Story Craft

Nut grafs: Learning from literature, music, movie trailers and “the bones” of stories

How Pulitzer-winning writer Tom French coaxes summary nut grafs (or sentences) from students and pros: They talk, he listens

By Thomas French • October 21, 2021

A tile inset in Central Park in New York honors slain Beatle John Lennon. Writer Tom French uses Beatles music as one way to teach and coach nut grafs..

Nut grafs (or graphs): How five sentences can help a writer focus

A freelancer who teaches college journalism leaned on friends, social media, and a simple template to help students find the center of a story

By Emily Sohn • October 20, 2021

Story Craft

Nut grafs: Getting to the heart of the story

Renowned editor and writing coach Jack Hart urges writers to build stories around a theme statement that establishes meaning and guides structure

By Jack Hart • October 19, 2021

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Story Craft

How a lifestyle reporter tamed the tiger of Twitter

By Shoba Narayan

October 14, 2021

An arts-and-culture writer found herself intimidated by the social media behemoth, and then learned how to make it work for her

Narrative News

Jim Sheeler’s legacy to journalism: Empathy, decency and stories that last

By Matt Tullis

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Journalists, from students to Pulitzer-winning pros, talk about the influence Sheeler had on their work

Story Annotations

How to turn a theme and 900 words into sense-of-place poetry

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Kim Cross used smart pre-reporting, creative hustle and a night on a trampoline to find freedom in a reported essay about freedom

Story Craft

Cutting through numbing numbers with electrified writing

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Author and Esquire politics blogger Charles P. Pierce attacks indifference to COVID-19 deaths with creative twists on classic writing tools

Story Annotations

Lane DeGregory: Intimate access to a Florida COVID-19 ward, with conditions

By Bennet Goldstein

September 30, 2021

The Pulitzer Prize winning reporter spent 18 months asking for access, 12 hours inside, and four days to deliver a take-you-there story

Strictly Q&A

How a top explanatory reporter does emotional interviews: With empathy

By Kim Cross

September 29, 2021

Pulitzer Prize winner Ed Yong of The Atlantic takes the same open approach with COVID scientists and frontline nurses

Why's This So Good?

Plain-spoken words about the “7 stages of severe COVID death” go viral

By Traci Angel

September 28, 2021

A respiratory therapist pours her experience, frustration and grief into a journal entry that becomes a cautionary tale

Narrative News

Jim Sheeler turned the simple obituary into a high and reverent art

By Jacqui Banaszynski

September 23, 2021

Sheeler, winner of the 2006 Pulitzer Prize in feature writing, is dead at 53

Story Annotations

The New Yorker explores a dilemma in Ultra-Orthodox divorce: What about the children?

By Carly Stern

September 21, 2021

Writer Larissa MacFarquhar is drawn to stories that help her sort out issues that have no clear solutions

Story Craft

How listening to foreign languages can enrich your writing

By Shoba Narayan

September 17, 2021

An author and essayist listens to stories in in their native tongues to hear new rhythms, phrasing and metaphor

Story Annotations

Reporting through privacy and pain to expose the scandal of Black amputations

By Chip Scanlan

September 15, 2021

National Magazine Award winner Lizzie Presser documents the discrimination that leaves Black diabetes patients without easy and affordable care

Story Annotations

An editor annotates her own column from 20 years ago about Sept. 11

By Lisa Grace Lednicer

September 14, 2021

Now an editor at The Washington Post, Lisa Grace Lednicer critiques an emotional essay she wrote at The Oregonian in the wake of 9/11