---
product_id: 5059702
title: "Telling True Stories: A Nonfiction Writers' Guide from the Nieman Foundation at Harvard University"
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---

# Telling True Stories: A Nonfiction Writers' Guide from the Nieman Foundation at Harvard University

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Telling True Stories: A Nonfiction Writers' Guide from the Nieman Foundation at Harvard University [Kramer, Mark, Call, Wendy] on desertcart.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Telling True Stories: A Nonfiction Writers' Guide from the Nieman Foundation at Harvard University

Review: Fantastic and inspirational - I learned of this book through a "textbook sale" and it's been a continuing education treasure. I ordered it just before vacation and it arrived the day before I left, so I had the great fortune of sinking blissfully into the essays, some humorous, all passionate, about narrative journalism. Don't skip the intro, where the editors define the genre by all its names: literary journalism, narrative/creative non-fiction, etc. They get the labels out of the way so we all know what we're talking about. Then prepare to be inspired, educated, and guided by the pros. Every aspect of "the story" is covered here, from managing relationships with editors and subjects to--above all--getting to the emotional heart of the story. I am not a journalist but something of a memoirist and this book is inspiring me to do more researched, investigative work. I feel like I have a master's course on my bookshelf, but these writers are so good, you sometimes feel as if you sitting and talking shop with them over drinks. Kudos to the editors for pulling the best work out of these former conference presentations, too. It's no mean feat to transpose the oral presentation to a piece that runs well on paper. Just an excellent book any writer can use for years to come.
Review: Ninety-One Nuggets for Narrative Journalists - Archilochus tells us that "[t]he fox knows many things; the hedgehog knows one big thing." Conventional wisdom is that the hedgehog's big-vision approach always wins the day. But this book convinces us that the narrative journalist is a different animal. These writers are foxes, crafting their success from little tips, tricks and bits of wisdom gathered along the way. Such morsels need to be shared in the same snippety fashion, not force-fitted into some grand unified theory of good writing. This book gets it right. Mark Kramer and Wendy Call have assembled 91 chapters of advice about writing from 51 working authors and editors. This advice is backed up by the contributors' hard-won experience and by a generous bibliography of books and web sites that contain exemplary writings and yet more writing advice. It is presented in the easily-digestible form of brief chapters that focus on one or two aspects of reporting and writing. Kramer and Call briefly introduce each of the book's nine sections then stand aside so we can hear the contributors' voices. Readers will differ in what helps them the most--there is much to choose from. Five contributions that I found particularly valuable: Mark Kramer speaks as a writer in "Reporting for Narrative: Ten Tips." He describes how to balance background research between the extremes of too little and too much. Isabel Wilkerson's "Interviewing: Accelerated Intimacy" teaches how to establish rapport with sources and hear their stories--while maintaining enough distance to report them. Roy Peter Clark's "Ladder of Abstraction" shows how to describe concrete details of people's lives, connect them to larger themes, and avoid the deadly region of "middle abstraction" that alienates readers. Jack Hart's "Narrative Distance" illustrates how to psychologically "place" the viewpoint of a story's narrator--and shift this perspective to guide the reader through a story. Susan Orlean's "On Voice" describes the self-analysis and authenticity necessary to each writer's unique verbal style. Its development cannot be rushed--or faked. I strongly recommend this book to anyone who writes to an audience and wants to do it better. It is dead-on-target for you if you work in narrative journalism. If you do not, there are still lessons to improve your writing. Kramer and Call remind us that "[w]riting well is difficult, even excruciating, and demands courage, patience, humility, erudition, savvy, stubbornness, wisdom, and aesthetic sense--all summoned at your lonely desk." I like writing at my lonely desk--and I like having this book so I don't have to learn everything the hard way.

## Technical Specifications

| Specification | Value |
|---------------|-------|
| Best Sellers Rank | #44,868 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #20 in Journalism Writing Reference (Books) #53 in Writing Skill Reference (Books) #95 in Fiction Writing Reference (Books) |
| Customer Reviews | 4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars (365) |
| Dimensions  | 5.2 x 0.7 x 8 inches |
| Edition  | 1st |
| ISBN-10  | 0452287553 |
| ISBN-13  | 978-0452287556 |
| Item Weight  | 8.6 ounces |
| Language  | English |
| Print length  | 317 pages |
| Publication date  | January 30, 2007 |
| Publisher  | Plume |
| Reading age  | 1 year and up |

