Principles of Literary Journalism

1. Literary journalists put themselves in the world that their subjects live in.

2. Literary journalists discuss accuracy and candor with both their audience and the people they use as sources. They may come to unusual agreements with their sources.

3. Literary journalists write mostly about the everyday.

4. Literary journalists write in casual voice which is informal, honest, human, and ironic.

5. Style is plain and simple. No flowery phrases or complex metaphors.

6. Literary journalists tell stories as they happened, but can digress to give information to provide the reader with a fuller picture.

Task Three - Procuring Principles

Read through the principles of literary journalism found on the left. After reading, respond to the following questions in your notebook:

1. Which of the principles on the left are unique to literary journalism?
2. How would the production of literary journalists be different than what a more traditional journalist writes?
3. Which types of stories could be covered most effectively by a literary journalist? What types of stories would be poorly suited to literary journalism?
4. What does digress mean and what might it look like in an article a literary journalist wrote?