From Journalism to Fiction: Writing and Ethics

Greetings, word-lovers!

Your words mean the world to us. We just want to thank you once again for being here.

We’d like to also introduce you to this week’s guest writer, Shaun Gibbons. He is a former newspaper journalist turned fiction writer from Pinchbeck, Lincolnshire, United Kingdom. He is a member of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) and has more than 20 years of experience in corporate communications, public relations, and writing/editing.

Let’s welcome him now...

P: As a journalist, was there ever a time when your personal ethics were compromised? How do/did you reconcile that for the sake of the work?

Gibbons: In my time as a junior reporter for a newspaper fresh from university, I had to perform what is inappropriately called a ‘death knock’. For those fortunate enough not to have heard of the term, let alone be in a position to have done one, a death knock is a reporter tasked with turning up unannounced on the doorstep to request an interview with the relative(s) of a recently deceased family member. And if that sounds pretty unsavoury, the pressure to get the interview was put upon you by desk editors: the thought being that the grieving family would only grant one interview, therefore YOU had to get the interview before another rival newspaper.

In my case, the only death knock I had to perform was with a family who, just hours before, had been informed that their only teenage son had been killed in a car crash. I had attended the police press briefing earlier that morning and I knew that other reporters there would have to do the same as me.

In the police car park afterwards, I climbed into a waiting car driven by the paper’s staff photographer and set off for the family address. Other reporters from the press briefing were doing the same, and off we went to see who could get there first.

Unfortunately for me, we got there first. I remember opening the gate and walking slowly up the path to the front door. The curtains were half drawn and I could see shapes of people inside the house. I knocked on the door once and stood back and after what seemed like minutes the door opened.

I didn’t have a script in my head. I never rehearsed what I would say. So when a tearful woman in pajamas appeared in the doorway (presumably the mother of the boy), I apologised to her for the intrusion, and gave my and the newspaper’s condolences, then turned and left.

Was it personal ethics that stopped me from asking for an interview, I don’t know. What I did know, however, was that other reporters who were looking on from the comfort of their cars (secretly thankful it was me, not them, I suspect) would figure the family didn’t want to give and interview, therefore the family would be left alone to grieve in peace.

I went back to the office later that morning and told my news editor what had happened. He just nodded and we never spoke about it again. Thankfully, I never had to do one again – more out of circumstance, than design.

P: What are some of the key differences between journalism and, say, nonfiction or biography? Do you have a stronger affinity of one genre over another--both in writing and reading?

Gibbons: I have very little interest in mainstream journalism, non-fiction and biography nowadays – both as a writer and a reader, except for what was coined as ‘new journalism’ in the late 1960s by writers such as Tom Wolfe, Hunter S. Thompson and Michael Herr.

Those writers understood and toyed with the concepts of truth and perspective, and brought into their work stylistic elements of fiction. I would urge any writer (if they haven’t already) to seek out Picador’s The New Journalism and read for themselves work that blurs the line between journalism, non-fiction and fiction.

P: Briefly discuss some of the early challenges you’ve faced creatively... And most recently?

Gibbons: Well, what can I say? Being creative is all about solving challenges! I used to spend quite a bit of my free time writing fiction and when I did, I drank too much and smoked too much and often stayed up to the small hours deleting large chunks of text I’d just taken hours to write.

Nowadays, having given up smoking and to a large extent drinking, I challenge myself to write as early in the morning as possible.

Dorothea Brande, in her wonderful book called ‘Becoming a writer’, talks about harnessing the unconscious so I take a pencil and paper to bed with me, fall asleep and write whatever shit comes to mind when I wake. It worked for Henry Miller…!

P: If you could resolve any single misconception about what it means to be a “writer/author,” what would it be and why?

Gibbons: The next time you’re confronted by someone at a dinner party who tells those within earshot they are a writer, punch them. Hard. Ideally in the face, or if (more than likely) they’re wearing hipster wire-framed spectacles, knee them in the bollocks.

Writers write. People who talk about writing are just talkers. Writers crave solitude, not attention. People who know me well can vouch for the fact I’m not a ‘people person’. If I could commit a crime that meant solitary confinement (without the need for murder, etc.) then I’d be a happy man.

P: Is there any advice you could give to writers who’d wish to use Twitter and/or Facebook to help reach a wider audience with their writing?

Gibbons: I had a Twitter follower only a few days ago who sent me a series of direct messages saying (and I quote) “I’d gargle bleach to get you to read my free sample on Amazon” and “I would crawl over hot coals to get you to download my free book…”

Would you buy a used car from a salesman who threatened to self-immolate, or purchase groceries from a shop owner who was willing to saw off his own arm?

Writers who use social media to overtly market their work should stop and consider what they want from SM and why. Social media shouldn’t be seen as a digitised sandwich board for users to parade about the net plying their wares. IF writers want to use social media to market their work, then approach with extreme caution.

Your published personality whether on Twitter, Facebook, Ello or whatever, is your only commodity – your work is secondary. Come across like a needy lunatic (see above) then people will treat you like one and think your work is also.

One of the unintended consequences of digital self-publishing is the scourge of all things internetty – link baiting. Many self published writers seem obsessed with click-through figures, downloads and rankings and will go to extraordinary lengths (see above) for those extra few click-through’s and downloads.

I personally don’t use Twitter to plug my published fiction (and I deleted my Facebook page years ago), but I recognise that some writers do and that’s fine. I would say devote more time to your work and less time online. Good work will win out and those writers with psychotic tendencies (see above) will get the medical treatment they need eventually.

P: How would you briefly compare and contrast the use of Facebook and Twitter as a writer?

Gibbons: I think writing communities, of which there are plenty on Facebook, can be a good thing and closed groups are even better if writers want to share and ask for tips/advice, etc. Twitter’s use of 140 characters is a good exercise for writers insofar as learning to keep their text tight.

P: In your opinion, what is social media missing for the writing community as a whole?

Gibbons: I don’t think social media is missing anything. Social media wasn’t invented for writers. I would go as far as to say the internet (and technology as a whole) is slowly taking away the ability as a tool for writers to write. Users don’t want to read lengthy chunks of text on a screen. Writers who write with internet access on their machines often claim to get distracted (oddly enough, by social media). Even things like tablets and newer versions of laptops don’t even come with proper keyboards, for Christ’s sake! Of course, I’m being a little fatalistic about all this…

Social media and, in particular, online communities for writers can be a good thing. Even empowering for some. Just use them wisely and concentrate on what matters: writing.

--Shaun Gibbons

For more information look for @lShaun_Gibbons on Twitter or visit his LinkedIn profile by copying and pasting the following link into your web browser: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/shaunrgibbons

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