Reportage sometimes refers to the total body of media coverage of a particular topic or event, including

news reporting and analysis: "the extensive reportage of recent events in x." This is typically used in
discussions of the media's general tone or angle or other collective characteristics. Reportage is also a
term for an eye-witness genre of journalism: an individual journalist's report of
news, especially when witnessed firsthand, distributed through the media. This style of reporting is often
characterized by travel and careful observation. Literary reportage is the art of blending documentary,
reportage-style observations, with personal experience, perception, and anecdotal evidence, in a non-
fiction form of literature. This is perhaps more commonly called creative nonfiction and is closely related
to New Journalism. The prose of such reporting tends to be more polished and longer than in newspaper
articles.

Literary Journalism

Literary journalism is another essay form that is best reserved for intermediate and advanced level
courses, but it can be incorporated into introductory and composition courses. Literary journalism is the
creative nonfiction form that comes closest to newspaper and magazine writing. It is fact-driven and
requires research and, often, interviews.

Literary journalism is sometimes called “immersion journalism” because it requires a closer, more active
relationship to the subject and to the people the literary journalist is exploring. Like journalistic writing,
the literary journalism piece should be well-researched, focus on a brief period of time, and concentrate
on what is happening outside of the writer’s small circle of personal experience and feelings.

An Example and Discussion of a Literary Journalism

The following excerpt from George Orwell is a good example of literary journalism. Orwell wrote about
the colonial regime in Marrakech. His father was a colonial officer, so Orwell was confronted with the
reality of empire from an early age, and that experience is reflected in his literary journalism
piece, Marrakech:
It is only because of this that the starved countries of Asia and Africa are accepted as tourist resorts. No
one would think of running cheap trips to the Distressed Areas. But where the human beings have brown
skins their poverty is simply not noticed. What does Morocco mean to a Frenchman? An orange-grove or
a job in Government service.
Orwell isn’t writing a reflective, personal essay about his travels through Marrakech. Neither is he writing
a memoir about what it was like to be the son of a colonial officer, nor how that experience shaped his
adult life. He writes in a descriptive way about the Jewish quarters in Marrakech, about the invisibility of
the “natives,” and about the way citizenship doesn’t ensure equality under a colonial regime.

Generating Ideas for Literary Journalism

One way to incorporate literary journalism into an introductory or intermediate level course is simply to
have students write personal essays first. Then the students can go back and research the facts behind the
personal experiences related in their essays. They can incorporate historical data, interviews, or broaden
the range of their personal essay by exploring the cultural or political issues hinted at in their personal
essays.
If a student writes, in passing, about the first presidential candidate they were eligible to vote for, then
they can include facts and figures around that particular election, as well as research other events that
were current at that time, for example. As with other essay forms, students should find topics that are
important to them.

https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/teacher_and_tutor_resources/writing_instructors/
creative_nonfiction_in_writing_courses/literary_journalism.html

I don’t know if anyone is interested, but I am studying a journalism class at university and at the moment,
we are learning about literary journalism.
Literary journalism is a a type of creative non-fiction. It is still an article and presents the facts of a case
or the news of the day, but it does so through the utilisation of narrative techniques. The most common
type of literary journalism, and arguably the most famous, is investigative features, but others include
news features, profiles, backgrounders, human interest pieces, lifestyle features and even travel stories.
I’ve been doing a lot of research into investigative features and they have kept me up all night long,
reading. I’ve collected a few fascinating stories for anyone who is interested. These articles don’t just
look at the facts, they delve deeper into an underlying, often hidden, story.

https://thebookcorps.wordpress.com/2017/03/21/9-amazing-literary-journal-articles/

DEE DEE WANTED HER DAUGHTER TO BE SICK, GYPSY WANTED HER MOM
TO BE MURDERED  BY MICHELLE DEAN FOR BUZZFEED
A MURDER UNTOLD: UNRAVELLING THE ULTIMATE POLITICAL
CONSPIRACY  BY DAVID GRANN FOR THE NEW YORKER

