Mary Roach's books and stories delve into topics like sex, death, and the people who study them. So it's not unusual for her human subjects to be wary, she tells Matt Shipman: "When someone says no, I try to deconstruct it. What exactly is making you uncomfortable? Can we address this somehow? What if I show you your quotes or let you fact-check the chapter? I find that more often than not, it’s a simple fear of the unknown, and some specifics will help pave the way."
Tricks of the trade
"I am a great demonstration of what training and practice can do for public speakers with an introverted streak," Denise Graveline writes in a post on her Don't Get Caught blog. Graveline deconstructs five myths about introverts and public speaking: "One of the biggest myths of all in public speaking is that some people are 'natural' or 'born' speakers and that the rest can't learn. In reality, everyone who wishes to be a speaker needs to learn and practice the skill."
Chip Scanlan writes on Poynter.org about the importance of doing your homework before an interview: "A. J. Liebling, a legendary writer for The New Yorker, landed an interview with notoriously tight-lipped jockey Willie Shoemaker. He opened with a single question: Why do you ride with one stirrup higher than the other? Impressed by Liebling’s knowledge, Shoemaker opened up." Plus the dangers of "double-barreled questions" and why sometimes it's smart to just shut up.
Bill O’Sullivan runs a magazine and teaches writing, and he offers surprising advice for writers on dealing with editors. He says this on simultaneous submissions: "I have no problem with them. Writing is your livelihood — why shouldn’t you shop a piece to more than one place at the same time? Just don’t send a query to a Washingtonian editor and say you’d like to write for the Washington Post Magazine. I’ve been on the receiving end of that blunder."
The inverted pyramid is dead; long live the inverted pyramid. It still tops Michelle V. Rafter's list of ledes (although she doesn't spell it "lede" or use the term "inverted pyramid"). But it's joined by such variants as the second-day, hook, feature, and anecdotal ledes: "A story’s lead can impart information, set a tone, answer questions and hint at what’s to come. But they’re not all alike. There are different types of leads for different types of stories."
Mike Feinsilber discusses common mistakes that make readers turn a page: Over-long titles, piled-up nouns, and overpacked sentences: "Try abandoning the old journalistic sacred cow that says attributions … must come at the end of sentences. People normally put attributions in front. People don’t say: 'My dog was on fire, a neighbor told me.' They say: 'A neighbor told me that my dog was on fire.'" Also, Jack Limpert on stop signs for readers.
Pulitzer Prize-winner Amy Ellis Nutt shares some tips for editing your own writing in a new advice column on Nieman Storyboard. She says this about passive verbs: "Write in the active voice, not the passive. I’m amazed at how often this still happens in my own writing. Avoid: 'to be,' 'to have' and 'to do.' And make sure your verbs push the story forward. As F. Scott Fitzgerald once wrote to his daughter, 'All fine prose is based on the verbs carrying the sentence.'"
It isn't being published until April, but you can order this NASW-funded guide now at a discount from Amazon.com by using this NASW bookstore link. In the Science Writers’ Handbook, 35 science writers "share their hard-won wisdom and illuminating stories, going beyond the basics to cover everything else you need to survive and thrive as a science writer." Also, direct orders for 10% off the cover price will be available soon to NASW members.
They're not the same thing, author Ben Yagoda says in this Time Newsfeed Q&A. Yagoda discusses some writing sins — using the wrong word, writing in all caps — but says that's only part of the secret: "The not-writing-badly thing is a skill that can be learned, by reading, by following principles, by using the dictionary, by slowing down and all those things. Writing well is a little more mysterious. It's art. There's inspiration. There's individual talent and style."
Nieman Storyboard gives the annotation treatment to Mary Roach's 2008 National Geographic story on the chimps of Senegal and what their tools can teach us about human evolution. On her use of metaphors, like comparing salt stains on sweat-drenched shirts to those on a snowy winter's boots, Roach says, "It’s the part of writing that I love. Knowing there’s a good sentence to be had, and mucking around til I get it right. And the fleeting satisfaction of nailing it."