The journalism professor and NASW member discusses his reporting and writing for the Pulitzer-winning nonfiction book and shares his thoughts on how he was able to meld historical research with present-day narrative: "Finding connections is what good nonfiction storytelling is all about. I kept seeing connections between Basel (Switzerland) and Toms River. Or between molecular epidemiology and classical epidemiology."
Science writing news
Michelle V. Rafter sounds off on a long list of common freelancing pitfalls — from markets that pay on publication to contracts that grab all rights in perpetuity — to which, she writes, the only reasonable answer is no: "When a startup you admire asks if you’ll write for them for free because it’s a great cause and eventually they’ll have money to pay for your time but not now because well, they’re still getting their feet wet though it’s great exposure – just say no."
Lisa Cron offers a dozen tips, drawn from fiction, on how to capture and hold the reader's attention to a story: "What actually hooks a reader is very different from what we’ve been led to believe. It’s even very different from what seems logical, clear and obvious – which is that readers are hooked by the beautiful writing, the clever plot, the fresh voice, and so on and so forth. All those things are great, no denying it, but they’re not what readers come for."
The New Republic recently reposted to its web site an essay by George Orwell on bad writing, first published in 1946. But as Jack Limpert discovered, both versions were chopped by 40%: "So, we might ask those New Republic editors of 1946, did the magazine’s publisher say, as publishers are known to do, 'The stories are too damn long' and the editors then simply ended the Orwell essay at 3,000 words, chopping off the last 2,000 words and some of the best parts?"
Tabitha M. Powledge notes the discovery that Indonesian cave paintings are as old as those in Europe, and wonders if that means art arose long before humans reached those places: "Did we start getting arty sometime after we evolved in Africa but before we set out for parts unknown some 60,000 years ago? Did people arrive in France and Sulawesi already experienced at putting pigment to stone?" Also, some reasons for the demise of ScienceOnline.
It is with sadness that we share the announcement of ScienceOnline’s dissolution. The ScienceOnline organization's ideas and energy have been an inspiration to science writers and made a significant and lasting contribution to communicating science in the digital world. Reaction from Paul Raeburn, Pascale H. Lane. Storify from Kirk Englehardt.
Thanks to the hard work of two talented Japanese PIOs, the scientists’ guide Working with Public Information Officers has been translated into Japanese and is available online (WorkingWithPIOs.com). Besides being enormously gratifying to have his work translated, the process taught author Dennis Meredith a lot about the challenges of spreading the word internationally about the value and importance of PIOs, and how scientists can best work with them.
When you're speaking in public, do you let your body sway back and forth behind the podium? Do your words send one message while your face sends another? Those are some of the things you should look for when watching a video of your public speaking, Denise Graveline writes: "If you're lucky enough to be recorded when you speak, you have an opportunity to learn things you might never otherwise realize. If a video is available to you, watch it. Or make your own."
Are journalists soon going to need expensive permits to take pictures in wilderness areas? Coverage of a pending U.S. Forest Service regulation made it sound that way, Jonathan Peters writes in CJR: "Cue the outrage. And indeed, there are some genuinely concerning elements of the Forest Service rules. But the situation isn’t exactly as it seemed at first, either." Peters analyzes the issue's coverage and how the Forest Service itself contributed to the confusion.