I’ve struggled with narrative writing since I became aware of the genre while working on my high school newspaper staff. I could handle news articles well enough, and opinion pieces came easily enough. But embedding the nuance of narrative was something I never mastered. Although I retain a personal interest in writing decades later, my career in technology and science veered in different directions. I picked this book up with hopes of getting better at telling stories – not just any story from my imagination, but stories from real life.
Short entries from journalists and journalists-turned-book-authors fill this book’s pages. The wide variety of professional experiences enlightens the topics as only a collection can. Each of the acclaimed journalists who submitted pieces bring a strong voice to the task. Nine big sections address areas like ethics, structure, quality, and career development.
I appreciate the new intellectual horizons that this book opens to me. I will never be an expert in journalism, but a lifelong interest will remain. It gave me new ways to think about structuring narratives and to focus my writing on the essential contributions. Although I suspect journalists in early career might benefit most from this work, hobbyists might also find benefit like I did. We’re all storytellers to some degree, and who better to refine the craft of storytelling than its most expert practitioners?
Telling True Stories: A Nonfiction Writers’ Guide
Edited by Mark Kramer & Wendy Call
Copyright (c) 2007
Plume
ISBN13 9780452287556
Page Count: 317
Genre: Writing
www.amazon.com