Giant thanks to Lena Price for taking notes at The Mayborn Literary Nonfiction Conference last weekend, then structuring them in this nifty top ten tips list, just for you:
1. Get away from home. The more you see, the more reasons you’ll have to write. Wherever you go, take books with you. – Paul Theroux, travel writer
2. Reporters can be pretty intimidating to “normal” people. Bridge the divide by having a drink with the person you’re interviewing, or by offering them a cigarette. (But don’t pick up a smoking habit along the way.) – Ashley Harrell, SF Weekly staff writer
3. Famous people can dictate their own legacies. It takes a lot more sensitivity to work with people who only have one chance to get their stories out there. – Bill Minutaglio, author of First Son: George W. Bush and the Bush Family Dynasty
4. In a story where people are getting killed every day, it’s more dramatic to write about the empty barstools and tables in restaurants that used to thrive. – Diane Solis, Dallas Morning News senior writer
5. It’s important to brand your voice as a writer, and Facebook and twitter can be useful tools. If someone reads 140 characters that you write, they might read a longer piece. Hopefully. – Joy Sewing, Houston Chronicle fashion writer
6. Out of any 20 story ideas, two thirds of them will be crap. Don’t waste your time trying to make bad ideas work, but always have a stockpile of backup ideas. – Ira Glass, This American Life host
7. There are two goals when writing about social injustices. First, you have to outrage your readers. Then you have to inspire them. – Roger Thurow, Wall Street Journal foreign correspondent
8. You better learn to laugh at yourself, because you’re not that cool. – Julia Reed, Newsweek columnist
9. You have to make real people into characters in a story, and you can only do that by getting into their heads. Some of the best insights come from how someone relates to others, and not necessarily other people. – Susan Warren, Texas Bureau Chief for the Wall Street Journal
10. Risk failure with every single story you write. – Alma Guillermoprieto, author of Dancing with Cuba
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