Peter P. Jacobi is Professor of Journalism at Indiana University. He is a consultant for magazines, a specialist
in speech coaching and media training, and author of several books, including Writing with Style : The News
Story and the Feature and The Messiah Book : The Life and Times of G. F. Handel's Greatest Hit.
Summary
Here are hundreds of ideas to help writers become more creative in their approach to thinking, planning, and
writing magazine articles. Peter Jacobi takes a hands-on approach to teaching article writing -- showing through
example rather than by preaching writing theory. He offers concrete writing principles and useful examples of award-winning
articles from top publications, including The New Yorker, Playboy, and The Atlantic Monthly and presents new ways
to turn everyday subjects into compelling article ideas, thirteen "blueprints" to use as a master plan
for outlining an article, and helpful suggestions for using storytelling techniques. Here is detailed information
on everything from gathering information to writing leads and endings to fine-tuning an almost perfect article.
Table of Contents
A Prefatory Note
The Motivation - The Obligation
Where Ideas Come From
Matter and Manner Count, But First Think Focus
Information Gathering
Structure, the Blueprint of an Article
The Writing Begins
Leads and Endings
Narration and Description - Humanization and Visualization
Exposition, the Meat of Most Articles - Making It Tasty and Digestible
Additional Techniques - Compression and Fictionalization
Behind Some Words, Essential Concepts Throb - How to Add Thrust and Depth to Your Work
A Couple of Case Studies
In Expansion - The Essay and Other Hybrids
Some Concluding Remarks - Providing Those Finishing Touches
