jcschildbach's review against another edition
4.0
This is a pretty quick and fun read. I bought it thinking it was about "prose" as just a general concept (and because I was trying to drum up some inspiration for my own writing/blogging). But it's really geared more toward journalism. There is a chapter on essays that really 'hit the spot' in terms of what I was hoping for in this book. It was kind of strange, though, to read a book of advice on how to put together solid journalism--from topic selection, to gathering information, to paring down a story, to distilling the writing into its best possible form/most interesting angle--especially given our current climate where grabbing viewers or views is the goal, rather than really digging into a (true) story and telling it accurately and well. Journalism 'purists' will certainly get more out of this book than journalism 'realists'--'realists' being those who are simply interested in responding to market forces. The co-authors, Tracy Kidder and Richard Todd, have had a long relationship in journalism/publishing, which greatly informs their approach, and provides the bulk of their examples--many from their work with 'The Atlantic'. Some of it can get a bit too "insider-y"--like a conversation that two people are having about their work, while you just sit there, not really a part of what they're talking about. Still, I think I need to get out and buy more work by both of the authors.
tobin_elliott's review against another edition
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
Much like Stephen King's On Writing, this book falls into the part memoir/writing remembrances/good advice category.
It's not a "how-to write nonfiction" book, but more a "here's the lessons we've learned over the past four decades" book.
It's an excellent book, and deserves to be shelved right beside King's.
It's not a "how-to write nonfiction" book, but more a "here's the lessons we've learned over the past four decades" book.
It's an excellent book, and deserves to be shelved right beside King's.
sarahryoung87's review against another edition
5.0
Loved this book. It covered aspects of writing and editing I haven't seen in other writing books. I appreciated the intellectual approach - it was more of a theoretical approach to the craft than a practical do-this, do-that manual.
elizj____'s review against another edition
3.0
Finally finished this book. Took me far too long, just due to other things going on in my life... Definitely lost steam on this one, though. I was optimistic that it would be more applicable than it was to the writing I intend to do soon. This would be a great fit for journalists writing longer feature pieces, or nonfiction book writers. Anyway, it was interesting enough.
genrichards's review against another edition
5.0
In their co-written craft book, Good Prose, Tracy Kidder and Richard Todd ruminate on the elements that make up good nonfiction writing, based on forty years of experience working together as writers and editors. For much of their relationship, Richard Todd was Tracy Kidder’s editor, but in the chapter titled, “Being Edited and Editing,” it is interesting to see the dynamics of their role reversal when Kidder becomes the editor of Todd’s work after thirty-something years of working together. By sharing their relationship dynamics, new and experienced writers are better able to understand the importance of a relationship between writer and editor. Boiling this relationship down to its essentials, Todd writes, “Writers assert. Editors react. Editors and writers need each other. Ultimately editors need writers more than the reverse.” Todd also reminds the reader that an editor’s job is to be “alert to his [the writer’s] natural boundaries, his inner territory, his true interests,” and that “the author must set aside that natural self-protectiveness that any work in its early stages inspires.”
Kidder and Todd offer other insights into the craft of crafting nonfiction. In their first chapter, they write about beginnings, specifically that they are “an exercise in limits. You can’t make the reader love you in the first sentence or paragraph, but you can lose the reader right away.” This is an interesting way to frame the issue of how to start a piece. They discuss the importance and virtue of clarity, that the writer’s job is to introduce a “sensible line” which then “threads through the prose” with “literal logic or with the logic of feeling.” They make the point that writers are often searching for the million-dollar-first-line (i.e. “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times...”) when all they really need to achieve is a sentence that is clear and interesting to the reader.
In their second chapter, titled “Narratives,” they discuss at great length the importance of point of view in a narrative, especially in regard to nonfiction writing. When considering point view in nonfiction, the writer must choose the most appropriate point of view to mimic the lens through which they experienced the topic(s) they are writing about. Because nonfiction writers really only have the option of using various forms of third or first person POV, Kidder and Todd make the insightful point that, “the size of the world that a writer is trying to create often has something to do with the presence or absence of the word ‘I.’ Against a large background, ‘I’ can provide human scale…. As a rule, the smaller the canvas, the more intrusive the first person is likely to be.” They do not seem to suggest one point of view is superior to another, but that the choice of point of view must be deliberate and essential to the purpose of the creative work.