GHOST BOAT  BY ERIC REIDY FOR MEDIUM 

TRIAL BY TWITTER  BY HOLLY MILLEA FOR ELLE

FRAMED: SHE WAS THE PTA MOM EVERYONE KNEW. WHO WOULD WANT
TO HARM HER? BY CHRISTOPHER GOFFARD FOR L.A. TIMES  

‘I’M NO LONGER AFRAID’: 35 WOMEN TELL THEIR STORIES ABOUT BEING

ASSAULTED BY BILL COSBY, AND THE CULTURE THAT WOULDN’T
LISTEN  BY NOREEN MALONE FOR THE NEW YORKER

WHATSOEVER THINGS ARE TRUE  BY MATTHEW SHAER FOR ATAVIST 

TROLL DETECTIVE: WHO SET JESSICA CHAMBERS ON FIRE? THE

INTERNET IS TRYING TO FIND OUT   BY KATIE BAKER FOR BUZZFEED

THE PRICE OF NICE NAILS  BY SARAH MASLIN NIR FOR THE NEW YORK
TIMES

How to Write a Literary Journalistic Essay

Literary journalistic essays are a popular form of creative nonfiction. Their purpose is to inform and
enlighten. Publications such as The New Yorker , The Atlantic Monthly, Harper’s publish this type of
writing. It is writing about facts that are external to the writer’s own life. The writer uses literary devices,
such as dialogue, setting, characterization, and plot structure to tell a true story about a person, place,
event, experience, or to write about a big idea, like counterterrorism.  The writer can choose any topic, so
long as it can be researched. Most universities offer courses on how to write a literary journalistic essay,
and many creative nonfiction textbooks include the topic of writing literary journalistic essays. Most
published writers of creative nonfiction are experts on writing this type of  genre. Therefore, if you are
going to write creative nonfiction, you ought to know what is a literary journalistic essay and how to write
it.
This article defines the term “literary journalistic essay” and briefly explains how to write one. It also
provides some tips on writing a literary journalistic essay,  and it identifies several good books to help
you learn more.

Definition of a Literary Journalistic Essay

What is a literary journalistic essay? It is the “literature of fact.” The writer can compose an essay on any
topic, such as drug addiction, rape, unemployment, spirituality, or crime. Whatever the topic, the writer
needs factual and true information to write about a person, place, event, or idea. These facts must be
verifiable. In fact, every important fact must be verifiable.
Most often, the literary journalistic essay requires that the writer complete some research, often extensive
research, in order to uncover the facts. Unlike the personal essay or memoir, which is based on the
writer’s own life, a literary journalistic essay is based on another person’s life, or events, or experiences
external to the writer’s own life.
Unlike the personal essay or memoir, which is written from the first-person “I” point of view, the literary
journalistic essay is written from the third person “he/she” point of view.
The writer’s goal is to dramatize the story or events by using dramatic scenes. A scene includes a
location/setting, passage of time, details and descriptions, action of by the people in the story.
The writer also uses other literary devices to craft an interesting story. Popular literary techniques include
simile, metaphor, and imagery.
The intention of the writer is to inform the readers and to also enlighten them with new information.
But the writer must do more than enlighten; the writer must also entertain by recreating the scene. The
writing accomplishes this by using the elements of fiction, such as the use of characterization, dialogue,
narrative structure, and so on.
The New Yorker magazine and the Best American Essays, a book that is published each year, includes
many good literary journalistic essays.

How to Write a Literary Journalistic Essay

Unlike the formal essay taught in univesity history courses or english courses, there is no single way to
write a liteary journalisitic essay. However, the writer does need to follow certain guidelines. For
instance, the subject must be well-researched. The essay must include a lead that grabs the readers
attention and tells the reader what the essay is about. The content of the essay must include interesting
and informative facts, information that enlightens the reader about the topic. The content of the essay
must also support the writer’s point of vew. And in writing the essay, the writer must use the literary
devices. To close, the writer makes a final point. He/she  leaves the reader with one final point about the
subject.
Choosing a Topic Briefly, to write the literary journalistic essay, do the following:

1. Select a topic.
2. Conduct Research.
3. Write a dramatic story.
4. Include a lead, facts/content, and ending.

You can write about anything. Popular topics include:Adventure

 Biography
 Business
 Crime story
 Family saga
 History
 Popular culture
 Science and technology
 Sports
 Travel
Choose a topic that allows you to write intimately and to dramatize the story.
Before writing, ask yourself the following:

 What type of lead do I wish to use?

 What is the story about?
 What are the themes?
 What major points do I wish to make?
 What facts do I have? What facts do I still need?
 Are my facts verifiable?
 Who have I interviewed? Who must Istill  interview?
 How do I want to organize the essay? By topic? Chronological order? Logical order?
 What are my own views on the topic? How do I wish to incorporate my views into the essay?

