Ideas into Words: Mastering the Craft of Science Writing
Elise Hancock
Language: English
Pages: 176
ISBN: 0801873304
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
"I am so proud to be Elise's student. Read this book and I suspect you will be too."―from the foreword by Robert Kanigel, author of The Man Who Knew Infinity
From the latest breakthroughs in medical research and information technologies to new discoveries about the diversity of life on earth, science is becoming both more specialized and more relevant. Consequently, the need for writers who can clarify these breakthroughs and discoveries for the general public has become acute.
In Ideas into Words, Elise Hancock, a professional writer and editor with thirty years of experience, provides both novice and seasoned science writers with the practical advice and canny insights they need to take their craft to the next level. Rich with real-life examples and anecdotes, this book covers the essentials of science writing: finding story ideas, learning the science, opening and shaping a piece, polishing drafts, overcoming blocks, and conducting interviews with scientists and other experts who may not be accustomed to making their ideas understandable to lay readers.
Hancock's wisdom will prove useful to anyone pursuing nonfiction writing as a career. She devotes an entire chapter to habits and attitudes that writers should cultivate, another to structure, and a third to the art of revision. Some of her advice is surprising (she cautions against slavish use of transitions, for example); all of it is hard-earned, astute, and wittily conveyed. This concise guide is essential reading for every writer attempting to explain the world of science to the rest of us.
Say something like, “Hang on a second. I have always understood that such-and-so. But what you say implies this-and-that. Tell me more.” Make interested sotto voce noises of any sort congenial to your personality. People need to know you are with them. I tend to murmur things like “Wow!” or “Intriguing!” because I’m an enthusiast, but something else might work better for you. There’s only one taboo: Do not say “uh-huh.” Some people take that as meaning, “Oh, I already knew that.” If so, it will
Science and Nature Writing, 2000, reprinted from the Atlantic Monthly), which relies largely on a fillip of surprise, even exoticism: 78 Julian Skidmore is lithe and petite, with small wrists and delicate features, and a serene but determined countenance. Watching Skidmore at work for a while, her auburn hair held back by a blue ribbon, a glint of light catching the small pearl in each earlobe, I was reminded of Gainsborough’s portrait of the young Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire. Then
ideas off other people, and often my colleague’s questions and comments open up an aspect of the story that I’d overlooked. Also, the part of me that is sitting back and observing will notice what I do: “Interesting,” says the internal voice. “You told Susan that anecdote, not the one you used in the opener. Maybe you wrote up the wrong one.” A professional conversation is different in kind from a social one:You are working, not entertaining.Your goal is to see the story freshly, not to have a
115–117; problems flagged by repetition, 120–121 Strunk (Will, Jr.) and White (E. B.), The Elements of Style, 146 Subconscious as the writer’s friend, 96, 114–115, 120–121 Symptoms, describing, 57 Tape recorders, 59, 62, 63 Teachers, 7 Technical terms, 100–102 Tell’em, tell’em, tell’em: outmoded advice on structure, 82. See also Structure Temperament, 5–6; and approach to outlines, 76–77; and career planning, 145; and perfectionism, 139, 144; and types of error, 132 Term papers, compared to
library, both of stuff that is just good reading and of background material, such that you can go from total ignorance to basic grasp overnight. The Britannica on-line is a great resource, as are the various fifteen- to twenty-pound tomes in which some authority spells out Everything We Currently Know In Our Field. If you buy such a tome from the remainder table, some few pages will not represent the latest knowledge, but no matter:You are seeking background, not the latest—that you will get