why-journalists-become-best-selling-authors

Think of a popular novelist and you end up reading a journalist. If “journalism is literature in a hurry,” journalists often turn to literary storytelling and write fiction with élan.

 

Name the best-selling authors across languages. Chances are that many of them have been journalists before they turned to creative writing.   

 

When reading was the only leisurely activity available at the beginning of 20th century—authors like Charles Dickens, Ernest Hemingway, Mark Twain, Dostoevsky et al not only dominated the popularity charts, they gave new writing styles to the literary world. All these writers were journalists before penning their timeless classics. In the 21st century, many more mediums came into play. Journalists continued to top the charts with their engaging fiction and non-fictional works.

 

Some of them include Frederick Forsyth, known for his political thrillers like the all-time popular ‘The Day of the Jackal’; globally popular Latin American author Gabriel Garcia Marquez, who mesmerised readers across the globe with magic realism in novels like ‘Love in the Time of Cholera’ and ‘One Hundred Years of Solitude’, and Svetlana Alexievich, who took journalistic reporting of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant disaster to greater heights with her polyphonic writings in ‘The Second Hand Time’. Both Marquez and Svetlana became Nobel Laureates in Literature.

 

Their engaging yet simple narratives sprouted and flourished from the ground of literature—written in a hurry.

 

Also read: Love songs of leopard seals akin to nursery rhymes

 

Majority of great names in Hindi literature too had a background of writing for newspapers and magazines—starting with Munshi Premchand to Kamleshwar, Dharamvir Bharati et al. Munshi Premchand was the editor of Hans and Jagaran, the Hindi journals. Dharamvir Bharati edited Dharmyug and Kamleshwar was the editor of Sarika. The list of journalist authors is exhaustive.

 

The English contemporary literary scene is also dominated by journalists-turned-authors—Khushwant Singh, Arvind Adiga, Rahul Pandita, Amitav Ghosh, Meenal Baghel, Manu Joseph et al.

  

Advantage field work and networking of a sleuth

 

Over years, journalists develop skills that most aspiring authors find hard to access. The sheer nature of their job necessitates ground research in any subject they pick to write. From a deep background knowledge to developing multiple perspectives through research and interviews is part of their job. Trained to ask pithy questions, listening to what remains unsaid, smelling the atmosphere—they develop skills of a sleuth.

 

With sharp observation skills and patience for the story to unfold, they can chase a story doggedly, for months and years, using scarce resources.

 

The networking skills of journalists come handy in giving a broader canvas to their stories. They become apt at getting desired information out of a top-notch CEO or a traffic policeman, a rickshaw puller or a criminal. Familiarity with the nuances of language, culture and social backgrounds help them in adding flesh and blood to their stories. Good scribes also are good readers and listeners—they learn to listen without filters.  

 

Rigour of writing to meet deadlines

 

The advantage of seeing an event from the vantage point of objectivity and empathy gives birth to new vision that is translated into writing effective news stories. Everyday penning thousands of words trains them in expressing varied shades of human experience. The arc grows with years of ‘riyaaz’ in writing. As journalists, they practice how to connect dots of a story—as novelists or non-fiction writers they place these skills on a larger canvas with success.

 

Unlike subject experts, most journalists write short, simple, easy to comprehend sentences—to get readers’ attention—who are presumed to have an IQ of a high school graduate. Unlike professors, they do not depend on jargon; simplifying complex ideas—from space science to fine arts—into simple language, using common sense becomes their forte.

 

Ernest Hemingway evolved writing very short, succinct sentences, which was against the norm of the days when he became a novelist. He introduced "iceberg theory," emphasising understated prose and leaving much unsaid. This style influenced generations of writers from his popular novels like ‘A Farewell’ to the ‘Arms and The Old Man’ and the ‘Sea’. 

 

Khushwant Singh used very simple prose that became a hallmark of his popularity. Another rare skill that journalists grow is—constantly working under pressure to meet everyday deadlines. They learn not only to work under pressure but to deliver error free copies—day after day.  

 

Another skill, which is not taught in any school is the sixth sense, developed on the job.

 

Reportage as literature

 

Few journalists, with their insight and sensitivity, have taken reportage to greater heights—almost turning it into a literary genre. Their reportage of the events of great political or social significance turned into popular books due to their compelling narratives.

 

After becoming a celebrated author, Marquez turned ‘News of a Kidnapping’, a reportage on the power of drug cartels and related political corruption of Colombia, into a book. Focusing on the real-life kidnappings orchestrated by drug lord Pablo Escobar, and his drug cartel in the early 1990s, targeting prominent Colombians. He used notes and interviews to draft the book, which details the stories of the victims, the negotiations for their release, and the broader context of institutional failure and political violence. It is considered a significant work of non-fiction that blends reportage with literary storytelling and is taught in several schools of journalism as exemplary reportage.

 

Truman Capote, who worked for some time and was later fired from the New Yorker, went on to serialise his most popular novel ‘In Cold Blood’. It earned the distinction of the second best-selling non-fiction novel in the history of this genre. Capote is credited by some literary experts as the pioneer of the genre of non-fiction novels that suits most journalists. ‘In Cold Blood’ is based on the true story of the murders of the Clutter family in a small farming community in Kansas. Capote had lived in the village for months to gather notes that ran into thousands of pages. The novel, published in 1966, became a huge success and was also nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. It earned Capote huge commercial success and was later turned into several films.

 

‘Death in Mumbai’ by Meenal Baghel, former editor of Mumbai Mirror, was based on the true story of the brutal murder of young TV producer Neeraj Grover by aspiring actress Maria Susairaj and her boyfriend, naval officer Emile Jarome in a most brutal manner. Baghel’s non-fiction book is not just a crime thriller, it raises questions around celebrity culture, young generations’ aspirations and the savage pressure of the city of dreams—Mumbai.

 

Non-fiction books’ success on OTT

 

Long, dogged chase of real crime stories has given books authored by investigative journalists a new, broader and popular platform—the OTT. Their books are serialised as viewers prefer real stories to fiction. These serialised episodes have broken perceived notions of entertainment. Journalists have brought gravitas and accountability to the platform with their research-based books.

 

Journalist Jigna Vora’s story of imprisonment, who was accused of a fellow journalist’s murder in ‘Scoop’, a series based on her book ‘Behind Bars in Byculla: My Days in Prison’ topped the popularity charts'; ‘Scam 1992’ based on Sucheta Dalal and Debashish Basu’s book ‘The Scam: Who Won, Who Lost, Who Got Away’, exposed financial scams of Harshad Mehta; ‘The Hunt: The Rajiv Gandhi Assassination Case’ is based on the book written by journalist-turned-filmmaker Anirudhya Mitra, and journalist Sanjay Singh’s book ‘Telgi Scam: A Reporter's Diary’ was turned into ‘Scam 2003’, another popular series. Sunetra Choudhary co-authored ‘Black warrant: Confessions of a Tihar Jailer’ with Sunil Gupta. The series ‘Black Warrant’ is based on this book. 

 

By Vandana Shukla