Research Your Topic

A literary journalist is based on fact. Therefore you will need to collect the facts for your story. The best
approach is to use personal reportage. Here is how:

1. Observe the person, event, or experience. Afterwards, make notes.

2. Interview subject matter experts. Make notes as you ask questions, or use a tape recorder.
3. Immerse yourself in the story. In other words, live the experience. For instance, writer George
Plimpton lived as a football player for a while to write Paper Lion.
4. Use the library. Read relevant books, magazine articles, and newspaper clippings, and take notes as
you read.
5. Conduct a search of your topic using Google. Start by conducting a search on the Web to see what
has been written on the subject.
6. Complete primary research. A primary source is a record created as part of, or during an event,
crisis, or time period. For instance a letter, diary, personal journal, and government records and
governmental report.
Observe Your Subject
A good way to learn about the person or topic is often by observation. Find out the following:

1. What is your subject wearing?

2. What is your subject saying?
3. How is your subject behaving?
You can also immerse yourself in the story by becoming a participant.
Conducting an Interview
An interesting quotation from a subject matter expert or witness to the events can turn a dull story into
one that captures the interest of the reader. If you are going to write good creative nonfiction, you must
know how to interview. Here are a few tips:

1. Make a list of questions to ask.

2. Take a pen and paper, or tape record.
3. Interview the subject matter experts.
4. Ask the person you are interviewing to stop talking while you are attempting to take notes.
5. After the interview, type out your notes.
6. Save the toughest questions for last.
 7. Don’t quote a subject matter expert out of context.
8. Don’t fabricate quotations.

Use Dramatic Scenes

To write the essay, incorporate the technique of “scene building” into the essay. To do this, show the
reader, don’t tell them, what happened. Scene building isn’t a narrative summary, which includes
generalizes time, collapses events, provides a brief descriptions and mentions people. Scene building isn’t
an exposition, which explains and analyzes. Scene building isn’t a voice over, which interprets the
experience. What, then, is scene building?
The writer recreates the event or experience in the mind of the reader. Scene building creates a dream in
the mind of the reader. It is like a scene from a film. A scene takes place in a specific place at a particular
time. It includes action and dialogue. It includes concrete and specific details, not abstract language and
generalizations. It also includes details that appeal to the senses, such as the sense of sight, hearing, smell,
touch, and taste. It creates a sense of movement.
To summarize,  a scene includes the following elements:

 Time. A scene takes place at a particular time.

 Place. A scene takes place in a particular place. It provides context and creates a mood.
 Details. A scene always includes important details. These details are concrete and specific, not
general or abstract. A scene also includes scensory details, which appeal to the readers sensese, the
sense of sight, smell, taste, hearing, and touch.
 Action. A scene includes action, such as a confrontation, crisis, or the action and reaction of people.
 Dialogue.  Not always, but often a scene include important comments and conversations.
 Details and Descriptions. Use sensory images. The details reveal the underlying story or the
universal truth.
This doesn’t mean that the writer excludes expositions or a summary from a literary journalistic essay.
These elements have a function. It is just that the writer keeps each of these elements separate.

Include a Lead, Content, and Ending

Whether you write about a person, place, event, idea, your story needs a lead that tells the readers the
purpose of your essay and why they should read the essay. The lead also needs to persuade the reader to
read the essay. So, you must write a hook. It can be a quotation, interesting fact, important
point, question, anecdote.
In the body of your essay, you can write about the important facts. In addition, you can include personal
opinion, thoughts, and feelings. You can also use literary devices, such as imagery, metaphor, and simile.
The key point is to remember to inform and enlighten your readers.
In a short essay, you can organize your points in chronological or logical order. In a longer essay, you can
organize your ideas by topic. In this case, you can use headings and subheadings.
In closing, you need to leave the reader with an important point. Otherwise, the reader will think: “So
what? What was the point of writing the essay”
Your goal is not to preach or sermonize. Your goals are to entertain, inform and enlighten your reader.
For more information on how to write a lead and ending, read my earlier post. You can also learn how by
reading William Zinsser’s book On Writing Well.

