Storytelling is one of the few traits common to all human societies. A sequence of actions a
sympathetic character a complication a resolution-the key ingredients in a story are as
familiar to us today as they were to our ancestors. Although we may associate the form with
fictional narratives such as novels and movies the same ingredients also underlie the best
nonfiction works including those by David Grann Mary Roach Tracy Kidder and John McPhee. In
the first edition of Storycraft Jack Hart illustrated how these and other nonfiction writers
including many he coached over decades at the Oregonian used the ingredients of story to
create compelling and award-winning works of narrative nonfiction. For this revision he has
expanded the field to consider how storytelling techniques can be used in the rapidly growing
nonfiction form of podcasting. He has added insights from recent research into storytelling and
the brain illustrating how facts and arguments effectively embedded in narrative are more
likely to stick in readers' minds. And he has added new examples of effective nonfiction
narratives.--
