This week’s lecture was tied into a draft of an article I wrote about Gary Zerola for Boston magazine in 2008. I had the students read the draft before they dove into the lecture.

From the lecture (both files are MS Word documents):

(Structure in nonfiction writing is) like a puzzle where you have so many facts and scenes and you have to put them all together. Fiction writers can make new parts if they find they’re missing stuff along the way, but you need to work with whatever you can find, and that takes lots of practice – years of practice, in fact. I’m not expecting you to master it in this course, but I’d at least like you to try. And, failing that, at least try to identify the structure and its many parts in everything you read and watch from this point forward.

Previous Lectures:

Oct. 11: Structure (Part one of two)

Oct. 4: Even More Reporting

Sept. 27: Details, Details, Details

Sept. 20: Reporting Basics — Interviewing

Sept. 13: Third Feature Writing Lecture: Pitching Ideas

Sept. 6: Second Feature Writing Lecture: Generating Ideas

Aug. 30: First Feature Writing Lecture: Course Introduction & Curiosity