Writing to Deadline: The Journalist at Work

From Library Journal: Known for decades as a writer's writer and a journalist's journalist, newsroom coach Murray (emeritus, English, Univ. of New Hampshire; columnist for the Boston Globe) has distilled his wisdom for those hoping to produce memorable nonfiction. Murray understands firsthand that great writing is the result of skilled information gathering and careful thinking, and he covers those topics as well as sentence structure and narrative flow. The book is also filled with explications of Murray's own published pieces, supplemented sensibly by interviews with other writers as well as analyses of their stories. While most of those writers are little known outside their home cities, their work will provide readers with welcome surprises. Although many nonfiction writers and writing teachers already have their favorite instructors, such as the oft-cited Jon Franklin, Madeline Blais, Walt Harrington, William Blundell, William Zinsser, James Stewart, and Jessica Mitford, this book ought to clinch Murray's place among them. Recommended for public and academic libraries. Steve Weinberg, Univ. of Missouri, Columbia Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. Product Description: Writing to Deadline takes the reader into the mind of the nonfiction writer, demystifying the process by which journalists clarify confusion and present significant information under demanding restrictions of time and space. This is an essential book for working journalists, professors and students of journalism, directors of newspaper inservice writing programs, and anyone who wants to learn more about: the news-writing process reporting and writing for surprise focusing your story draft writing editing and fine-tuning case studies of real journalists at work. Combining his knowledge as a composition researcher and theorist with his practical experience as a teacher and journalist, Donald Murray both explains and demonstrates the writing process as he allows the reader to look over his shoulder - and the shoulders of other journalists - as they practice the craft of the immediate.