Tips on How to Write a Literary Journalistic Essay

There is no single method of writing a literary journalistic essay. That being said, a literary journalistic
essay requires a lead, content that is based on factual information, and an ending. Here are a few tips on
how to write the literary journalistic essay:

1. Learn about your subject through personal reportage. Interview others, conduct research in the
library and on the Web. Immerse yourself in the story.
2. Outline your story before writing it. What is your lead? What important points do you wish to
make? What facts do you have? How do you intend to end your essay?
3. Include a lead and ending. The lead tells the reader what your essay  is about; The ending leaves
your reader with a final message. What final point do you want to make?
4. Use your distinctive voice. You reveal your voice by your choice of diction, choice of sentence
patterns, choice literary devices, such as alliteration, imagery, metaphor, simile, and so forth.
5. Write a true story about a person, place, event,or  idea. Make sure that the story is interesting and
informative. If it isn’t, write about something else.
6. Write dramatic scenes—action, dialogue, details, setting.
7. Consider narrowing your topic to a brief period of time.
8. Use literary devices. Popular devices include metaphor, simile, alliteration, and imagery.
9. Tell your story using the third-person point of view. (he/she)
10. Make use your writing reveals a universal truth or message. Otherwise your reader’s will say: “So
what? What was the point?”
11. Be sure your writing informs and enlightens. Before writing, use Google to check what has been
written on the topic.
 12. Conduct extensive research on your topic. Often you will use only a partial amount of the
information that you collect. Your goal is to become a subject matter expert, so that you can write
as an expert.

Resources to Help You Write a Literary Journalistic Essay

There are some excellent books available to help you in the art and craft of writing a literary journalistic
essay. Here are a few of the good books you should read:

 Writing Creative Nonfiction by Philip Gerald. It provides good advice.

 The Art of Creative Nonfiction by Lee Gutkind. This is a must read.
 The Truth of the Matter: Art and Craft of Creative Nonfiction by Dinty W. Moore. This book
provides good how-to advice and an anthology.
 The Fourth Genre: The Contemporary Writers of/on Creative Nonfiction by Robert Root and
Michael J. Steinberg.
 The Elements of Style by Strunk and White. This book tells you how to develop your style and how
to compose any writing. Buy it and internalize the advice on writing.
 Tell It Slant: Writing and Shaping Creative Nonfiction by Brenda Miller and Suzanne Paula
 On Writing Well by William Zinsser. If you want to write creative nonfiction, you should buy and
master the advice in this classic text.
 The Best American Essays Series. It is published each year.
https://davehood59.wordpress.com/2010/03/29/how-to-write-a-literary-journalistic-essay/
Literary journalism
Literary or narrative journalism is writing that combines the stylistic techniques of fiction, such as
dialogue, character development, and scene-setting, with the nitty-gritty accuracy of reporting and
research. The subject matter can be anything, from an election campaign to the profile of an artist, from
the exploration of a cultural phenomenon to a true crime story or a scientific discovery. But whatever the
topic, the author’s voice or point of view is key to the power of the piece.
A few examples
George Orwell: “A Hanging.”
Joan Didion: “Some Dreamers of the Golden Dream.”
Desmond Cole: “The Skin I’m In.”
Katherine Ashenburg: “Critical Mass.”
To learn more
https://www.thoughtco.com/what-is-literary-journalism-1691132
http://normansims.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/The-Literary-Journalists.pdf
http://niemanstoryboard.org/stories/breakable-rules-for-literary-journalists/
http://niemanreports.org/articles/sharing-the-secrets-of-fine-narrative-journalism/

https://creativenonfictioncollective.ca/cnf-tips-learn-literary-journalism/

Get inside your character's head

A character sketch is a quick rendering of a character, and writing a sketch is about asking and answering
questions. In order to write a character sketch, you must ask yourself questions about your character. Only
you, as the author, can answer these questions. Although there is no end to the types of questions you can
ask, our manuscript editors recommend the following prompts to get you thinking about who your
character is so that you can write a clear and concise sketch.

Who is your character physically?

Physical characteristics are the first things we notice when we meet someone. Therefore, this is a good
starting point when writing a character sketch. Is your character a woman or a man? Is he or she tall or
short? Is your character bald? How old is your character? Does he or she have a disability?
Authors, eager to explore the in-depth psychology of their written subjects, might discount these details as
unimportant and base. But it is often these very details that lead to conflict or are the means through
which we explore a character's psychology. As an example of this, we recommend reading Flannery
O'Connor's Good Country People; in this short story, the physical details of the main character are
representations of her internal state. Without a vivid description of this character's physicality, a critical
dimension of the plot would be lost and the central conflict would be nonexistent. Answering questions
about your character's physicality is the first step in creating a fully realized character.

What is your character doing?

