I’m a Journalist Publishing a Fiction Book this Year — This is How I balance Reporting with Creative Writing
Here’s how writers can switch gears between fiction and nonfiction writing
My day job as a journalist could not be more different from fiction writing.
I report on cryptocurrencies, NFTs, and the stock market. Business news, heavy with numbers and hot takes from executives. But at night and on weekends I do different work.
That’s when I write literary fiction. Short stories about people and winding tales about far off places. Longer pieces about fascinating, tragic characters I’ve met abroad.
But my fiction writing process has little to do with business journalism (even though the skills I’ve gleaned from reporting and markets writing have been a boon to my fiction writing).
Journalism is driven by reportage — real people and real events
Journalists shouldn’t fabricate what’s happening, and there is no part of the job that calls for any artistic liberty in terms of plot, characters and timelines. A reporter, in many cases, works hard to remove themselves from the story.
Short stories and novels, by contrast, can often put the writer front and center. A noticeable presence due to the intimacy of self-expression. Fiction can be drawn from reality, though the sum of it is invention.
When I sit down to write a short story, I almost always begin with reading a short story
Especially after a full day of journalism work, reading fiction helps put me in the mindset to write fiction. Like oil for a different creative gear.
Short stories don’t take very long to read; there are excellent ones — like this Hemingway classic — that can range from three to four pages.
Then I simply sit and think
I keep my phone away, and all other computer tabs closed. I’m either sitting and staring off into space, or I’m writing. No doom-scrolling on my phone or texting.
Comparatively, when I’m writing business news stories, I’ll usually have multiple tabs pulled up for research, and I’m in constant dialogue with my editors at work. Message notifications sound off unendingly.
The writing process for journalism is often social and collaborative — the opposite of how I go about fiction writing
When there’s news to produce, rarely is it a solo venture.
Fiction writing, meanwhile, is one of the most solitary pursuits a writer can take on. Both are fun for me, and the skills of each line of thinking complement one another.
Writing fiction is much harder for me than writing hard news. Much of news writing can be reactive. Journalists write what’s happening in the world. They (we) can be responsible for breaking news or producing analysis on news that’s already been broken.
Through journalism, I’ve learned to write quickly. Time is always pressing. The news cycle is rapid, and other outlets are always on the ball trying to be the first to break a story, or provide the sharpest angle or analysis.
Before my first foray into business journalism, my creative writing was slower. I encountered writer’s block with far more regularity. But the speed of reporting flies in the face of writer’s block — you have no choice but to produce, because both your job and the news cycle demands it.
I know many great journalists that can learn of news, write it, edit it, and publish it with such speed that I wonder if they skipped out on breathing and blinking. It is inspiring to witness. Journalists all over have an admirable capacity for haste.
I haven’t read or heard of fiction writers or novelists writing with the same pace. But I’d question the fiction that is produced at the same immediacy as news. It takes a different intellectual muscle. Fiction yanks creative fibers in a different direction.
The overlap between the two remains beneficial for all writers
Writing of any form is a way for a writer to sharpen their tools. To think clearer and improve their faculty for articulation.
Steve Jobs said “the most powerful person in the world is the storyteller.” Straddling nonfiction and fiction has made me a stronger storyteller. I’ve learned different angles and both outlets have given me a deeper understanding of the anatomy of a good (and bad) story.
Journalism and fiction writing — the two are not so different. By pursuing both, I’ve been able to improve as a writer, and I see it as a way to raise the ceiling of topics I can write about. Fiction keeps me creative and imaginative, and journalism gives me discipline, speed, and reporting chops.
And together, most importantly, storytelling remains central. A good story is a good story — that is where the skillsets of journalists and short story writers overlap.
My bestselling travel memoir Everywhere But Home is available on Amazon. My first collection of short stories is forthcoming in 2022.
