Writing Archaeology: Telling Stories About the Past

by Brian M. Fagan

Overview

Archaeology's best known author of popular books and texts distills decades of experience in this well-received guide designed to help others wanting to broaden the audience for their work. Brian Fagan's no nonsense approach explains how to get started writing, how to use the tools of experienced writers to make archaeology come alive, and how to get your work revised and finished. The new edition contains chapters on academic writing, on publishing your dissertation, and on writing in the digital environment.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781598746099
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	10/31/2010
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	216
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

Brian Fagan is professor emeritus in the Department of Anthropology at the University of California, Santa Barbara. After studying archaeology at Pembroke College, Cambridge, he spent seven years doing archaeology and museum work in Central and East Africa, before coming to the United States in 1966. His original specialty was the African Iron Age, an esoteric subject if ever there was one, and he became involved in the founding of multidisciplinary African history. He came to the University of California, Santa Barbara, in 1967, and simultaneously changed intellectual directions, becoming a generalist who wrote about archaeology for general audiences. Since then, he has suffered through the writing of many books, including a series of widely used texts such as In the Beginning and People of the Earth. His numerous trade books include The Rape of the Nile, The Adventure of Archaeology, The Little Ice Age, Fish on Friday, and Elixir: A Human History of Water. His other interests include bicycling, cruising under sail, kayaking, good food, and cats. He and his family are (at last count) the proud owners of two cats, a horse, several mosquito fish and seven rabbits.

Table of Contents

Preface 9

1 Come, Let Me Tell You a Tale 13

Storytelling 15

Approaching a Story 17

Constructing a Story from Nothing 22

The Hard Slog 24

How Do I Learn How to Write? 25

2 Articles and Columns 29

The Outlets 29

Op-Ed Articles 31

Submitting to Major Magazines 32

Proposing a Story 35

If Your Idea Is Accepted 36

Writing the Article 38

Above All, Meet the Deadline 42

After Acceptance 43

Columns 44

Encyclopedia Articles 44

3 Genesis 47

Trade Books 48

How the Trade Market Works 49

Having the Idea 53

The Passionate Narrative 58

4 That All-Important Book Proposal 63

How Publishers Make Decisions 65

The Elements of a Proposal 66

The Narrative 68

The Provisional Outline (or Table of Contents) 72

5 Chapters, Editors, and Agents 77

Specimen Chapters 77

Finally...Read Through Everything 80

That All-Important Person-the Editor 80

To Agent or Not to Agent 83

Contracts 86

6 Writing the First Draft 89

Writing as a Habit 89

Work Space 91

Getting Started 93

Procrastination and Writer's Block 94

Research 97

Outlines 99

Narrative Techniques 101

7 Revision, Revision 107

Revision Strategies 109

Tackling the First Draft 111

The Second Revision 113

Get Others to Read It 117

The Final Draft 117

A Word on Prefaces 118

Submission 119

And Now What Happens? 120

The Final Manuscript 121

8 Production and Beyond 125

Production and Production Editors 125

Copyedit 127

Illustrations 130

The Cover 134

Proofs 134

Index 135

Publication 135

Marketing and Promotion 136

9 Textbooks 141

How Textbooks Are Sold 143

Something on Coauthors 145

The Process of Textbook Writing 146

Review and Final Change 155

Production 156

Revised Editions 157

10 Now That You've Finished Your Dissertation 161

The Realities of Your Dissertation 162

On Mentors 164

Now on to Writing 165

11 Academic Writing 171

Academic Articles 171

The Anatomy of an Academic Paper 175

Academic Books 184

12 And Now We Go Digital 187

Away from the Linear Narrative 188

Writing in the Digital World 191

Most of This Lies in the Future 192

Some Digital Formats 194

E-Books, Not Just Kindles 198

Conclusion 203

Resources for Writers 205

References 213

About the Author 216

Editorial Reviews

"The short version of this review is simply this: Writing Archaeology should be required reading for archaeologists. Whether crafting a book, an article, a chapter or anything else that is meant to inform either colleagues or the public about archaeology, writers will find this book useful and audiences of the resultant improved products will be thankful that Brian Fagan’s advice was taken seriously."—Barbara Little, Historical Archaeology


"I'm in the middle of reading Brian Fagan's Writing Archaeology: Telling Stories About the Past. I just had to pause, however, to tell you that this is the most useful book that I have read in the past decade, bar none. Thanks for publishing it. (And please thank Brian Fagan for writing it.)"—Eric H. Cline, Chair, Department of Classical and Semitic Languages and Literature, The George Washington University


"I found this book to be chock-full of useable and pertinent information about both the craft and business of writing. This is not a book about academic writing, it is a book meant to guide archaeologists who want to write for more general audiences. In many important ways, this is a book about writing as public archaeology. ..Throughout are countless nuggets of information and advice, all of which are presented in an amiable, self-deprecating, but authoritative style. In short, there is a lot of information here, and it is a good read besides. ..this book is must-read for anyone who hopes to write about archaeology to general audiences, but it should also be read by those who write mainly for other archaeologists. We often bemoan how boring some of our writing is, and this book could point the way to correcting that as well. Anyone who writes about archaeology should read—and more importantly, use—this book."—Carol McDavid, African American Archaeological Review


"Fagan is both a top University of California academic and the most prolific author of popular archaeology in the United States. He is living proof that academic rigour is not the excuse some seem to think it is for bad, boring, lifeless writing... This little book can be recommended unreservedly to all who aspire to be writers of archaeology--but especially to those who aspire to reach beyond the professional ghetto."—Current Archaeology


"With valuable personal experiences and insights, Brian Fagan takes you through the process of writing a book, from coming up with an initial idea, to 'putting pen to paper' (fingers to keyboard), to dealing with publishing houses and getting your book to the shops. Along the way the book takes the reader through the journey of storytelling, using sources, compiling and presenting data, presenting arguments, organising material, book structure, using illustrations and references, producing drafts and proofs, taking on criticisms and revising work, copyediting, contracts and agents, book signings and book tours, and much more besides."—Oxbow Newsletter

From the Publisher