## Images

![Telling True Stories: A Nonfiction Writers' Guide from the Nieman Foundation at Harvard University - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81Segad98yL.jpg)

## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Fantastic and inspirational
*by W***G on August 20, 2010*

I learned of this book through a "textbook sale" and it's been a continuing education treasure. I ordered it just before vacation and it arrived the day before I left, so I had the great fortune of sinking blissfully into the essays, some humorous, all passionate, about narrative journalism. Don't skip the intro, where the editors define the genre by all its names: literary journalism, narrative/creative non-fiction, etc. They get the labels out of the way so we all know what we're talking about. Then prepare to be inspired, educated, and guided by the pros. Every aspect of "the story" is covered here, from managing relationships with editors and subjects to--above all--getting to the emotional heart of the story. I am not a journalist but something of a memoirist and this book is inspiring me to do more researched, investigative work. I feel like I have a master's course on my bookshelf, but these writers are so good, you sometimes feel as if you sitting and talking shop with them over drinks. Kudos to the editors for pulling the best work out of these former conference presentations, too. It's no mean feat to transpose the oral presentation to a piece that runs well on paper. Just an excellent book any writer can use for years to come.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Ninety-One Nuggets for Narrative Journalists
*by J***D on March 8, 2010*

Archilochus tells us that "[t]he fox knows many things; the hedgehog knows one big thing." Conventional wisdom is that the hedgehog's big-vision approach always wins the day. But this book convinces us that the narrative journalist is a different animal. These writers are foxes, crafting their success from little tips, tricks and bits of wisdom gathered along the way. Such morsels need to be shared in the same snippety fashion, not force-fitted into some grand unified theory of good writing. This book gets it right. Mark Kramer and Wendy Call have assembled 91 chapters of advice about writing from 51 working authors and editors. This advice is backed up by the contributors' hard-won experience and by a generous bibliography of books and web sites that contain exemplary writings and yet more writing advice. It is presented in the easily-digestible form of brief chapters that focus on one or two aspects of reporting and writing. Kramer and Call briefly introduce each of the book's nine sections then stand aside so we can hear the contributors' voices. Readers will differ in what helps them the most--there is much to choose from. Five contributions that I found particularly valuable: Mark Kramer speaks as a writer in "Reporting for Narrative: Ten Tips." He describes how to balance background research between the extremes of too little and too much. Isabel Wilkerson's "Interviewing: Accelerated Intimacy" teaches how to establish rapport with sources and hear their stories--while maintaining enough distance to report them. Roy Peter Clark's "Ladder of Abstraction" shows how to describe concrete details of people's lives, connect them to larger themes, and avoid the deadly region of "middle abstraction" that alienates readers. Jack Hart's "Narrative Distance" illustrates how to psychologically "place" the viewpoint of a story's narrator--and shift this perspective to guide the reader through a story. Susan Orlean's "On Voice" describes the self-analysis and authenticity necessary to each writer's unique verbal style. Its development cannot be rushed--or faked. I strongly recommend this book to anyone who writes to an audience and wants to do it better. It is dead-on-target for you if you work in narrative journalism. If you do not, there are still lessons to improve your writing. Kramer and Call remind us that "[w]riting well is difficult, even excruciating, and demands courage, patience, humility, erudition, savvy, stubbornness, wisdom, and aesthetic sense--all summoned at your lonely desk." I like writing at my lonely desk--and I like having this book so I don't have to learn everything the hard way.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ One of the best books I've ever read about non-fiction writing
*by G***R on October 31, 2013*

I don't hand out a lot of five star ratings, but this multi-author book deserves a five-star rating. For the kind of genre of multi-author, it is incredibly consistent and fluid. This comes from the editors introducing each section and detailed editing work that obviously went into the book as well as well-chosen and experienced writers in the field of journalism and narrative non-fiction book writing. I would recommend this book to new journalism students to experienced writers. There's plenty in the the book to use for reference over the years of a writing career. I go back and read articles from the book from time to time when an issue of writing, characters, plot, etc. comes up and I want to refresh my thinking about a certain aspect of writing.

## Frequently Bought Together

- Telling True Stories: A Nonfiction Writers' Guide from the Nieman Foundation at Harvard University
- Storycraft, Second Edition: The Complete Guide to Writing Narrative Nonfiction (Chicago Guides to Writing, Editing, and Publishing)
- Writing for Story: Craft Secrets of Dramatic Nonfiction (Reference)

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*Last updated: 2026-03-01*