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Summary:

This is a collection of inspiring stories and practical advice from America's most respected journalists. The country's most prominent journalists and nonfiction authors gather each year at Harvard's Nieman Conference on Narrative Journalism. This work presents their best advice, covering everything from finding a good topic, to structuring narrative stories, to writing and selling your first book. More than fifty well known writers offer their most powerful tips, including: Tom Wolfe on the emotional core of the story, Gay Talese on writing about private lives, Malcolm Gladwell on the limits of profiles, Nora Ephron on narrative writing and screenwriters, Alma Guillermoprieto on telling the story and telling the truth. Also included are dozens of Pulitzer Prize winning journalists from the Atlantic Monthly, New Yorker, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, and more. The essays contain important counsel for new and career journalists, as well as for freelance writers, radio producers, and memoirists. Packed with candid and insightful recommendations, these essays will show anyone fascinated by the art of writing nonfiction how to bring people, scenes, and ideas to life on the page.

Table of Contents:

• Preface
• Part I: An invitation to narrative. stories matter / Jacqui Banaszynski ; Suggestions for narrative journalists / Gay Talese ; The narrative idea / David Halberstam ; Difficult journalism that's slap-up fun / Katherine Boo
• Part II: Finding, researching, and reporting topics. Introduction / Mark Kramer and Wendy Call ; Finding good topics : a writer's questions / Lane DeGregory ; Finding good topics : an editor's questions / Jan Winburn ; Stories are everywhere / Adrian Nicole LeBlanc ; Reporting for narrative : ten tips / Mark Kramer ; To tape or not to tape? / Jacqui Banaszynski, Jon Franklin, Gay Talese, and Adam Hochschild ; Interviewing : accelerated intimacy / Isabel Wilkerson ; The psychological interview / Jon Franklin ; Participatory reporting : sending myself to prison / Ted Conover ; Being there / Anne Hull ; Not being there / Jacqui Banaszynski ; Not always being there / Louise Kiernan ; Reporting across cultures / Victor Merina ; Reporting on your own / Mitra Kalita ; From field notes to full draft / Tracy Kidder ; Doing enough reporting? / Walt Harrington ; From story idea to published story / Cynthia Gorney ; (Narrative) J-school for people who never went / Adrian Nicole LeBlanc
• Part III: Name your sub-genre. Introduction / Mark Kramer and Wendy Call ; Profiles / Jacqui Banaszynski ; The limits of profiles / Malcolm Gladwell ; The ladder of abstraction / Roy Peter Clark ; Every profile is an epic journey / Tomas Alex Tizon ; Travel writing : inner and outer journeys / Adam Hochschild ; The personal essay and the first-person character / Phillip Lopate ; Tips for writing personal essays / Victor Merina ; First personal singular : it's not just about you / Adam Hochschild ; First personal singular : sometimes, it must be about you / DeNeen Brown ; Columns : intimate public conversations / Donna Britt ; Writing about history / Jill Lepore ; Narrative investigative writing / Katherine Boo ; Public radio: community storytelling / Jay Allison
• Part IV: Constructing a structure. Introduction / Mark Kramer and Wendy Call ; What narrative writers can learn from screenwriters / Nora Ephron ; To begin the beginning / Deneen L. Brown ; Hearing our subjects' voices : quotes and dialogue / Kelley Benham ; Hearing our subjects' voices : keeping it real and true / Debra Dickerson ; A story structure / Jon Franklin ; Weaving story and idea / Nicholas Lemann ; Endings / Bruce Desilva
• Part V: Building quality into the work. Introduction / Mark Kramer and Wendy Call ; Character / Jon Franklin ; Developing character / Stanley Nelson ; Reconstructing scenes / Adam Hochschild ; Setting the scene / Mark Kramer ; Sequencing : text as line / Tom French ; Writing complicated stories / Louise Kiernan ; The emotional core of the story / Tom Wolfe ; Telling the story, telling the truth / Alma Guillermoprieto ; On voice / Susan Orlean
• Part VI: Ethics. Introduction / Mark Kramer and Wendy Call ; The line between fact and fiction / Roy Peter Clark ; Toward an ethical code for narrative journalists / Walt Harrington ; Playing fair with subjects / Isabel Wilkerson ; Dealing with danger : protecting your subject and your story / Sonia Nazario ; A dilemma of immersion journalism / Anne Hull ; Ethics in personal writing / Debra Dickerson ; Taking liberties : the ethics of the truth / Loung Ung ; The ethics of attribution / Roy Peter Clark
• Part VII: Editing. Introduction / Mark Kramer and Wendy Call ; On style / Emily Hiestand ; A writer and editor talk shop / Jan Winburn and Lisa Pollak ; Revising : over and over again / Anne Hull ; Transforming one hundred notebooks into thirty-five thousand words / Sonia Nazario ; How to come up short / Tom Hallman ; Serial narratives / Tom French ; Care and feeding of editors and writers / Jacqui Banaszynski
• Part VIII: Narrative in the news organization. Introduction / Mark Kramer and Wendy Call ; Beginning in narrative / Walt Harrington ; A brief history of narrative in newspaper / Jack Hart ; Nurturing narrative in the newsroom / Jack Hart ; Narrative as a daily habit / Lane DeGregory ; Building a narrative team / Maria Carrillo ; Two visions, one series : a writer and an editor talk about what they do / Jacqui Banaszynski and Tomas Alex Tizon ; Team storytelling / Louise Kiernan ; Photographer as narrative storyteller / Molly Bingham ; Subversive storytellers : starting a narrative group / Bob Batz Jr.
• Part IX: Building a career in magazines and books. Introduction / Mark Kramer and Wendy Call ; Making it as a freelancer / Jim Collins ; Not stopping : time management for writers / Stewart O'Nan ; Working with an agent / Melissa Fay Greene ; What makes a good book? / Helene Atwan ; From book idea to book contract / Jim Collins ; Your book and the marketplace / Geri Thoma ; Crossing over : from advocacy to narrative / Samantha Power ; A passion for writing / Susan Orlean.

Contributors:

Kramer, Mark (Mark William), 1944-

Call, Wendy

Languages:

English

Language Notes:

Item content: English

Other Related Resources:

Print version: Telling true stories (New York : Plume, ©2007 — ISBN 9780452287556; LCCN 2006026809; OCLC Number 71006699)

Subjects:

Reporters and reporting

Journalism — Authorship

Feature writing

General Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 289-296) and index.
Description based on: Print version record.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xvii, 317 pages)

Call Numbers:

PN4781 .T45 2007eb

ISBNs:

9781429551571 (electronic bk., Adobe Digital Editions)
1429551577 (electronic bk., Adobe Digital Editions)
9781429551601 (electronic bk., Mobipocket Reader)
1429551607 (electronic bk., Mobipocket Reader)
9781440628948 (electronic bk.)
1440628947 (electronic bk.)
9780452287556 [Invalid]
0452287553 [Invalid]

OCLC Numbers:

457763767