The Right Stuff - New JournalismThe Right Stuff is a great example of the writing style called "New Journalism". Author Tom Wolfe is widely known as a pioneer in this type of writing. New Journalism is grounded in fact, but uses techniques from the world of fiction to present information in a refreshingly realistic way. An important fictional technique is dialogue. Rarely in "normal" journalism does the reader encounter a real dialogue. Through dialogue, an author is able to show the personalities of the characters. The reader's ability to hear what a character says is as important as the ability to see how he or she reacts. For example, when Wolfe shows us Chuck Yeager's latest attempt to make a record, the dialogue gives the reader a further sense of the intensity of the moment. A second important technique taken from fiction is scene-by-scene examination. Traditionally, journalists present news based on the importance of events in a story. In New Journalism the author instead describes only a certain number of important events. The different scenes are used in the same way a fiction writer constructs the plot of the story as a whole. In an essay on “New Journalism,” Chris Anderson states that a “New Journalistic” writer “can not only render all the details of a scene or event but also describe the subjective and emotional lives of the characters” (Marowski and Matuz 418 ) .A third imaginary tool is descriptive language. In The Right Stuff, for example, Wolfe intentionally uses fighter pilot slang. Critic Chris Anderson states that he is "fascinated by the slang of the insiders, the words of power of the privileged groups and underground cultures he seeks" (Marowski and Matuz 418). This use of words from a small elite group helps to allow the reader to understand the characteristics, thoughts, and emotions of that group. A fourth technique is point of view. Most journalists are taught to keep their own point of view out of the story and to never use the first person in writing. "New Journalistic" novels such as The Right Stuff oppose this idea. Wolfe's first-person point of view puts a human face on the news.