Follow the Story: How to Write Successful Nonfiction - by James B. Stewart, 1998
James B. Stewart proposes a more creative type of nonfiction that tells a compelling story, and his ideas have become the basics for many journalists today. Stewart’s ideas about nonfiction stem directly from his experience as a writer and editor of The Wall Street Journal’s lengthy page-1 feature stories, which explore subjects, as Stewart says, “in depth, with style, and often … with wit.” “Good writing,” Stewart says, “is rooted not in knowledge, but in curiosity.” Curiosity too, says Stewart, “is what make readers read the stories that result.” Using examples from his own writing (for the Journal, The New Yorker, and SmartMoney, and also from his books Blood Sport and Den of Thieves), the Pulitzer Prize-winning Stewart shows how to turn your curiosity into ideas, story proposals, and then the stories themselves. Each part of the writing process from cultivating sources, gathering information, writing the lead and the transition, structuring your piece, and then concluding it, is discussed with authority and demonstrated masterfully. Stewart also includes chapters on how to use (but not overuse) description, dialogue, anecdotes, humor, and pathos to strengthen your work.
Posted by beanybabe at 3:34 AM PST
