Is it meaningful that witches cast spells and writers spell words?
Tom Nugent thinks so.
Nugent, a freelance writer who has worked at the Detroit Free Press, the Charlotte Observer and the Baltimore Sun, told students during an MCOM 407 class visit this week that journalism isn’t always in the factual details. It’s also in the language.
“Journalism isn’t about the who, what, when, where,” Nugent said. “It’s about language. It’s the sound of the words generating visions.”
Nugent lived a monk’s life working the Sun’s features desk on $575 a week from 1978 to 1983. He said he did nothing but “work and drink” and sleep in a one-room apartment on Calvert Street. While writing routine news stories he also practiced journalism by immersion, in one instance living for a week in the once-grand Congress Hotel to interview residents (pdf).
After rereading that story in preparation for our class visit, Nugent was shocked to find the first word in the story was “once.” The last word in the story was “time.”
“My hair stood on end, it got whiter,” he said. “I thought, ‘this story is once upon a time.’ All that remains are the stories. That’s all we have, the stories.”
Feeling language, interrupting habits of seeing and reading, and knowing yourself as an instrument, these are the keys to finding the poetry in your stories, Nugent said.
“It’s all about the lingo. It’s not about making the headline fit the space or learning the latest snazzy graphics to perk up your piece. It’s all about tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow,” he said as he began to quote at length one of Macbeth’s most famous speeches.
And to break out of our habits of seeing, he advised students to read and to teach themselves: “Stop letting other people think for you. We’ve been conditioned horrifically. Stop letting people tell you what you’re seeing.”
Among the works he suggested: Aristotle’s work on aesthetics, Edgar Allen Poe, James Salter and Diane Arbus.
“Challenge your ways of seeing. Go out on the street, get on the bus, walk through the town. Trust your impulses. Look at what you notice. A seagull, a Burger King wrapper,” he said. “Can you put those things together in a new way?”
“Start trusting the people around you,” he said. “Talk to people. You’ll be startled at how open, helpful and downright creative people are.”
Here’s the thanks my students offered to Mr. Nugent:
- Many thanks for igniting the writer inside of me. I have visited many sites, people and situations and was inspired to write about these experiences. Now I know that it is OK to freely express myself, using language as paint on a blank pallette. –Amy Lakis
- Thank you for the inspiring “lecture.” Now i know that poetry has a place in journalism. –Edison Holder
- Throughout my journalism career at Towson, I have been told that I write too much. Thank you for encouraging me not to hinder my creativity. –Michelle Danzig
- I thought it was very nice of him to give us his business card and offer his words of wisdom on our journalism. It can be very intimidating entering this field and especially with journalism you really put your heart into your work. Knowing that he’s been around in this industry and is willing to help us makes me remember that he was once in our shoes and look how successful he’s become. –Katelyn Mattingly
- Thank you for letting me know that being creative is still a possibility in journalism today. Reading your stories made me feel as though I was right there with you. I can’t wait until break so I have time to read more. –Abby Campbell
- Thank you, Mr. Nugent, for telling us that being descriptive in our stories is OK. I feel that this is often lacking in many of today’s stories, and it was nice to have someone remind me of the reason that I began writing. –Nick Kaufman
- It was refreshing to hear from someone who holds long form, feature journalism as close to his heart as I do. Your lead about Highlandtown at midnight was beautifully composed and an inspiration for my future work. –Mike Miller
You can find more links to Tom Nugent’s writing in my previous post, Searching for the soul of Baltimore.
