A Workshop on Pacing in Narrative Nonfiction
What makes a work of narrative nonfiction memorable? Maybe it’s the lyrical prose, or the writer’s access to previously unreachable sources, or the sheer drama of the narrative. No matter the answer, one aspect of good nonfiction storytelling that’s easy to overlook but critical—whether in a magazine feature, a longform blog post, or a book—is pacing.
A writer is like a tour guide, stopping throughout the narrative to introduce readers to characters, recount dialogue, describe settings where action took place, and more. Like any tour guide, the writer must command their material: sometimes it’s important to substantiate sourcing, or to put the story in historical context. The trick is to check off all these boxes while still creating a page-turner.
In this workshop, participants will analyze different ways to pace a narrative, as well as techniques for delivering a captivating experience for the reader, from word choice and sentence construction to creating tension and a propulsive structure. The class will consider the work of top writers in the genre, including Susan Orlean, Claire Dederer, and Hampton Sides. Participants will examine instances where the writer used action to propel the story forward, as well as instances where they used character and exposition to alter the narrative rhythm in compelling ways.
By the end of the workshop, participants will have improved their understanding of how to pace nonfiction and gained clear strategies to bring to their own writing.
David Howard is an author, freelance writer, and editor living in Portland. His two books, both nonfiction, are Chasing Phil: The Adventures of Two Undercover Agents with the World’s Most Charming Con Man (Crown, 2017) and Lost Rights: The Misadventures of a Stolen American Relic (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2010). He has been featured on NPR and C-SPAN’s Book TV and written features for many national magazines, including The New York Times, Outside, Backpacker. As the executive editor of Popular Mechanics and Bicycling, he edited the work of many of the nation’s top nonfiction writers.
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For any questions regarding this workshop, please contact Hannah Perry at perry@mainewriters.org.
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SCHOLARSHIP
The MWPA is proud to offer two full scholarships to this workshop for members-only. Scholarships are awarded on a combination of need and merit. Application Due on March 16 at 9:00 a.m.
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