Writers and Editors

· Intro
· Books on the craft of narrative nonfiction
· Links to narrative nonfiction resources
· Classic narrative nonfiction books
· Excellent examples of short narrative journalism

Narrative nonfiction goes under a lot of names, including creative nonfiction, literary journalism, and fact-based storytelling. In short form, it's an alternative to the traditional newspaper pyramid structure (in which, if you lopped off the bottom part of the story, the reader would still have all the key information). With narrative nonfiction you don't present the main point in the first paragraph—compelling narrative keeps the reader reading to find out what happens, and the journey to the epiphany is half the point. "Creative nonfiction" is misleading in that it implies the facts can be made up. The storytelling is fact-based, but the storyteller adapts many of the features of fiction (including setting scenes, presenting interesting characters, and creating the look and feel of a setting) to the purposes of journalism. Basically, it's storytelling that makes you want to keep reading.

The Nieman Narrative Digest (see links below) provides links to many excellent newspaper series that take advantage of the form. Among magazines, you can find excellent examples of narrative nonfiction in The Atlantic Monthly, The New Yorker, Points of Entry, and
River Teeth. After a series of links here you will find a list of classic book-length narrative nonfiction, followed by links to a few exceptionally good short narratives or newspaper series readable online.

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Helpful books on the craft of nonfiction, including useful anthologies:

· The Art of Fact: A Historical Anthology of Literary Journalism , ed. Kevin Kerrane and Ben Yagoda
· Follow the Story: How to Write Successful Nonfiction by James Stewart
· Imaginative Writing: The Elements of Craft, by Janet Burroway
· Intimate Journalism: The Art and Craft of Reporting Everyday Life, ed. Walt Harrington
· Literary Journalism, ed. Norman Sims and Mark Kramer
· Literary Nonfiction: Learning by Example, ed. Patsy Sims
· The New New Journalism: Conversations with America's Best Nonfiction Writers on Their Craft by Robert Boynton
· The Situation and the Story: The Art of Personal Narrativeby Vivian Gornick
· Story: Substance, Structure, Style and The Principles of Screenwriting by Robert McKee
· Story Building: Narrative Techniques for News and Feature Writers by Ndaeyo Uko
· Telling True Stories: A Nonfiction Writers' Guide from the Nieman Foundation at Harvard University, ed. Mark Kramer, Wendy Call (just published and an excellent guide!)
· Writing a Book That Makes a Difference, by Philip Gerard
· Writing for Story: Craft Secrets of Dramatic Nonfiction by Jon Franklin
· Writing Creative Nonfiction: Instruction and Insights from Teachers of the Associated Writing Programs, ed. Carolyn Forche and Philip Gerard

Some works aimed at fiction or screen writers may also be useful to writers of narrative nonfiction:
· The Art of Fiction: Notes on Craft for Young Writers, by John Gardner
· The Passionate, Accurate Story: Making Your Heart's Truth into Literature, by Carol Bly (you'll have to buy used copies as it's out of print)
· Steering the Craft: Exercises and Discussions on Story Writing for the Lone Navigator or the Mutinous Crew,by Ursula K. Le Guin
· Story: Substance, Structure, Style and The Principles of Screenwriting, by Robert McKee
· The Screenwriter's Workbook, by Syd Field\
· The Writer's Journey: Mythic Structure for Storytellers and Screenwriters by Christopher Vogler

Tom Wolfe's mid-century anthology, The New Journalism, is out of print. As one amazon.com reviewer observes: "The predictions in Wolfe's manifesto haven't panned out as pervasively as he expected - if anything, today's writerly writers, by and large, are more gimmicky, narcissistic and insulated than ever - but that's capital-L Literature's loss, and the night is young."