This is the next question to ask because it brings into account other aspects of story writing such as setting
and time. The answer to this question will also affect other aspects of your sketch, such as what your
character is wearing or how he or she is feeling. Is your character walking down the street? Is he or she
sitting in a park? Is your character working on a boat? Asking what your character is doing will not only
help you understand your character, but also his or her relationship to the setting in your story.
Authors may be tempted to gloss over this part of characterization. When asked what his or
her character is doing, an author might give a cursory answer; he or she may answer that the subject is at
the movies, for example. But consider all that there is to do at a movie theatre: Is the character waiting in
line for tickets or at the concession stand? Is he or she waiting to talk to the manager? Perhaps the
character is sitting impatiently waiting for the movie to begin. Getting as specific as you can when
answering this question will not only help you define your character, but will also help to define the other
elements of fiction.

What is your character feeling?

This is probably one of the more complex questions you can ask about your character. Is your character
angry? Is he or she happy, sad, tired, or depressed? Does your character love something or someone?
Asking questions about your character's emotional life might evolve into the production of a character
history. While this may be tempting, you have to focus on what your subject is feeling within the context
of the story you are writing. Although the answers to these questions are important, they are rarely
explicitly stated in the story.
Authors may be tempted to start with the emotional or psychological state of their characters and they
may even explicitly state them. This can lead to one of the cardinal sins of fiction writing: telling instead
of showing. Implicitly showing how your character is feeling by his or her interactions with other
characters or the setting is infinitely more interesting to read than explicitly stating whether your character
is happy, sad, elated, joyful, or miserable.

Building off your character sketch

A sketch is a starting point. In the visual arts, artists carry around sketch pads to practice and develop the
fundamental skills of their craft with the aim of producing paintings that seem to jump off the canvas, or
sculptures that seem to move in just the right light. The same is true for authors who use character
sketches. Writers use this tool to develop and rehearse one of the fundamental skills of their craft—
characterization. However, the final goal is not to have a notepad full of character sketches. An author
should get to know his or her character through this practice.
While not everything that an author writes in a character sketch must be included in the novel, the author
should develop an in-depth and all-encompassing knowledge of every facet of the character's personality
in order to create a consistent and engaging persona.
The ultimate goal of a writer is to take these character sketches and use them to craft a wonderfully
engrossing, character-driven work of fiction. If you want an objective set of eyes to look at your
manuscript, try our manuscript critique editors.

Create an Outline of Your Character

Students create outlines to write essays. It helps them keep all of their ideas in one place and allows
them to see the framework of the essay. If you are a writer who prefers organization, you might want to
consider writing an outline of your character. This particular outline below details what you should
include in a character outline:

Character’s Name

I. Physical Description

A. Hair

1. the color

2. the style it is normally kept in

3. any striking features about it

B. Eyes

1. their color

2. glasses or no glasses?

3. any striking features about them

C. Height/Weight

1. height
2. weight

3. body type

D. Style of Dress

1. clothing style

2. particular colors

3. regular outfits

E. Speech

1. a particular accent

2. certain words or phrases the person might say

F. How Character Feels About Physical Appearance

1. brief sentence or two about the character’s feelings about their appearance written from character’s
view

2. ways the character appears to be working on their appearance

II. Personality

A. Mannerisms

1. certain little thing the character likes to do, like tearing up napkins while waiting for food at a
restaurant

2. another certain little thing the character likes to do

B. Bad Habits

1. Bad Habit 1

2. Bad Habit 2

C. Strengths/Weaknesses

1. strengths

2. weaknesses

III. Likes/Dislikes

A. Likes

1. Like 1

2. Like 2

B. Dislikes

1. Dislike 1

2. Dislike 2

IV. Family

A. Parents
1. mom

2. dad

B. Siblings

1. sibling 1

2. sibling 2

C. Extended Family

1. extended family member 1

2. extended family member 2

V. Hobbies

A. Hobby 1

1. details about hobby

2. character’s feelings about hobby

B. Hobby 2

1. details about hobby

2. character’s feelings about hobby

VI. History

A. Childhood

1. event

2. event

3. character’s feelings about childhood

B. Teen Years

1. event

2. event

3. character’s feelings about teen years

C. Young Adulthood

1. event

2. event

3. character’s feelings about young adulthood

D. Just Before the Story Begins

1. event

2. event

3. character’s feelings about events

VII. Conflicts

A. Inner Conflicts

B. Outer Conflicts