When I attended the Baltimore Writers’ Conference last weekend, I went mostly for the social interaction and networking opportunities. I met some great people, exchanged some cards and engaged in thoughtful and inspiring conversations. But the benefits of the conference weren’t only social. I learned a thing or two while I was there.

One of the sessions I attended was on reconstructing scenes in works of journalistic nonfiction or “literary journalism”–in other words, long works of nonfiction about people and events not necessarily related to or directly experienced by the author. The three speakers were Mark Bowden, author of several nonfiction books including Black Hawk Down; John Woestendiek, long-time newspaper reporter and author of a soon-to-be released book about cloned dogs and their owners; and Michael Downs, author of House of Good Hope.

I’ve compiled a few of their most agreed-upon strategies here, along with a bit of my own commentary, to help you create effective and vivid scenes within your stories.

1. Do your own research. Visit the location at which the story takes place. Don’t just rely on other people’s perceptions and descriptions. Use pictures, weather reports, significant news events, or popular music and television shows during the time your story takes place to help flesh out and set your scenes. Having done your research, you can also use details about the time and place to jog the memories of your subject and other interviewees. As Michael Downs described, mentioning something as simple as the weather on a particular day just might trigger the memory or detail recall that you need to complete a scene or get to the story you are looking for.

2. Gather as many details as you can. Take notes about distinctive details wherever your story is taking place. Don’t just note details about the setting, though. Make notes about the people who live or hang around there, too.”You never know what you will use,” Mark Bowden told us. The more details you have, the easier it will be to recreate the scene when you sit down to write, even if you don’t end up using all the material you’ve gathered.

3. Talk to people who were there. In order to describe a person and her experience fully for your readers, you will need to spend a lot of time talking with your subject. John Woestendiek emphasized that interviews are essential in building trust and getting subjects to open up. You will also need to talk to people who know your subject or subjects. And one interview will not be sufficient. Mark Bowden reminded us that it is important to build relationships with those you are interviewing. This will ensure they are comfortable and open with you, and you will be better able to recognize where the truth lies among all the versions of the story you will hear.

While the focus of this session was on developing and describing scenes that the writer didn’t directly experience for herself, I think the advice the speakers gave could just as easily apply to reconstructing scenes in a writer’s past, were she to be writing memoir-style nonfiction. In fact, their tips could also apply to fiction writing in the case that the setting is a real location, either in the present or the past.

No matter what you type of story you are writing, using these strategies will allow you to reconstruct effective scenes by:

• providing details that make the scene real;
• recreating action instead of summarizing it; and
• showing the story to your reader rather than telling her about it.

This will put the reader right where you want her–in the middle of the story.

What strategies do you use to reconstruct scenes in your writing?