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

Jackson, Dennis; Sweeney, John

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1581152221 ISBN 13: 9781581152227

Publisher: Allworth Press, 2002

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.

About this title

Review

There are those who worry that newspaper journalists are a dying breed. "Take heart," says Hugh A. Mulligan in The Journalist's Craft. "A few Grub Street hacks are still required to fill in the blanks between that color-coded weather map and the diagram of the bomb that blew up the Federal Building in Oklahoma City." The 16 journalists whose words of wisdom are gathered in Dennis Jackson and John Sweeney's stellar guide for journalists are all veterans of the Wilmington Writers' Workshop. They report on finding good stories, writing nonfiction narrative, developing craft, and working with words. Among the book's many strong pieces is the memorable "Breaking Out from the Herd," in which Mulligan advocates getting out of the office and away from the pack of reporters covering a story. You'll unearth a completely unexpected story beyond the story--Mulligan's have included pieces on a flower-cart salesman after Princess Di's death and Rostropovich playing his cello near Checkpoint Charlie at the fall of the Berlin Wall. In the end, says Mulligan, "people make better copy than events." --Jane Steinberg

From the Publisher

Around-the-clock TV cable news programming and instant news access on the Internet have challenged the print media to find new ways of telling stories to grab and hold readers' attention. To meet this challenge, the use of writing coaches and workshops has grown more widespread, turning even senior journalists back into writing students. News and feature writers now have a definitive guide to bridge the classroom and newsroom. The Journalist's Craft: A Guide to Writing Better Stories, edited by Dennis Jackson and John Sweeney, contains nineteen essays from celebrated professional news and feature writers and editors to provide inspiration and instruction to everyone from students to seasoned veterans.

Edition details

• Publisher: Allworth Press
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 1581152221
• ISBN 13: 9781581152227
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 256