Gutkind: On some of the books I've written I've spent three or four months immersing myself in the world I want to write about, and then work on drafting a proposal. Is that enough to make me an expert on the subject?

Cahill: Depends on the field, depends on the person. If it's something tremendously complex, like putting forth a scientific theory that no one's put forth before, you better really be an expert in the field. For most people working in narrative journalism, it's about having a full understanding of the subject that you're discussing, the people who are involved, having lived in the town where the event took place, done some pre-interview work, read everything you can about the subject, enough to be able to form opinions that are solid. And the more you learn about your subject, the more your opinions may change. In fact, the more they should change. That's one of the most exciting things about this genre. Any good agent or editor will realize that not everything is known at the time of writing a book proposal. The more you can do to make yourself an expert, especially in the Age of Information today, the better you can make the case for your book.

Skloot: I think being an expert is important, whatever an expert means, in tackling the material that you're trying to write about in a way that shows you not only have a grasp of it, but you have access to your subjects, that you're already in the story. One thing I've noticed in the book proposals that I've seen is that the story is missing. Even though the facts, the "what this book is about," is what the editors are going to buy, they're not going to get to the facts unless you've told a story that shows that first of all, you've done the research, and there is a story out there that people will want to pick up off the shelves and read. In my proposal that was the hardest thing, to make the narrative clear and show that I can structure a story. I structured and restructured my book proposal probably ten times before I got to a point where my story was presented in the way I wanted to show it. It's important to take enough time with the narrative and be able to see how your story will work. You don't want to bore the editors.

Ford: What are some ways for beginning writers to gain credibility, to get to the point where someone will take an interest in their proposal?

Cahill: The place to start is to begin publishing. Write smaller articles similar to the Talk of the Town, in whatever town you're in. There are obscure stories everywhere. It's good to have the experience of being professionally edited to see what people respond to. I think more and more news journalism is becoming more narrative. Most of the big national publications are being open to the sort of narrative storytelling in the news.

Skloot: I think writing articles is the best way for any writer to get their name out and get writing experience. I don't think anyone should write a book who hasn't written a lot of articles. It teaches you how to write a story, how to structure a piece of writing. It doesn't matter where you get published. I think alumni magazines are a great way to get articles out there. Especially now they're all very interested in narrative styles. You can start small and eventually balloon from there.

Gutkind: I'd like to add that you have to have patience. No beginning writer understands how hard it is to be a writer. How much work it is. How much work that you're doing without anybody watching you do the work, so nobody knows you're doing the work anyway. You're there every day, writing or trying to write, reading or trying to write, and it takes an incredible amount of effort, hours all by yourself, and your ego suffers. You really have to have faith to want it hard enough to persist. And then there's the continuous rejection. I remember someone who wrote for the New Yorker saying, "We want to say yes, but we almost always say "no." In fact, as editors, we want to say "yes."

Cahill: There's so much out there. There are so many "no's" to say. Even experienced writers get caught up in ideas the world might not be ready for, or the writer isn't the best person to tell the story. We're always looking for great new talent, for great writers. The more aware writers are of the publishing world, the more they're able to understand how to tell their story.

Skloot: One characteristic I think a lot of writers share is obsession. They have to be obsessed about their story in order to spend the amount of time necessary to work on it and in order to eventually find someone else who shares their enthusiasm and interest in the story enough to publish it. Another good way for beginning writers to start is with book reviews. Writing book reviews helps you look at the structure of a book and see what elements either make the book work or not work.

Gutkind: One thing that's great about creative nonfiction is that you do have the chance to exercise your obsessions in a way that poetry and fiction can't. There are a variety of alternative publications that are willing to look at your story. If you're obsessed enough you can find an outlet for your work. If you work hard, you can uncover more aspects of your story. You can talk to more people, you can dig deeper, you can pester people, until you get the story. You've got to find the story. That's another thing that makes nonfiction so exciting to me. In nonfiction you search inward and you search outward.