Finally...The Narcissistic Journalist

Came across this article on Toasted Cheese, a pretty awesome online literary journal, and it's had my head a' spinnin since I read it. It's not groundbreaking or anything, but it mainly seems to be addressing this sort of "me-me-me" trend that many writers and journalist are latching on to, mostly in the form of personal first person stories, memoirs, etc. and while I have a slight about the way the whole issue is presented (in my humble opinion the author might benefit from drawing a more definitive line between memoir/essay writing vs. journalism because it sort of comes off as if he's criticizing the practice of including a kind of...narcissism ...in the reporting that journalist are doing nowadays, whereas the writing an essayist/memoir writer is a little different--and really they benefit more from being a bit navel grazey if that's the medium they are writing in) I think I get the underlying gripe. 

If he were to make the distinction a little more clear, I think he may be trying to say that many journalist latch onto this self focused type of writing that isn't really representative of what it is a journalist is meant to do. People as a whole love first person accounts of whatever, be it the time you survived almost being castrated in a freak bear attack or broke up with your high school sweetheart. It allows that feeling of almost being there, of listening to the average person recounting something either mundane or otherwise and walking away with that feeling of having a peek into someone's personal life. Being almost a "voyeur" as the article puts it. And since it's always more interesting to look at the crap of another person's life, burgeoning writers flock to this practice in the hope to make their stab in the market. 

So I got that much from the article and for the most part I'd have to agree. Anyone who thinks they could sustain a whole writing career on mere twists and turns of their own accord alone might be in for a doozy of a ride. As Nolan put it, "There is nothing more painful to watch than a writer desperately grasping at ever less-important aspects of their own lives in order to make word counts, until they must simultaneously eat lunch and be writing about eating that lunch at the same time." Certainly, if you'd built your whole career around people consuming all the tidbits of your ups and downs so that ultimately you've become this character whom people expect to showcase their fuck ups to even be considered relevant...yeah, that's a problem. 

At the same time though, I think Nolan kind of glazes over the fact that even as a journalist whom is reporting "someone else's story" you're still apt to present it subjectively. Unless you're just a journalist who is simply writing the facts as they are and leaving it at that, how could you NOT include some of your own personal viewpoints? "Presenting someone else's story" means that you have to in a sense be a storyteller and tell the world about something you've learned, but obviously--even if it isn't your own personal story--you may tell it rather differently simply from the fact that you're the one writing it. If that person had the chance to tell their narrative, isn't it possible they'd say something else completely? If anything that happens all the time--a journalist may report the events of a separate experience in a way that would either be celebrated for being closely accurate, or otherwise doing just what Nolan accuses--being narcissistic. 

Again, I get that he's touching more on the fact that it's become easier and trendier to grab a reader's attention by presenting your own life story with lines like, as Susan Shapiro wrote, "In December my husband stopped screwing me" 'cause, yeah, who wouldn't want to read that story? But there are better, more interesting stories out there and the mass market is more willing to ignore those in favor of some woman's failing marriage--I get that. I'm no journalist by any means, but from what little I managed to learn about the craft you're still a storyteller but in a different way than, say, J.K. Rowling is. You can still be narcissistic without writing about yourself, because I think a little subjectivity makes its way into your writing simply because of the fact that YOU'RE A WRITER. 

Anyway, when I scrolled down to the read the comments of this article one mentioned blogs falling apart if you become too personal about writing. 

O.O

Oops. 

I guess that's what I've been trying to get at with this post---am I too personal, too gripey about my writing? 

Yeah, I suppose on many levels I definitely am. On one hand, I kinda hate that. While I'm trying to use this blog as a place to sort out my feelings about so many things--my writing included--I constantly, as you know, worry if I come off as too me-me-me about everything. I want to definitely achieve a level of narrative consistency, but my saving grace (and ultimate excuse) is that I kind of have to tread the waters and drown a couple of times before I can swim freely (BAD ANALOGY I KNOW). 

Should I be more focused, more objective in what I'm presenting? Telling my stories, whatever they are, and keeping the personal narrative to a minimal nil? I'm certainly running into the problem of finding little to talk about at times, doing the whole blow by blow thing. After all, as I said earlier, you sort of want to simultaneously roll your eyes and punch someone in the face if they're continually reporting their daily toast intake and what they wore to work on what day. Do I want to be known for my plucky opinions on the episode of Breaking Bad I watched, or my own story about a character's descent into antagonism? (WHICH IS WHAT MAKES THAT SHOW SO AWESOME BTW!!!) 

Okay. So I'll end all this by saying that I will definitely consider what I'm posting to the world from now on. After all, there really is more to me than just moan and groaning, ya'll. I promise.