AP Style vs. Casual and Informal for a personal project

[rexbobcat]

I've started working on a personal photo project that is basically about the people and their dogs in a park here in town. My city doesn't have a dog park, so this park is as close as it gets pretty much, however, it's also a cash cow for the city, because people will let their dogs off leashes and there is a cop that likes to stake it out to give out 10-15 tickets at a time. A few years ago a group tried to get a dog park put in place but I think it was shot down by the city council.

I'm not doing the project as any kind of civil activism to try and get a dog park put in place. Mostly I just want to get some nice photos of people with their animals and get their stories.

I'm in a small conundrum though about how I should approach it - not the photos but the information.

Part of me says to write it in AP style for the sake of consistency and accuracy, but AP style is really stiff and impersonal. I could write it in a more informal manner, which might be more inviting, but I'm afraid that I might show unfair bias toward people who I find more interesting or that I might editorialize too much.

What do y'all think? Which would y'all rather view?

 

[The_Traveler]

what's wrong with personal and informal?

 

[Derrel]

Well, if it's a "personal project", I would not worry too much about editorializing, unless people with journalism backgrounds are in a position to evaluate the project. If it is truly a "personal project", I think your own style of writing would make more sense. If it were to be a piece of journalism, and published by a traditional, mainstream outlet, one that adheres to AP style, then using AP style would make sense. If this happens to be a personal project in the sense that it's something you're doing on-spec, but want to create with the ethics of journalism at its core, then editorializing would be best avoided.

 

[limr]

You need to consider who your ultimate audience is and what your ultimate goal is. If you want it to just be a nice personal-interest story, then you can loosen up on the rules a little bit. If you want it to have wider impact/implication/reach, then you need to tone down the overly-folksy kind of language. If something is too informal, it can be off-putting and people might not take it as seriously. AP style isn't about being rigid and stiff, but about being predictable and thus clearer to readers. But of course, if your audience is not predominantly AP-literate, then a more formal style isn't as predictable and might be more dense for your readers to get through.

Figure out where you want to publish this and that will help determine the style.

One thing you said: "...in AP style for the sake of consistency and accuracy..." Even if it's not in more formal AP style, please remember to be consistent and accurate anyway. That doesn't mean that you have to follow every Grammar Nazi rule, but if you're going to break a rule, break it consistently, and make sure it also is accurate in terms of the meaning and effect you want to have. Don't switch styles mid-stream. And even if you are writing in a more personal style, be careful of using too much slang - again, because of your audience. If you're aiming towards a certain demographic in your specific region, it might be fine, but beyond that, you may actually confuse people who don't share the same regional linguistic patterns or vocabulary, and as soon as you confuse your reader, you've lost your reader.

 

[rexbobcat]

what's wrong with personal and informal?

I just don't want to put words into peoples' mouths. With AP style, you basically have to attribute any bit of info to someone or something without assuming anything other than what was said.

I'm just trying to figure out if this is the approach I want. On one hand, it allows the people to have a voice without me having to give a voice to them, but at the same time, it might seem a little robotic.

Such as:

Roger Schaefer and his dog, Sieg, who he believes is a miniature pinscher.

Shaefer, a retired Texas Tech political science and law professor, said he has owned Sieg for about three years.

"He wandered into my garage one day skinny as all get out, and I fed him," Schaefer said, "and we've just bonded like crazy."

Sieg is a very energetic dog Schaefer said, and to expend some of that energy Sieg likes to chase rabbits."I walk him every day at Ralls golf course and he's caught 56 rabbits: jacks and cottontails," Schaefer said. "He just loves it up there."

It seems very stiff, but at the same time it allows some consistency between how the content is presented in the photo's captions. And although this isn't just a huge project, I don't want to fall into the pit of someone coming up to me after the project is finished and saying "that's not what I meant," or something similar. I am doing this just for me at the moment, but I still would like it to be viewed by others, particularly those involved.

But, looking at it from a general viewers' standpoint, I don't know how the AP style approach would be perceived, because it isn't really a journalistic piece in the traditional sense. It's not exactly news, if that makes sense.

 

[limr]

And what would be the alternative for that excerpt you wrote? How would the more personal style differ?

 

[rexbobcat]

You need to consider who your ultimate audience is and what your ultimate goal is. If you want it to just be a nice personal-interest story, then you can loosen up on the rules a little bit. If you want it to have wider impact/implication/reach, then you need to tone down the overly-folksy kind of language. If something is too informal, it can be off-putting and people might not take it as seriously. AP style isn't about being rigid and stiff, but about being predictable and thus clearer to readers. But of course, if your audience is not predominantly AP-literate, then a more formal style isn't as predictable and might be more dense for your readers to get through.

Figure out where you want to publish this and that will help determine the style.

One thing you said: "...in AP style for the sake of consistency and accuracy..." Even if it's not in more formal AP style, please remember to be consistent and accurate anyway. That doesn't mean that you have to follow every Grammar Nazi rule, but if you're going to break a rule, break it consistently, and make sure it also is accurate in terms of the meaning and effect you want to have. Don't switch styles mid-stream. And even if you are writing in a more personal style, be careful of using too much slang - again, because of your audience. If you're aiming towards a certain demographic in your specific region, it might be fine, but beyond that, you may actually confuse people who don't share the same regional linguistic patterns or vocabulary, and as soon as you confuse your reader, you've lost your reader.

