Amy Ellis Nutt first wrote about Jon Sarkin in 2003. A successful but shy chiropractor, Sarkin had suffered a mysterious brain malady, undergone surgery, then had a stroke, only to emerge from a coma as an energetic, boisterous artist. It took five years for Nutt's brief Newsday feature to evolve into a book. She tells the story in the winter Nieman Reports issue, "Writing the Book." Watch this space for more from the issue in coming days.
Writers and writing
Carl Zimmer talks about his influences (among other subjects) in a two-part series on Scientific American's Primate Diaries blog and Moby Dick tops his list. "Melville’s novel is probably a quarter to a third science writing," Zimmer says. "It’s the story of an obsessed captain going after a whale interspersed with long passages about marine biology, paleontology, even consciousness. It’s all science. But he writes about it in a style that can be quite humbling."
Derek Boogaard scored three goals in six National Hockey League seasons but was paid $1.6 million per year. How did he do it? By becoming the league's most notorious brawler, a distinction that may have cost him his life. John Branch of the New York Times tells Boogaard's story in a three-part series with accompanying video. There's also commentary from MinnPost.com and Nieman Storyboard.
The author of “Frank Sinatra Has a Cold” stopped by the Nieman Foundation last month to talk with Esquire's Chris Jones about how he does what he does. "I’m on the road a lot," he says. "I believe you have to be there. I don’t use the technology now any more than I did when I was a young reporter." He recalls a New York Times veteran warning him about technology in the early 1950s: "Stay away from these telephones."
Lauren Gravitz spent years planning a story on Ralph Steinman's on dendritic cells, but he kept putting her off. Then, she learned he'd won the Nobel Prize — but died three days before the announcement. "I had been envisioning it as a feature, something that allowed a pretty deep exploration of the person and the people around him, his science, and the narrative of the developing disease," Gravitz told The Open Notebook. "Then all of the sudden, the story changed."
For Nieman Storyboard, Dan Vergano dissects Lawrence Weschler's 1994 article in Harper's about an offbeat Los Angeles museum, and is awed by the writer's sleight of hand to shift from third person, to second person, to first person, to internal narrative. "The real lesson Weschler offers is not so much in showing the possibilities raised by moving the camera view around on the reader, as in the directness with which he performs his tricks."
The headline tells you all you need to know. So turn off the football game and prepare to receive some wisdom. The Center of the American West in Boulder, Colo., named McPhee its 2011 Wallace Stegner Award recipient, and the great man read from his Encounters with the Archdruid and took questions. The Open Notebook has an edited transcript of the Q&A. And you can download an MP3 of the entire session (1:20 in length) at the center's site.
Roy Peter Clark of the Poynter Institute offers advice in a recorded online chat session for writers who don't have a coach and have to find their own way to enlightment. "Writer, coach thyself," Clark says. "Coaching yourself sounds like a contradiction in terms, like trying to tickle yourself into hysterics. But it works. And once you gain the confidence of coaching yourself, you will grow in the ability to help other needy writers."
Thirty-eight years ago, Philip Meyer wrote a landmark text, "Precision Journalism," about using social science tools in reporting. It was an era when "new journalism" narratives were the rage, but Meyer stood apart. "As a precision journalist I considered narrative journalists my natural enemies." But now, Meyer advocates a merger. "I like the term “evidence-based narrative.” It implies good storytelling based on verifiable evidence."
Jack Hart has edited Pulitzer Prize-winning narratives at the Oregonian and coached countless students through their first forays into journalistic storytelling. Now he talks to Nieman Storyboard about his new book, "Storycraft." One of his tips: Don't use narrative when the news is more important. "If people are hanging on the edge of their seats to hear the latest development in a running story, you don’t want to start with a long expository narrative arc windup."