Theories & Links
The 5 Rs of Creative Nonfiction ... CF Guru Lee Gutkind defines the essentials.
The Roots of the New New Journalism (Robert Boynton)...When I began teaching a course on American literary journalism, I was puzzled by the 30-year gap between the end of what was considered the New Journalism and the contemporary writers who were my focus. Was everything written since Tom Wolfe's influential 1973 introduction to The New Journalism — in which he argued that nonfiction, not the novel, had become "the most important literature being written in America today" — merely a footnote to that movement?...For even as Wolfe was celebrating the triumph of the New Journalism, the seeds of an even more formidable stage in American literary evolution were being planted. In the years since Wolfe's manifesto, a group of writers has been quietly securing a place at the very center of contemporary American literature for reportorially based, narrative-driven, long-form nonfiction
Whose story is it, anyway?.... Janene Carey reflects on the tensions involved in telling a story about someone else's life in a way that does not hurt, exploit or misrepresent them, and telling it in a way that preserves your integrity as the writer, which have exercised her since she began writing biographically-oriented creative nonfiction. She came to doctoral work in the creative arts from a background of qualitative social science research and so was aware that the principles governing the treatment of research participants in universities - respecting their autonomy, seeking their informed consent, protecting their privacy - can be far easier to espouse than to implement, particularly when the research involves in-depth description and interpretation of lived experience. This paper highlights certain ethical quandaries that can arise when 'using lives' as material for writing; discusses the considerations that have shaped the conduct of my work on home-based palliative caregiving; and explains how a more collaborative process than originally envisaged has emerged in her creative nonfiction writing practice.
Resources: Feature Writing Tips
David Abrahamson's literary journalism page
A collection of examples and resources by one of America's premier Features scholars
Kiosk: student literary journalism
Student magazine of literary journalism from the University of California Irvine
Literary Journalism Studies
A peer-reviewed journal sponsored by the International Association for Literary Journalism Studies (IALJS), invites submission of scholarly articles on literary journalism, which is also known as narrative journalism, literary reportage, reportage literary, “new journalism” and the nonfiction novel, as well as literary nonfiction and creative nonfiction that emphasizes cultural revelation. The journal is international in scope and seeks submission on the theory, history and pedagogy of literary journalism throughout the world. All disciplinary approaches are welcome
Narrative Digest
A moderated compendium of narrative journalism assembled and refreshed by folks at the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University.
A great collection of examples of up to date narrative journalism
Creative Nonfiction
Creative Nonfiction was the first and is still the largest literary magazine to publish, exclusively and on a regular basis, high quality nonfiction prose. The journal has consistently featured prominent authors from the United States and around the world and has helped launch the careers of some of the genre's most exciting emerging writers, as well as helping establish the creative nonfiction genre as a worthy academic pursuit