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Links to narrative nonfiction resources

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Classic narrative nonfiction books ~
a reading list to start with, anyway:

· James Agee, Let Us Now Praise Famous Men
· H.G. "Buzz" Bissinger, Friday Night Lights, A Prayer for the City
· Mark Bowden, Black Hawk Down
· Truman Capote, In Cold Blood
· Robert Caro, The Power Broker:Robert Moses and the Fall of New York; The Years of LBJ: The Path to Power, Means of Ascent, and Master of the Senate
· Rachel Carson, Silent Spring
· Ted Conover, Newjack: Guarding Sing Sing
. Richard Ben Cramer, What It Takes
· Joan Didion, Where I Was From; Salvador; The White Album
· Anne Fadiman, The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures
· Isabel Fonseca, Bury Me Standing: The Gypsies and Their Journey
· Jon Franklin, Alan Doelp, Shock-Trauma
· Laurie Garrett, The Coming Plague: Newly Emerging Diseases in a World Out of Balance
· Atul Gawande, Complications: A Surgeon's Notes on an Imperfect Science
· Doris Kearns Goodwin, Wait Till Next Year
· Philip Gourevitch, We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed with our Families: Stories from Rwanda
· Melissa Fay Greene, Praying for Sheetrock; The Temple Bombing
· Alma Guillermoprieto, The Heart That Bleeds: Latin America Now
· David Halberstam, Firehouse; The Teammates; The Best and the Brightest
· Jonathan Harr, A Civil Action
· Walt Harrington, At the Heart of It, The Everlasting Stream
· Ernest Hemingway, Death in the Afternoon
· Paul Hendrickson, Looking for the Light
· Michael Herr, Dispatches
· John Hersey, Hiroshima
· Laura Hillenbrand, Seabiscuit
· Adam Hochschild, King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa
· Pico Iyer, Sun After Dark: Flights into the Foreign
· Sebastian Junger, The Perfect Storm
· Jack Kerouac, On the Road
· Tracy Kidder, Among School Children, The Soul Of A New Machine, others
· Jamaica Kincaid, Talk Stories
· Jon Krakauer, Into Thin Air, Under the Banner of Heaven, others
· Mark Kramer, Three Farms: Making Milk, Meat, and Money from the American Soil
· Erik Larson, Isaac’s Storm; The Devil in the White City
· Adrian LeBlanc, Random Family: Love, Drugs, Trouble, and Coming of Age in the Bronx
· Nicholas Lemann, Promised Land; The Big Test: The Secret History of the American Meritocracy
· Michael Lewis, Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game
· Norman Mailer, The Executioner’s Song (1979), The Armies of the Night
· Ruben Martinez, Crossing Over: A Mexican Family on the Migrant Trail
· Frank McCourt, Angela’s Ashes
· John McPhee, Basin and Range; Coming into the Country; The Pine Barrens; The Deltoid Pumpkin Seed; Encounters with the Archdruid; The John McPhee Reader, many others
· Joseph Mitchell, Up in the Old Hotel (short pieces from the New Yorker)
· N. Scott Momaday, The Way to Rainy Mountain
· Sonia Nazario, Enrique's Journey:The Story of a Boy's Dangerous Odyssey to Reunite with His Mother
· Susan Orlean, The Bullfighter Checks Her Makeup: My Encounters with Extraordinary People
· Samantha Power, A Problem From Hell: America and the Age of Genocide
· Richard Preston, The Hot Zone
· Richard Rhodes, The Making of the Atomic Bomb; Looking for America
· Richard Rodriguez, Brown: The Last Discovery of America
· Lillian Ross, Reporting (short pieces from the New Yorker); Portrait of Hemingway
· P.J. O’Rourke, Holidays in Hell
· Mike Royko, One More Time (short pieces)
· Randy Shilts, And the Band Played On: Politics, People, and the AIDS Epidemic
· Barry Siegel, Actual Innocence
· Gary Smith, Beyond the Game: The Collected Sportswriting of Gary Smith (short pieces)
· Gay Talese, “Frank Sinatra Has a Cold” (included in The Gay Talese Reader: Portraits and Encounters), The Kingdom and the Power
· James B. Stewart, Den of Thieves
· Hunter Thompson, Fear & Loathing on the Campaign Trail, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Hell’s Angels
· Jeffrey Toobin, A Vast Conspiracy: The Real Story of the Sex Scandal That Nearly Brought Down a President
· Calvin Trillin, Remembering Denny
· Luis Alberto Urrea, The Devil's Highway:A True Story
· Simon Winchester, The Professor and the Madman
· Tom Wolfe, The Right Stuff, others

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Excellent examples of short narrative journalism

You can find links to MANY excellent pieces of literary (narrative) journalism by clicking on the link below (Notable Narrative Archive, on the Nieman Narrative Digest website).