A Nonfiction Writer’s Guide to Documentary TV & Film with John Turner
Writer J.B. MacKinnon Q&A
NOTE: Pitch Day appointments will be booked between 9 am and 3:30 pm Eastern time. Every student will have 2 appointments. We will take into account your time zone when booking your appointments so that those in the West are not pitching before 9 am their time.
Book Sellers Q&A with Ben McNally
1:45-3:15 Eastern
(2:45-4:15AT)
Mentor Group
Note: Session start at 2 pm Eastern: What authors need to know about the KOBO Platform
Mentor Group
Agent Q&A with Hilary McMahon, Chelene Knight + Sam Hiyate
Pitch Day
Mentor Group
3:30-4:45 Eastern
(4:30-5:45 AT)
Building a Writer’s Life with Lauren McKeon
Publisher & Editor Q&A with Bhavna Chauhan and Jen Knoch and Jim Gifford
What Writers Need to Understand about Publicity with Debby deGroot
Pitch Practice
Pitch Day
Why I Write with Madhur Anand
7-8:30 Eastern
(8-9:30AT)
Student Readings
Mentor Readings
Student Readings
Free
Social
Gold: Optional sessions/ Green: Mentor sessions/ Blue: Pitch day
Due midnight Nov. 15. Submit as a MS Word file to Dean at dean.jobb@ukings.ca
Complete a 1,500-word narrative“Notes on Sources” essay, explaining the research, writing, ethical and other issues and challenges related to the development of your project.
As nonfiction writers, we sometimes reconstruct scenes and/or incorporate dialogue we didn’t personally witness. Unlike daily journalists, we don’t always attribute every fact or source of information within our text since, to do so, would slow down the narrative. And, unlike academics, we also prefer not to footnote every scrap of information within the text.
So how can readers decide whether to trust that the information we have presented as nonfiction is as accurate as we can make it? Many nonfiction writers use a“Notes on Sources” essay at the end of their book to explain how they’ve handled their research and attribution. Was that scene reconstructed from participants’ journals or contemporary news accounts? In cases where recollections of events differ, how did the writer decide which view was more credible? Are you basing dialogue on available transcripts, a report in the newspaper, interviews with the participants, or your own recollections? Is material in quotation marks reproduced verbatim from interviews, court records or other documentation?
A Notes on Sources essay is usually placed before specific endnotes(if used) that document, in detail, the sources used within the manuscript. The essay allows you to focus on the narrative flow in your storytelling while still providing readers with insights into how and why you did what you did, with transparency about your sources of information and the choices you made.
What we’re looking for in this assignment is that overview — 1,500 words explaining your effort to tell the truth as best you can. Your manuscript isn’t complete, of course, so work with what you’ve done. You’ll likely incorporate some or all of this assignment into the Sources/Endnotes section of your book.
Winter Residency (January 9-14)
VDec 20
Winter Residency: Recorded lectures
Pitch day (January 13)
Winter Residency
Official stuff:
Bios/Projects
FYI —
Notes on Sources Essay