Writing For Story: Writing By Formula?

Surely Jon Franklin is not the first person to describe an ultimately fatal illness as a “monster.” He accurately characterizes the beast, drawing in the reader by creating a clearly defined struggle between the forces of good and evil. The pleasure gained from reading his high-tension, dramatic true story was eerie in that it is a topic much more comfortably explored in the realm of fiction. Further, several of the storytelling techniques he employs are close, if not identical to those taught for short-story writing. Particularly reminiscent is the final line in “Mrs. Kelly’s Monster;” “The monster won,” grimly mimics the emotional exhaustion and shortness that so often accompanies death.

Reading and enjoying the two pieces of narrative journalism diffused throughout Writing For Story made it difficult to doubt Franklin’s highly formulaic approach to writing. However, I felt the most charming details of his work were those that pulled on personal identification and experience. Franklin’s wordplay is wise and carefully avoids cliché; “It wasn’t an M.D. that his father had really wanted for him, it was knowledge. And what was a librarian after all but a custodian of knowledge?” is a prime example of creative diction. The word “custodian” carries all sorts of connotations and is relevant specifically to Wilk’s journey as a man working odd jobs, including that of custodian, en route to achieving a higher education. This moment in the narrative also functions a distinct turning point in that Wilk realizes he can follow his passion and achieve his father’s dream simultaneously, without having to become a doctor. Wilk takes charge of his own future and reclaims his life while the truths of his revelations begin to emerge.

Franklin’s approach to writing the perfect narrative redeems itself in the tenth chapter, “The Nature of Art and Artists,” in which he draws attention to the magic of the artist, the “magic that occurs behind the smoke and mirrors.” The writer who breathes his soul into words and anecdotes brings writing of all types to life; to deny the personal is to deny the storyteller quality deep within all journalists.