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Literary vs. Journalistic Writing

Literary writing aims to entertain and inform leisurely, appealing primarily to emotions, while journalistic writing must inform quickly at a 10th grade level based on factual events. Literary writing can be factual or imaginary, deal with actual or imagined events, and have flexible structure and style, whereas journalistic writing must be entirely factual, timely, based on reported facts, use an inverted pyramid structure, and have a more objective and concise style. The main differences are in purpose, content, structure, style, and the writer's preparation and constraints.

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18K views1 page

Literary vs. Journalistic Writing

Literary writing aims to entertain and inform leisurely, appealing primarily to emotions, while journalistic writing must inform quickly at a 10th grade level based on factual events. Literary writing can be factual or imaginary, deal with actual or imagined events, and have flexible structure and style, whereas journalistic writing must be entirely factual, timely, based on reported facts, use an inverted pyramid structure, and have a more objective and concise style. The main differences are in purpose, content, structure, style, and the writer's preparation and constraints.

Uploaded by

api-21037348
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Literary vs.

Journalistic Writing
Characteristics of Literary Writing Characteristics of Journalistic Writing

• To entertain and inform leisurely • Must inform quickly

PURPOSE
• To appeal primarily to the emotions • Primarily to give information
• To interest a comparatively small and select group • Interests a large group with varying educational back-
ground
• Written at 10th grade level

• May or may not be entirely factual • Entirely factual

CONTENT
• May or may not be timely • Should be timely
• Deals with either actual or imaginary events/situa- • Deals with actual events/situations/ideas
tions/ideas • Based on facts gathered by reporters
• Limited only by the author’s imagination

STRUCTURE
• May build to a climax at end of story; may be written • Inverted pyramid: most important point first, fol-
in logical order with no single more important lowed by descending facts in order of importance
• Facilitates reading, headline writing, layout

• Refers to author’s techniques of expression • Refers mostly to preparation of copy and use of caps,

STYLE
• Subjective figures, punctuation, spelling; may refer to author’s
• Use of first person acceptable individual technique or expression
• Usually objective, simple and direct
• Definite limitations to use of the first person

• Usually have a topic sentence • Usually have topic sentences


• Any length acceptable • Should not exceed ‘xx’ words

PARAGRAPHS
• Most important point may be at end • Most important point at beginning
• Often depends on surrounding paragraphs • Usually contain one main idea; usually complete in
themselves and able to be removed without destroying
meaning

• Any type • Usually short, concise and direct

SENTENCES
• Any length • Avoid using important or unusual word twice in same
• Most important point anywhere sentence or too closely together in the same para-
graph
• Avoid beginning with the, it is, it was, there is, there
are

WORDS
• Any type used any way • Understood by average reader; written to be under-
stood quickly; not technical; specific and vivid; not
trite; active voice preferred

• Usually gathers data on which to base information • Reporter gathers facts through interviews and other

WRITER’S PREPARATION
• May write when or where he/she pleases research
• Author may determine length himself/herself • Must write for deadline
• Reporter usually must fit assigned length

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