The personal or the story

Nora Ephron and Joan Didion embody two sides to storytelling: Ephron the side of the personal generating the narrative and Didion the side of the narrative producing the personal. Yet, these two mindsets represent a more complex process of storytelling and life-living that is generated by both philosophies, a process in which both these storytellers partake.

At the beginning of the semester, I was at a tumultuous point in my life. An important friendship of mine had come to an end, and I was uncertain for perhaps the first time about what my next steps would be after graduating. My writing has always been driven by my personal life, but these two factors have led me to dive back into the writing process as one of healing and of reclaiming my narrative. In particular, I am finding the reporting process for the last story to be one that is both personally challenging and enlightening, and my story is beginning to take a shape which far more personal than I would have imagined it originally being.

In regard to our course readings, the Susan Sontag and Alice Walker readings particularly stuck with me. In each, I felt a deep exploration of identity was pursued, and the level of reflection pushed me to consider how to develop the introspective process within my own writing. Writing is painful, but it is necessary in the documentation and distribution of the narratives which can foster change within the world.

The skills I hope to take with me from this class include being able to weave fact into fiction and pursuing knowledge through the framework of personal narrative. While I have moved away from the desire to work as a journalist in my professional career, the skills I have gained in journalism courses such as this one are valuable to my future pursuits as a writer. My multi-faceted writing abilities will allow me to be a storyteller that can engage my audience on multiple levels.