Full Description
Part anthology and part craft guide, this collection of pieces from the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist offers something for readers and writers alike. Lane DeGregory loves true stories, intimate details, and big ideas. In her three-decade career as a journalist, she has published more than 3,000 stories and won the Pulitzer Prize for feature writing. Her acclaimed work in the Tampa Bay Times often takes her to the edges of society, where she paints empathetic portraits of real-life characters like a 99-year-old man who still works cleaning a seafood warehouse, a young couple on a bus escaping winter, and a child in the midst of adoption. In "The Girl in the Window" and Other True Tales, DeGregory not only offers up the first collection of her most unforgettable newspaper features—she pulls back the curtain on how to write narrative nonfiction.
This book—part anthology, part craft guide—provides a forensic reading of twenty-four of DeGregory's singular stories, illustrating her tips for writers alongside pieces that put those elements under the microscope. Each of the pieces gathered here—including the Pulitzer Prize-winning title story—is accompanied by notes on how she built the story, plus tips on how nonfiction writers at all levels can do the same. Featuring a foreword by Beth Macy, author of the acclaimed Dopesick, this book is sure to delight fans of DeGregory's writing, as well as introduce her to readers and writers who have not yet discovered her inspiring body of work.
Contents
Foreword by Beth Macy
Introduction
Part 1. Short Stories
1. Talk to Strangers
Diving Headlong into Sunny Eden: A Young Couple Flees Winter
2. Get a Life
Zeke the Labrador: An Intuitive Dog Saves His Owner
3. Explore Rituals
Finding the Right Words: A Boy Buys His First Valentine
Spotlight: Finding Ideas
4. Wonder, Who Would Ever?
Meet the "THE" Guy: Flag-Bearer of the Rodeo
5. Establish Intimacy
A Brothers' Bond: Autism Ties Twins Together
6. Don't Judge
The Truth Is Flexible: Learning How to Panhandle from the Pros
7. CAST Around
Gone in a Flash: A Garbage Truck Driver Walks into a Bar
8. Unravel the Mystery
A Message from Roger: Long Ago, a Boy Put a Note in a Bottle
9. Carve Out the Elephant
Davion's Prayer: A Teenage Orphan Goes to Church to Find a Family
Part 2. On Assignment
10. Explore News Briefs
The Saint and the Sacrifice: She Was Devoted to Her Sister but Wanted Her Life Back
11. Ignore Important People
Stormy Daniels: The President's Porn Star
12. Find a Guide
Pulse Nightclub: Aftermath of the Orlando Shooting Tests a Young Man's Courage
13. Listen to the Quiet
The Storm Chaser: Riding out a Hurricane with the Weatherman
14. Wait for It
Fast-Forward: IndyCar Champion's Widow Faces a Dilemma with Their Young Sons
Spotlight: Reporting
15. Go Back
The Long Fall of Phoebe Jonchuck: Her Dad Threw Her off a Bridge into Tampa Bay
16. Find the Helpers
Twelve Hours in an Intensive Care Unit: During the Pandemic
Part 3. Narratives
17. Make a Difference
The Girl in the Window: Can Love and a New Family Save a Feral Child?
18. Inhabit Their Heads
Every Day Is Payday: His First Real Check
19. Braid Narratives
The Last House in Rosewood: No One Asked the Owner about Her Story
Spotlight: Writing and Editing
20. Follow the Story
A Walk in the Woods: Miss Teen America Finds Freedom, for a Day
21. Find the Bruise on the Apple
The Old Daredevil: Evel Knievel Comes Back to Earth
22. Use Their Voices
The Swan Project: For Troubled Girls, Etiquette Classes Open Another World
23. Walk a Mile in Their Shoes
Mr. Newton: A 99-Year-Old Man Still Sweeps a Seafood Factory
24. Get Personal
I Brake for Bobo: A Boy Loses His Stuffed Elephant
Acknowledgments
