On the creative side of things

One thing I like about my major is the room for creativity. I used to think all journalistic writing meant following an exact formula for everything, and to a certain extent, it's true we have standardized ways of writing news stories, features, obituaries, and reviews. But the best stories aren't told generically. Journalism is changing, and for once I'm not talking about the shift to digital media. We use the narrative style a lot more than we used to. Have you noticed? I'm glad for the change; I think that makes it easier for me to tell the story, and through me, to connect other people to the story.

It's still a far cry from what fiction authors do. They can choose to spend hours in interviews and doing research, but they don't have to. They can tell the story in an "hourglass" fashion or even a "newsy narrative" fashion, but most don't. Fiction is my first love. I think my love for fiction and my love for journalism balance themselves out pretty nicely; it couldn't have been better planned. Lately I've seen the balance in action as I literally go from writing the paper and final news article due next week (the last week of class) to writing the fantasy I started with some friends almost ten years ago, or a more recent tale I started with a different friend in California. It's a lot of writing, but I like writing.

I'm about to go to my last Friday class this semester. I have a lot going on next week. But life is good.