Radio on Flicker, licensed under Creative Commons.
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
34. opening lines of the Iliad
(Homer’s lede)
Rage — goddess, sing, sing the rage of Peleus' son
Achilles,
murderous, doomed, that cost the Achaeans countless
losses,
hurling down to the House of Death so many souls,
great fighters' souls, but made their bodies carrion,
feasts for the dogs and birds,
and the will of Zeus was moving toward its end.
Begin, Muse…
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
35. Compare to Edward R. Murrow,
CBS, April 15, 1945
• “Permit me to tell you what you would have seen and heard, had you been
with me on Thursday. It will not be pleasant listening. If you are at lunch, or if
you have no appetite to hear what the Germans have done, now is a good
time to switch off the radio. For I propose to tell you about Buchenwald ...”
• “The prisoners had crowded up behind the wire. We entered. And now let me
tell this in the first person, for I was the least important person there ... Men
and boys reached out to touch me. They were in rags and the remnants of
uniforms. Death had already marked many of them, but they were smiling
with their eyes. I looked past them to the green fields beyond, where well-fed
Germans were plowing. (One person) ... came up and said, ‘May I show you
around the camp?’”
• Listen to Murrow’s report
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
36. Diction — choice of words
•alliteration (“doomed ... down ... dogs” ... “rags and the
remnants of uniforms”)
•consonance (“countless losses” ... “smiling with their
eyes”)
•strong verbs — (“cost” “hurled down” ... “prisoners
crowded .. we entered ... I looked”)
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
37. Syntax — the order of words
•see first four lines of “Buchenwald” — each sentence is
different in terms of syntax. Varying like this keeps your
audience engaged
•see Homer’s lede — one long sentence, but punctuated
by clause/where you naturally need to pause
•employ repetition for effect (“so many souls ... fighters’
souls”)
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
38. Imagery and point of view
•imagery (“House of Death,” “death had already marked
them”)
•personification (the will of Zeus is “moving towards its
end”)
•direct address (“Rage – goddess, sing ...” ... “If you are
at lunch ... now is a good time to switch off the radio”)
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
39. Using quotes effectively
• Paraphrasing can be quicker
and more effective than a quote
Nurse Owen Jay Murphy Jr. twisted the jaw of one patient until he
• Internal quotes, when used screamed.
properly, are extremely effective
He picked up another one – an elderly, frail man – by the shoulders,
at capturing speech slammed him against a mattress and barked, "I said, 'Stay in bed.' "
He ignored the alarms on vital-sign monitors in the emergency room,
shouted at co-workers and once hurled a thirsty patient's water jug
• Quote only what you need — against the wall, yelling, "How do you like your water now?" according
this spokesman said much to state records.
more, but what is quoted here Murphy's fellow nurses at Kaiser Permanente Riverside Medical Center
finally pleaded with their bosses for help. "They were afraid of him," a
is exactly what’s needed, no hospital spokesman said.
more
from “When caregivers harm: problem nurses stay on the job as patients suffer,” by Tracy
Weber and Charles Ornstein, LA Times/ProPublica.org, 7/11/09
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
40. Avoiding wordiness
and jargon
From a memo issued early in
World War II to instruct federal
workers on what to do in case of
an air raid:
“Such preparations shall be
made as will completely obscure
all Federal buildings and non-
Federal buildings ocupied by the
Federal government during an air
raid for any period of time from
visibility by reason of internal or
external illumination.”
Poster for George Orwell’s “1984.” Photo courtesy of
thefoxling on Flicker, licensed under Creative Commons.
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
41. FDR kept it simple:
“Tell them that in buildings where
they will have to keep the work
going, to put something over the
windows.”
Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Photo courtesy of donkeyhotey
on Flicker, licensed under Creative Commons.
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
42. Using description,
detail, observation
• Try Five Senses writing: look,
listen, smell, taste, feel. What
kind of detail can each of these
actions give you?
• Shut up: try writing and
describing for a paragraph or
more without using a quote
• OK to use interior quotes (what
someone was thinking), but you
have to ask them/check to
make sure you’re correct
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
43. • Interior quote, set
Torrance’s experience is typical of a traumatized teen. Speaking at his friend’s funeral,
off in ital; checked the words went past in a blur. Then it was over, and Torrance was walking back to his
with Torrance pew when it hit him: I am exactly like Marquis. I am Marquis. I am 17, the child of a
single mother, a young black man. It could have been me.
Torrance ran out of the funeral home at the corner of Telegraph Avenue and MacArthur
• Five Senses Boulevard. He started crying and waving his arms, black parka flying. He stumbled
writing; no quotes over the curb and into the street. People began shouting from the sidewalk.
But Torrance didn’t respond: he raved and waved his arms and walked in circles and
then he fell down and he stayed there, in the middle of the street on a bright fall
• And now the morning, rocking and moaning to himself as the cars sped by, horns blaring.
quote Finally a teacher got Torrance back onto the sidewalk and hugged him hard until he
stopped moving. "What do they want from us?" Torrance cried, rage subsiding into
anger and anger melting into tears. "This is the sixth person I know who died. The sixth
person; I shook his hand. What do they want from us? What do they want from a black
man? I’m scared. I’m scared."
From “The long arm of childhood,” Beatrice Motamedi, the Oakland Tribune, 5/31/11
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
44. Recommended reading: books on story & craft
• “Writing for Story: Craft Secrets of Dramatic Nonfiction by a Two-Time
Pulitzer Prize Winner,” by Jon Franklin (Plume)
• “Telling True Stories: A Nonfiction Writer’s Guide from the Nieman Foundation
at Harvard University,” Mark Kramer and Wendy Call, eds. (Plume)
• “America’s Best Newspaper Writing: A Collection of ASNE (American Society
of News Editors) Prizewinners,” Roy Peter Clark and Christopher Scanlan,
eds. (Bedford St. Martin’s)
• “Literary Journalism: A New Collection of the Best American Nonfiction,”
Norman Sims and Mark Kramer, eds. (Ballantine)
Wednesday, June 22, 2011