The Journalist's Craft: A Guide to Writing Better Stories

by Dennis Jackson (Editor), John Sweeney (Editor)

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781581159752
Publisher:	Allworth
Publication date:	02/28/2012
Sold by:	SIMON & SCHUSTER
Format:	eBook
Pages:	256
File size:	558 KB

Table of Contents

Preface: Creative InsecurityJim Naughton
Introduction: A "Few Words" for Fellow Writers Dennis Jackson and John Sweeney
Section I: The Writing Life
Breaking Out from the Herd	Hugh A. Mulligan
Section II: Finding Good Stories
Testing Your Ideas: Ten Pre-Proposal Checks	Amanda Bennett
Tammy Gaudette Wants Real Stories	Ken Fuson
Are Plumbers News? What Makes a Story a Story?	John Sweeney
Section III: Writing Nonfiction Narrative
The Narrative Tool	Jon Franklin
Nonfiction Storytelling	Mark Bowden
Narrative Writing	Donald Drake
Section IV: Developing Your Craft
In Search of the Magic Bullet	Richard Aregood
The Zen of Newswriting	Lucille S. deView
Literary Theft: Taking Techniques from the Classics	Lynn Franklin
Business Writing That Screams "Read Me!"	Tom Silvestri
Managing the Murky Middle	Carl Sessions Stepp
SpellCheck and Beyond: A Strategy for Revision	John Sweeney
Section V: Working with Words
These Things We Can Count On	Taylor Buckley
Speaking of Metaphor	Jeanne Murray Walker
Rhythm's Cousin, Cadence	Dennis Jackson
A "StyleCheck" for Your Writing	Dennis Jackson
Books about Writing
Contributors Notes
Index

Editorial Reviews

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

Christopher Scanlan

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

Geneva Overholser

'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

William Woo

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

Bob Baker

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

Melvin L. Claxton

Jackson (journalism and English, U. of Delaware) and Sweeney (Public Editor, , Wilmington, Delaware) present a collection of practitioner-penned articles on various aspects of the journalist act of "telling the story." The contributions are organized into sections on finding stories, writing nonfiction narrative, developing the craft, and working with words. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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