Includes bibliographical references (p. [289]-296) and index.

"The country's most prominent journalists and nonfiction authors gather each year at Harvard's Nieman Conference on Narrative Journalism. Telling True Stories presents their best advice - covering everything from finding a good topic, to structuring narrative stories, tp 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
Dozens of Pulitzer Prize - winning journalists from the Atlantic Monthly, New Yorker, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, and more..

The essays offer important counsel for new and career journalists, as well as for freelance writers, radio producers, and memorists. Packed with refreshingly candid and insightful recommendations, Telling True Stories shows anyone fascinated by the art of writing nonfiction how to bring people, scenes, and ideas to life on the page." (Book Cover)

CONTENTS

Acknowledgments

Preface

Part I: AN INVITATION TO NARRATIVE

Stories Matter / Jacqui Banaszynski

Delving into Private Lives / 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

Reporting for Narrative: Ten Overlapping Rules / Mark Kramer

To Tape or Not to Tape? / Adam Hochschild, Jacqui Banaszynski, Jon Franklin, and Gay Talese

Interviewing: Accelerated Intimacy / Isabel Wilkerson

The Psychological Interview / Jon Franklin

Participatory Reporting: Sending Myself to Prison / Ted Conover

Being There / Anne Hull

Not Always Being There / Louise Kiernan

Reporting Across Cultures / Victor Merina

Reporting on Your Own / S.Mitra Kalita

Field Notes to Full Draft / Tracy Kidder

Doing Enough Reporting / Walt Harrington

From Stories Ideas to Published Stories / Cynthia Gorney

(Narrative) J School for People Who Never Went / Adrian Nicole LeBlanc

Part III: NAME YOUR SUBMERGE

Introduction / Mark Kremer and Wendy Call

Profiles / Jacqui Banaszynski

The Ladder of Abstraction / Roy Peter Clark

Every Profile is an Epic Story / Tomas Alex Tizon

The Limits of Profiles / Malcolm Gladwell

Travel Writing: Inner and Outer Journeys /
Adam Hochschild

The Personal Essay and the First-Person Character / Phillip Lopate

First Personal Singular: Sometimes, It Is about You / DeNeen L.Brown

Columns: Intimate Public Conversations / Donna Britt

Writing About History / Melissa Fay Greene

Narrative Investigative Writing / Catherine Boo

Public Radio: Community Storytelling / Jay Allison

Part IV: CONSTRUCTING A STRUCTURE

Introduction / Mark Kremer and Wendy Call

What Narrative Writers Can Learn from Screenwriters /
Nora Ephron

To Begin the Beginning / DeNeen L.Brown

Narrative Distance / Jack Hart

Hearing Our Subjects' Voices: Quotes and Dialogue / Kelly Benham

Hearing Our Subjects' Voices: Keeping It Real and True / Debra Dickerson

A Story Structure / Jon Franklin

Summary Versus Dramatic Narrative / Jack Hart

Weaving Story and Idea / Nicholas Lemann

Ending / Bruce DeSilva

Part V: BUILDING QUALITY INTO THE WORK

Introduction:
Mark Kremer and Wendy Call

Character / Jon Franklin

Details Matter / Walt Harrington

Developing Character / Stanley Nelson

Reconstructing Scenes / Adam Hochschild

A Reconstructed Scene / Adam Hochschild

Setting the Scene / Mark Kramer

Handling Time / Bruce DeSilva

Sequencing: Text as Line / Tom French

Writing Complicated Stories / Louise Kiernan

How I Get to the Point /
Walt Harrington

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

Securing Consent / Tracy Kidder

Truth and Consequences / Katherine Boo

Dealing with Danger: Protecting Your Subject and Your Story / Sonia Nazario

A Dilemma of Immersion Journalism / Anne Hull

Ethics in Personal Writing / Debra Dickerson

Talking Liberties: The Ethics of the Truth / Luong Ung

The Ethics of Attribution / Roy Peter Clark

What About Endnotes ? / Sonia Nazario and Nicholas Lemann

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 / Annie Hull

Transforming One Hundred Notebooks into Thirty-Five Thousand Words / Sonia Nazario

How to Come Up Short / Tom Hallman

Narrative in Four Boxes / Jacqui Banaszynski

Serial Narratives / Tom French

Care and Feeding of Editors and Writers /
Jacqui Banaszynski

Part VIII: NARRATIVE IN THE NEW ORGANIZATION

Introduction / Mark Kramer and Wendy Call

Beginning in Narrative / Walt Harrington

A Brief History of Narrative in Newspaper / Jack Hart

A Storyteller's Lexicon / Jack Hart

Narrative as Daily Habit / Lane DeGregory

Building a Narrative Team / Maria Carrillo

Two Visions, One Series: A Writer and 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

Lessons from the Jury Box/ Jack Hart

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 Thomas

Crossing Over: From Advocacy to Narrative / Samantha Power

A Passion for Writing / Susan Orlean

Suggested Reading

Websites and Internet Resources

About the Editors

About the Contributors

Index