Literary Journalism: The Art of Feature Writing
Journalism 112B
Spring 2014
Instructor: Peter May
Time and Place: Wednesdays 2p.m.-4:50p.m., Golding 107
Office Hours: 12-2p.m. Wednesday, 12-3p.m. Thursday
Telephone: 617-610-4037 (cell) E-mail:
COURSE DESCRIPTION
This course will focus on reading and writing true stories. We will read, analyze and critique some of the best narrative non-fiction of the past century. We will examine each piece for character development, pacing, voice,and reporting, acknowledging the truth of the old adage that “the devil is in the details.”We will apply what we learn from the masters to our own writing. Expect occasional guest speakers, feature writers who will discuss their craft and subjects of narrative non-fiction who will share the experience of seeing their life rendered in print. One week will be devoted to individual conferences.
COURSE READINGS (available at the campus bookstore or online.)
Telling True Stories: A Nonfiction Writers’ Guide by the Nieman Foundation at Harvard University..
Kent State, What Happened And Why by James A. Michener (on LATTE).
The Last Lion, Aloneby William Manchester.
Big Trouble by J. Anthony Lukas.
A Civil Action by Jonathan Harr.
Additional required readings will be posted on LATTE. Check it regularly.
CLASS REQUIREMENTS:
Reading: There is no better way to improve your writing than by reading good writing, which is what we aim to do in this course.Good writing is everywhere these days, fromThe New York Times to The New Yorkermagazine.
Class Participation and Attendance: You must come to class ready to discuss the readings. A liberal arts education requires more than reading and writing; it demands critical thinking and it demands engagement in the class with each other.By 10 p.m. on Mondays, you must submit a 250-300-word response onour LATTE page on that week’s reading. By Wednesday, you must have read your classmates’ responses, as well. Failure to submit weekly reading responses will adversely affect your grade. Participation will count for 20 percent of your grade.
Writing Assignments: You will write three 750-word stories for 40 percent of your grade. A semester-long assignment will be reported and written independently. This 1,500-word piecewill count for 40percent of your grade.
(Semester Paper Deadlines: Feb. 5: Select Topic; March 5: Outline; April 23: Final Piece)
ACCOMODATIONS: If you are a student who needs academic accomodations because of a documented disability, please contact me and present your letter of accomodation as asoon as possible. If you have questions about documenting a disability or requesting academic accommodations, you should contact Beth Rodgers-Kay in Academic Services (x6-3470 or .)Letters of accomodation should be presented at the start of the semester to ensure provision of accommodations. Accommodationscannot be granted retroactively.
SCHEDULE OF CLASSES:
Week One: January 15 Introduction
An overview of course content and expectations. Students will have read the assigned reading prior to class and will be prepared to discuss it as a foundation for going forward. There will be an ungraded writing assignment during class.
Week Two: January 22 The Profile as Genre
Assigned Reading:Frank Sinatra Has A Cold,on LATTE;Gay Talese,Telling True Stories
This is reputed to be the best story that Esquire Magazine has ever published. We will examine the piece from every angle - the reporting, the scene description and the character development.
Week Three: January 29 Research Help
I have set aside this class to bring in Judy Pinnolis from the Library as well as visiting the archives and hearing from its director, Maggie McNeely. These two will provide invaluable instruction to help with your semester-long piece. You will find that the resources offered by both the library and the archives will be enormously helpful in researching your piece.
Week Four: February 5The First Draft of History
Assigned Reading:Kent State, What Happened and Why,James Michener;
Thirteen Seconds, Michael Caputo, available on LATTE.DVD: Kent State, The Day The War Came Home (shown in class)
One of the bleakest moments of the turbulent Vietnam War period came on a gorgeous spring day when four students were killed by National Guard troops on the campus of Kent State University. We will look at how Michener, a Pulitzer Prize winner for fiction, put together his account less than one year after the shootings. We then will see how Caputo looked at the same tragedy with the benefit of hindsight. Your first writing assignment will be given at the end of class.
Note: Everyone must have picked a topic for their semester piece. It must have the approval of the instructor.
Week Five: February 12Recapturing History
Assigned Reading: The Last Lion: Alone, William Manchester;Big Trouble, J. Anthony Lukas.
We will discuss the first writing piece, which is due at the beginning of class. We will then discuss the two assigned works in terms of the author’s fastidious attention to detail in re-creating scenes. Manchester puts you in Winston Churchill’s bedroom. Lukas puts you in a town in Idaho. It is reporting and researching at its absolute best. We will return to Lukas later in the semester.
Week Six: February 19 No Class, Winter Break
Week Seven: February 26 The Art of Interviewing
We will discuss the art of interviewing with a guest speaker from the Boston Globe. How do you get people to talk to you? Who are the best sources of information for a particular story? What makes a good interviewer? We will attempt to get to the bottom of all this with assigned readings of the guest. At the end of class, you will get your second writing assignment.
Week Eight: March 5Reporting the Unfamiliar
You will have spent some time before class in Waltham District Court or at a Waltham City Council meeting or at story hour for children at the Waltham Public Library. I am interested less in a straight report about how the judge ruled or what the lecturer said. Class time will be devoted to discussing what you’ve found and writing. Put me there, using what we learned from the Manchester, Talese and Lukas readings. This piece will be due at the end of class. We may take class time to write.
Week Nine: March 12Individual Conferences
I am setting aside this class to review your writing individually. This is an opportunity to discuss personal writing challenges. Bring a portfolio of your work to the conference.
Week Ten: March 19Putting it All Together
Assigned Readings: Articles by John Powers, available on LATTE
John Powers will have just returned from the Winter Olympics, which he covered for The Boston Globe. He has agreed to come to class to speak to you about how to put everything together, from soup to nuts, to help you write a feature story. His advice will also be helpful in the third writing assignment of the semester. We will have read the assigned stories written by Powers and have questions prepared for him.
Week Eleven: March 26 Profile Assignment
We will have a guest come to class on whom you will write a profile. The identity of the guest will be made known in advance and material on the individual will be provided ahead of time so you can have questions prepared. The guest will appear for the first half of the class. The second half will be devoted to going over the remarks and starting your third writing assignment of the semester. This will be due the next week at class.
Week Twelve: April 2 Character Development
Assigned Reading:A Civil Action, Jonathan Harr;
“It Took A Team for ‘Civil’ Action,” Eileen McNamara, on LATTE
Harr’s 1995 account of the trial of two Fortune 500 giants for polluting groundwater in Woburn, MA is rich with characters. Kevin Conway, one of the plaintiffs’ attorneys involved, will visit. You will be prepared to pepper him with questions about how he felt he was portrayed and how he felt others were portrayed in the book and in the McNamara column.
Week Thirteen: April 9 History as Personal Tragedy
Assigned Reading: Hiroshima by John Hersey, available on LATTE
We began the semester with one of the classic pieces of narrative journalism and we will take the penultimate class to deal with another one. A panel of journalists and the journalism faculty of New York University ranked Hersey’s account of the devastation of the first atomic bomb as the best work of journalism in the 20th Century.
Week Fourteen: April 16No Class, Spring Break
Week Fifteen: April 23
Assigned Reading: Big Trouble, Lukas, The Extradition
Our last class will deal with one of the most riveting and entertaining parts of Big Trouble, the depiction of the extradition and chase to bring back one of the suspects to Idaho.
Note: Final piece due at the end of class
Please Note: Syllabus is subject to change