Jon Franklin's guide to storytelling was overall a useful read, one often filled with potent tips to craft a fine piece of journalism. His book read like that of a man reflecting heavily on his successes and sharing them with his reader. While for the most part I was pleased to read about these narrative triumphs, his statements of bragging sometimes weighed the prose down with ego.
Introducing us early on with his work was a strong technique. It allowed the reader to analyze the work of the man teaching you his lessons. "Mrs. Kelly's Monster" was a well-organized piece that was fully aware of its overall intention: to bring the reader into the mind of Dr. Ducker through the vehicle of Mrs. Kelly and her condition. When I first realized this I thought it was a cold technique, I I thought he should have focused more on the tragedy of Mrs. Kelly's death. Reading further into his book, however, showed me that a piece of narrative journalism does not have to have a happy ending. As long as that ending expands on some greater human condition. In this case it was Dr. Ducker's ability to transition from one failure into pursuing something he could conquer. One issue I had with his piece, perhaps stemming from my background in fiction writing, was his dependence on the usage of onomatopoeia. All of the 'pop pop pop's' felt a bit trite.
Franklin's book assessed many key parts to crafting a captivating, fresh piece. In section Five he outlines structure. Something with which I was previously unfamiliar was the "Complicating Focus." Franklin writes, "The first focus in any story is the 'complicating focus.' This is the one in which the writer sets the stage for, and finally reveals, the event that complicates the character's life," (Franklin, 100). What Franklin is describing is the importance of placing other minor focuses on details in the character's life, all of which will eventually hook the reader and call back to one another.
Franklin also emphasized the importance of finding a story with a complications and resolution. A story without one or the other will be an uninteresting to a larger audience. "A resolution, like a complication, can either be physical or psychological, external or internal," (Franklin, 77). Here Franklin explains that a resolution does not have to be some neat, happy ending. What instead needs to occur is a significant change, for better or worse, in the character's life or conscious.
Franklin's book on craft was an interesting look into the mind of a man with his fair share of successes in the journalism field. It's a guide to which I will be referring often.
Hi Cam,
ReplyDeleteLike you, I found Franklin's book useful, if irritating. I'm interested in your interpretation of his discussion of "morals" and endings. You give him more credit that I initially did, reading that a sad ending is acceptable as long as the reading gleans something about human nature. I was perplexed by his notion of "happy" vs "sad" and "positive" vs. "negative." Perhaps he has had some students write stories which ended in something like, "The, Katie realized there was no point in trying to climb Mt. Everest, and so she turned on the TV."
This would make sense as a "negative" ending in which readers learn nothing, except that Katie's super lame. However, like in Alaina's selection for an exemplary piece of narrative journalism, reality is more complex than that good/bad dichotomy set forth by Franklin. A sensitive writer will always be able to suss out the reflection upon the human condition if she's paying attention.
Maybe this is what Franklin meant all along, but he wasn't speaking my language.
Elaine
Cam,
ReplyDeleteAlthough I agree with your assessment of "Mrs. Kelly's Monster", I have to respectfully disagree with your comment about the "pop, pop, pop". I found that Franklin used this and other repetition of words in order to add a sense of tension and quickness. As a filmmaker, I interpreted this recurring phrase as a poing of continuity, like using the same music later in a film that one used earlier, for example.
I appreciated your clarification of the "complicating focus". This concept had originally been sort of unclear to me, and the way you explained it here makes me realize what Franklin was geting at.
Looking forward to chatting about it with you in class,
Amanda