Holmesglen TAFE: Industry Overview
Writing for Specific Non-Fiction Markets - Week Six Journal
Magazine Editors love writers who make their writing easier to read with clear expression and grammar and with no spelling mistakes. Networking is important since one Network can lead to another. You have to love the magazine and want to do well and you must be interested in the topic you are writing about. Photographers are not mind readers therefore you must frame the picture in your mind Evan as only you know the subject matter. Listen to photographers as they are aware of the correct angle of the lens. In terms of material experts, check the facts with them. Try not to disagree with them. Interview subjects that are important for Non-Fiction Writing as a career. Ask the person if you are allowed to tape an interview with them, as some do not like it.
Ethics in Non-Fiction Writing.
Unethical Practices – Honesty – Never plagiarise, must name your source, words, ideas, memory and data. Non-Fiction Writers must exercise fairness and have independence and respect for others.
First Speaker – Robin Bowles
She worked in Public Relations for ten to fifteen years. Robin does not really think that this is Non-Fiction. She was a nurse for a long time and wrote a book on the death of Jennifer Tanner – Non-Fiction.
To write a book you need characters, possibilities, plot and sub-stories. Need a marketing art – will people buy the book?
Robin’s books say what news and journalists cannot or do not want to say.
Robin worked in Marketing. All of her writing skills are self-taught. Robin has not been to University but is a registered nurse. She has an interview style which is interesting.
When writing a book you need to research and identify your sources. Neighbours can help.
Robin has a private investigator’s licence.
Statutory Body – people who work there will give you good information and evidence for your investigative book.
Get good evidence from Medical people and the Coroner’s Court.
NB: Get corroboration when sorting out evidence.
When writing Non-Fiction be careful with your interviewing technique.
Sincerity and trust are important to have in a story. For key people like Dennis Tanner get Dennis to read pages and notes which you have written about him. Get Dennis to sign and approve and agree with the information you have written about him.
Interviewing location can be anywhere. Public Servants or Policemen – ask them about a proper procedure. They love to talk about procedures ie, what would happen if this scenario happens.
Ask an important question and then shut up. The other person will most likely start talking. Other person cannot take the silence.
Police Reporters and Police work together and do not let out all of the secrets about a criminal case. Evan has a responsibility as a writer to be honest and you must be kind. Sometimes the truth is important but it is how you say the truth is worth noting. Ethical issues are important. Remember do not cause pain to others as a Writer.
Speaker: Peter Davis
Peter is a journalist and also a lecturer at Deakin University in Graduate Studies – for Professional Writing. Peter is a writer who also photographs images and stories which are true and therefore Non-Fiction.
Techniques and Features of Non-Fiction Writing are:
Thoughts and Reflections
"There are no dull subjects. There are just dull writers.”
by H. L. Mencken
Famous Quote
What do you want to say?
Who are you saying it to?
How do you perceive reality?
Magritte: The Human Condition “Painting”
We have preconceived conditions of what we see and write.
Image and reality, internal and external world.
We are interrogators of reality as we are writers.
Writing is about framing like the inside of work you are writing.
Be aware of the signs. What do people do? Serious Writers and traveller and tourist – What do they do?
Good writers can write about all genres. That is the beauty of being a Writer.
Do not let everyone direct which way you can go with your writing today.
Six thousand languages are spoken all over the world today.
Language is the currency of all writers and story-tellers.
As a writer Evan needs to understand language and decode it. Develop appropriate ice-breakers.
We need our traditional stories to be told in our native tongue. Different languages are important to preserve.
In thirty-five words or less Evan must know what his Feature Writing story is about.