WJI Blog 2022, May 21 AM - Creative Writing and Journalism

During my time at Geneva College, I’ve struggled with the number of creative writing classes I have to take. Over my four semesters of college, I’ve taken more of these courses than factual writing ones. Sometimes, these classes feel like a waste of time, as I want to pursue journalism as a career, not fiction writing. However, these first few days at WJI helped me remember the close relationship between creative writing and journalism.

My creative writing teacher back at Geneva College always tells us that there are five components to any good story: flaw, desire, opponent, battle, and change. In other words, the main character should be flawed, show a clear desire, battle with an opponent, and undergo change by the end of the story. As writers, we should show, not tell, our readers the responses and emotions of our characters. Readers should be able to relate to and empathize with the main character. By the end of a story, readers should think about the world or a situation in a different way.

This morning in a reporting workshop, Professor Pitts stressed the importance of telling the stories of people through our journalism. He reminded us that any interesting news article follows an active character with goals and obstacles in the way of those goals. The most compelling stories show how this character overcomes obstacles and changes along the way. By the time they finish reading an article, readers should feel a connection to and empathy for the subject. Professor Pitts highlighted the main purpose of journalism: to turn heads and get people to see something or someone in a new way. And, without a certain measure of creativity and a large dose of storytelling, a news article turns into a boring jumble of facts.

All of this sounded really familiar to me and helped me value my creative writing classes a lot more.

- Celia York