Storycraft: The Complete Guide to Writing Narrative Nonfiction (Chicago Guides to Writing, Editing, and Publishing)

Written by Jack Hart

Narrated by Christopher Grove

From the work of the New Journalists in the 1960s, to the New Yorker essays of John McPhee, Susan Orlean, Atul Gawande, and a host of others, to narratives such as Mary Roach's Stiff, narrative nonfiction has come into its own. Yet writers looking for guidance on reporting and writing true stories have had few places to turn for advice. Now in Storycraft, Jack Hart, a former managing editor of the Oregonian who guided several Pulitzer Prize-winning narratives to publication, delivers what will certainly become the definitive guide to the methods and mechanics of crafting narrative nonfiction.

Hart covers what writers in this genre need to know, from understanding story theory and structure, to mastering point of view and such basic elements as scene, action, and character, to drafting, revising, and editing work for publication. Revealing the stories behind the stories, Hart brings listeners into the process of developing nonfiction narratives by sharing tips, anecdotes, and recommendations he forged during his decades-long career in journalism. From there, he expands the discussion to other well-known writers to show the broad range of texts, styles, genres, and media to which his advice applies.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tantor Media, Inc
• Release date: May 21, 2019
• ISBN: 9781977319180

Jack Hart

Jack Hart is an author, a writing coach, and the former managing editor at The Oregonian. He has taught at six universities and served as the acting dean at The University of Oregon School of Journalism and Communication.

Reviews for Storycraft

[sheila riley · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The book gets a five because of its valuable content. I wanted to give it a lower rating but the author doesn’t deserve that, he wrote good material. The audiobook would cut off 5 minutes before the end of the chapter and at the very end of the whole book! When I go back to where it left off it won’t play. I think it’s a problem that scribd has once in awhile because it’s not the first time this has happened with a audiobook from here.

[David Baldwin · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Very informative, well structured, quite pedantic, reader's delivery monotonous. DB

[hippielunatic · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Good exploration of how story structures can be implemented in non-fiction narratives.

[patl_53 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

An excellent guide to the mechanics of good nonfiction story writing. Examples are from a newspaper journalism perspective, and something feels slightly dated but I can't put my finger on why, but the details are very helpful.

[steve6clason · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Storycraft is an exposition of the techniques and practices for writing compelling (well, that part is largely up to you) narrative fiction. Hart employs the methods he describes himself, thus providing a running demonstration, and are also many examples from some very good practitioners.He may not have covered any new ground. I've only read lightly on the subject before and never had any sort of "aha" moment here, but there are lessons writers need to learn somewhere -- about the narrative arc, outlining by scenes, the different uses of summary and scenic narratives -- and there are some useful "rule-of-thumb" guides to structuring types of narratives, my favorite, or at least the one I remember, is the formula for the 1,000-word personal essay: 650 words of highly specific narrative, then "the turn", 150 word of specific to general transition, then 200 "quite abstract" binding the narrative to things in general. Hopelessly formulaic, but taken as a guideline rather than a rule maybe useful.The writing books I've read generally start with consideration of the sentence, recommending we quickly write the piece without any editing then spend the bulk of the time in revision. Hart suggests, instead, that we first take some time to structure the narrative, THEN write a draft. Most probably do that instinctively, but it's worth pointing out.