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Overview
This inspiring collection of 19 essays from veteran news writers explains how to weave storytelling skills into nonfiction narratives. Journalists of all backgrounds and levels of experience will discover dozens of exercises that have been tested successfully in newsrooms, workshops, and classrooms, and will cover everything from the fundamentals of reporting, writing and revising to more specialized elements like creating rhythm, cadence, and voice; employing dialogue and scene-building; and such devices as foreshadowing, symbols, and metaphors. Contributors are all veteran journalists, including Mark Bowden, author of Black Hawk Down, and several Pulitzer Prize-winners. This is the perfect guide for anyone who wants to take his or her writing skills to a more engaging, professional level.Synopsis
This inspiring collection of 19 essays from veteran news writers explains how to weave storytelling skills into nonfiction narratives. Journalists of all backgrounds and levels of experience will discover dozens of exercises that have been tested successfully in newsrooms, workshops, and classrooms, and will cover everything from the fundamentals of reporting, writing and revising to more specialized elements like creating rhythm, cadence, and voice; employing dialogue and scene-building; and such devices as foreshadowing, symbols, and metaphors. Contributors are all veteran journalists, including Mark Bowden, author of Black Hawk Down, and several Pulitzer Prize-winners. This is the perfect guide for anyone who wants to take his or her writing skills to a more engaging, professional level.
St. Louis Post-Dispatch - William Woo
'Good writing depends on good reporting the way human life depends on oxygen,'" says Ken Fuson. So this is a book not just about writing well. It's about reporting accurately, about understanding detail, about hearing and seeing, and most of all about thinking your way through a story, from beginning to end. It's storytelling about storytelling from some masters in the business.
Editorials
Christopher Scanlan
This brilliant collection of essays is a feast of inspiration and advice offered up by Pulitzer Prize-inning journalists, successful authors and top editors, writing teachers and newsroom coaches. With lessons on nearly every page, it's a writing toolbox jammed with practical tips, invaluable insights, and exciting techniques and theories to try out on your next story. If you want to take your writing to the next level, this book belongs on your desk.— Reporting and Writing the News
Bob Baker
This book feels real. It's rooted in the messy little struggle that every reporter goes through with every story. The fact that you witness the battle through the eyes of so many experts makes you appreciate how many ways there are to solve the riddle of storytelling, and increases your resolve to do battle again and again until you get it right.— Los Angeles Times and author, Newsthinking
Geneva Overholser
The truth is, I sat down to skim this book as a blurb-writer will, words like 'rich compilation of writing advice' already forming in my head. Forget it. From Hugh Mulligan's opener on 'The Writing Life' to Dennis Jackson on cadence to Lynn Franklin on 'literary theft,' this book is full of delights. But the most remarkable is this: It will leave you itching to write.— Washington Post
Melvin L. Claxton
On the surface, the task of a journalist appears simple: Tell the truth in a compelling way that will hold the interest of readers. The pursuit of this goal is an art form perfected by the writers represented in this book. From crafting moving narratives to writing powerful investigative reports, this book offers insights and techniques from some of the best in the news business.— Detroit News and 1995 Pulitzer Prizewinner for Public Service Reporting
William Woo
'Good writing depends on good reporting the way human life depends on oxygen,'" says Ken Fuson. So this is a book not just about writing well. It's about reporting accurately, about understanding detail, about hearing and seeing, and most of all about thinking your way through a story, from beginning to end. It's storytelling about storytelling from some masters in the business.— St. Louis Post-Dispatch