Table of Contents

Contents

Preface: Personal Journalism for Challenging Times

PART ONE: What Is First-Person Journalism?

Chapter 1: How I Became a First-Person Journalist

• • Defining first-person journalism
  • Permission to say "I"
  • Is it ever too personal?
  • Self-reporting: "What do I know?"
  • How to use this book
  • Why gonzo got it wrong—and right

Chapter 2: The Ethics of Personal Reporting

• • He said, she said
  • The limits of objectivity
  • Liars, thieves, and postmodernists
  • Fictional selves versus true selves
  • Embracing the active "I"

PART TWO: Developing an Active "I" Voice

Chapter 3: Locating Your Passion: What do I want to write about?

• • Don’t bore yourself
  • Don’t perform your emotions
  • Don’t scream at readers
  • Cultivating curiosity: passion for facts
  • Responding to the world
  • Personal story: write about a "wart"

Chapter 4: Investigating Yourself: How do I know my own story is true?

• • Why memories are not facts
  • Fact checking the basics
  • Fact checking with family and friends
  • Reporting on your "I"
  • Reporting on what you haven’t said
  • Admitting what you’ll never know
  • Memory essay: write about an early memory
  • Sample story: "Hurricane Warnings"

Chapter 5: Establishing Your Stance: How close am I to the story?

• • From POV to first-person stance
  • Determining your emotional distance
  • Personal example: reining in myself
  • Addressing readers: five stances
  • Rethinking voice: active response
  • Review: your personal take on a media work

PART THREE: Reporting Beyond the Self

Chapter 6: Observing Real Life: How do I describe people and places?

• • Relevance versus vagueness
  • Three kinds of details
  • Conveying the feel of a place
  • Reporting what people do and say
  • Direct reporting of events
  • The art of capsule description
  • Local profile: write about a neighborhood place

Chapter 7: Attributing Sources: Where do my facts come from?

• • What is attribution?
  • Sources in first-person features
  • Attribution tags and linking
  • Danger! Avoid voice hijacks
  • The curse of knowledge
  • How-to piece: explain with three tips

Chapter 8: Convincing Readers: What’s my argument and who disagrees?

• • The curse of unconscious feeling
  • Point-counterpoint
  • Not all experts are the same
  • Establishing first-person authority
  • Open letter: address a public figure or topic

PART FOUR: Storytelling to Make an Impact

Chapter 9: Moving Through Time: How have I and the world changed?

• • Sequence: what comes first?
  • Chronology: orienting readers in time
  • Time machine: shifting between past and present selves
  • Trends: personal and cultural
  • Personal trend story: write about changes in food, music, or weather

Chapter 10: Organizing a Story: How do I mix everything together?

• • What’s in the mix?
  • Classic feature formula: lead + nut graf
  • Scene breaks and dramatic tension
  • Essays: emotional journeys
  • New mix: feature or essay?
  • Sample outline: "Why I’ll Never Surf Again"

Chapter 11: Revising for Impact: What do I really want to say?

• • Test your idea: pitching
  • Focus your idea: taglines
  • Focus your voice: cutting and selecting
  • Connect to the world: your impact
  • Story revision: complete a feature or essay
  • Impact Plan: how do you know?

End Note: Witnessing the World with Empathy

25 Rules for First-Person Journalism

Index

About the Author

Martha Nichols cofounded Talking Writing, a nonprofit digital magazine. A longtime writer, journalist, and editor, she is a faculty instructor in journalism at the Harvard University Extension School. She is also the editor of and a contributor to Into Sanity: Essays About Mental Health, Mental Illness, and Living in Between.