They continue their book to discuss the big issue of truth in creative nonfiction. Regardless of what subgenre of creative nonfiction the writer is composing, they must begin with the facts, which objectively exist. Kidder and Todd note that there is room for the writer to think, to synthesize, to give a subjective view of the objective facts, however, they note that, “subjectivity simply acknowledge the presence of a mediator between the facts and the truth. That mediator is you, the writer. Acknowledging subjectivity absolves you of nothing.” With decades of shared wisdom and experience, Kidder and Todd recognize that good nonfiction writing is essentially clear, truthful, and well-edited.
Kidder and Todd offer other insights into the craft of crafting nonfiction. In their first chapter, they write about beginnings, specifically that they are “an exercise in limits. You can’t make the reader love you in the first sentence or paragraph, but you can lose the reader right away.” This is an interesting way to frame the issue of how to start a piece. They discuss the importance and virtue of clarity, that the writer’s job is to introduce a “sensible line” which then “threads through the prose” with “literal logic or with the logic of feeling.” They make the point that writers are often searching for the million-dollar-first-line (i.e. “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times...”) when all they really need to achieve is a sentence that is clear and interesting to the reader.
In their second chapter, titled “Narratives,” they discuss at great length the importance of point of view in a narrative, especially in regard to nonfiction writing. When considering point view in nonfiction, the writer must choose the most appropriate point of view to mimic the lens through which they experienced the topic(s) they are writing about. Because nonfiction writers really only have the option of using various forms of third or first person POV, Kidder and Todd make the insightful point that, “the size of the world that a writer is trying to create often has something to do with the presence or absence of the word ‘I.’ Against a large background, ‘I’ can provide human scale…. As a rule, the smaller the canvas, the more intrusive the first person is likely to be.” They do not seem to suggest one point of view is superior to another, but that the choice of point of view must be deliberate and essential to the purpose of the creative work.
They continue their book to discuss the big issue of truth in creative nonfiction. Regardless of what subgenre of creative nonfiction the writer is composing, they must begin with the facts, which objectively exist. Kidder and Todd note that there is room for the writer to think, to synthesize, to give a subjective view of the objective facts, however, they note that, “subjectivity simply acknowledge the presence of a mediator between the facts and the truth. That mediator is you, the writer. Acknowledging subjectivity absolves you of nothing.” With decades of shared wisdom and experience, Kidder and Todd recognize that good nonfiction writing is essentially clear, truthful, and well-edited.
lauren_endnotes's review against another edition
4.0
We know that as soon as writers begin to tell a story they shape experience and that stories are always, at best, partial versions of reality, and thus objectivity is a myth.
This joint endeavor from Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Tracy Kidder and his longtime editor Richard Todd is a great guide for writers, and for readers/thinkers.
Structured around the three types or nonfiction, the authors devote a chapter to narratives, memoirs, and essays. These form chapters pull several quotes and examples, and critical analysis, yet all very readable.
My favorite chapter, "Being Edited and Editing", was a fascinating mirror view from both sides of the process. Because these two have worked together for so long, they know each other's styles so intimately, anticipating edits, styles. It is an intriguing peek into both of their minds.
This joint endeavor from Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Tracy Kidder and his longtime editor Richard Todd is a great guide for writers, and for readers/thinkers.
Structured around the three types or nonfiction, the authors devote a chapter to narratives, memoirs, and essays. These form chapters pull several quotes and examples, and critical analysis, yet all very readable.
My favorite chapter, "Being Edited and Editing", was a fascinating mirror view from both sides of the process. Because these two have worked together for so long, they know each other's styles so intimately, anticipating edits, styles. It is an intriguing peek into both of their minds.