Heh, I didn't mean that I would just throw caution to the wind if I didn't use AP style. I would still try to be as accurate and consistent as possible. However, I've found that it is incredibly hard to be truly consistent when not adhering to some set of standardized rules about how information is to be presented. The line become blurred between what amount of editorializing I can do with 'x' image vs. 'y' image and still be comprehensive and accurate.

Sorry if this question seems really vague. I'm just posing it here in this community, because y'all come from everywhere and have all kinds of backgrounds so it can maybe give me a better idea of what can be the most effective overall just in terms of sheer enjoyment and communication. Yes, it does depend on demographics, but at the same time, in a photo project that is kind of journalism and kind of not, which would people rather read. A complete and literal text about how the person in the photographs feels/thinks, or a more welcoming, albeit slightly personalized account.

Maybe it would help to ask my professors as well? I just want to do it justice, since the project isn't focused on my own thoughts and creativity. lol

 

[rexbobcat]

And what would be the alternative for that excerpt you wrote? How would the more personal style differ?

Hmm, this is just a quick write-up, but I guess something along the lines of:

When Roger Schaefer, a retired Texas Tech political science and law professor, met his dog, Sieg, he noticed that the pup was skinny as a rail. Seeing how sickly the dog was, he took him into his home and they bonded like crazy. Since then Sieg has become healthy and Roger describes him as a very energetic dogs that likes to chase rabbits out at the Rall's golf course. "He just loves it up there," Mr. Schaefer said.

That's roughly how I mean when I say "informal." It's much more entertaining to read (in my opinion) but it interjects so much of my assumptions about the situation. I don't know how I feel about it.That's roughly how I would write

 

[limr]

Ah, I see now what you mean about the difference. You feel it's much harder to inject more of your own voice into the AP-style writing. I can see why you'd feel like that - it removes the writer when you have to present all the details of the person's story as objective facts rather than stories you heard, reacted to, and now carry around with you. This objective style has its time and place, but you're not sure if your project is the right time or place for this style. That's what you're struggling with, right?

I'm a big fan of the middle ground. I think there's got to be a way to incorporate some overall pattern or arc from an established style, but still keep your voice and your involvement present in the writing. I think what you're looking for is a sort of modern essayist style - not an academic essay, but not straight up personal essay/narrative either. "Creative non-fiction" it's called these days. Joan Didion, David Foster Wallace, perhaps even some E.B. White.

(And yeah, I didn't think you were going to just go nuts and have your way with English grammar rules I have just seen many of my students slip into more formal/informal styles without even realizing it, and that's the thing I was suggesting you watch out for. For example, I think the "skinny as a rail" idiom is fine, but the "bonding like crazy" goes a bit too far into slang to my ears and it feels like a break of style even though the entire thing is less formal than the AP version.)

 

[rexbobcat]

Ah, I see now what you mean about the difference. You feel it's much harder to inject more of your own voice into the AP-style writing. I can see why you'd feel like that - it removes the writer when you have to present all the details of the person's story as objective facts rather than stories you heard, reacted to, and now carry around with you. This objective style has its time and place, but you're not sure if your project is the right time or place for this style. That's what you're struggling with, right?

I'm a big fan of the middle ground. I think there's got to be a way to incorporate some overall pattern or arc from an established style, but still keep your voice and your involvement present in the writing. I think what you're looking for is a sort of modern essayist style - not an academic essay, but not straight up personal essay/narrative either. "Creative non-fiction" it's called these days. Joan Didion, David Foster Wallace, perhaps even some E.B. White.

(And yeah, I didn't think you were going to just go nuts and have your way with English grammar rules I have just seen many of my students slip into more formal/informal styles without even realizing it, and that's the thing I was suggesting you watch out for. For example, I think the "skinny as a rail" idiom is fine, but the "bonding like crazy" goes a bit too far into slang to my ears and it feels like a break of style even though the entire thing is less formal than the AP version.)

Yeah that's pretty much it. I'm trying to find a professional middle ground, which I'm terrible at doing. I'm very much an all or nothing thinker (unfortunately), so it's hard to find the middle ground lol. :/

 

[Compaq]

It seems to me you prefer the "informal" and personal style. The most important thing is that your text is clear, your sections cohesive, and your language simple*. When all these criteria are fulfilled, your text should be accessible to all. I think a personal writing style is more emotion-inducing than a formal writing style. Of course, once you have written the text, you rewrite, rewrite, and then rewrite some more*.



*See what I did there? I added the "Oxford comma" as a protest against the AP style

 

[limr]

It seems to me you prefer the "informal" and personal style. The most important thing is that your text is clear, your sections cohesive, and your language simple*. When all these criteria are fulfilled, your text should be accessible to all. I think a personal writing style is more emotion-inducing than a formal writing style. Of course, once you have written the text, you rewrite, rewrite, and then rewrite some more*.



*See what I did there? I added the "Oxford comma" as a protest against the AP style

I adore the Oxford comma.

And I also agree with all the other stuff you said, too!