From the Editor

How MASH practiced journalism to deepen its storytelling

On the 50th anniversary of the iconic TV show, Actor Alan Alda, aka Hawkeye Pierce, described the serious reporting that served the show's mission

By Jacqui Banaszynski • September 29, 2022

A top Danish journalist reflects society in autopsies, trans surgery and pork roast

Author and narrative reporter Line Vaaben offers gems from her 20-year immersion into the craft of storytelling

By Jacqui Banaszynski • September 23, 2022

Personal Essays

What to do when you write the kinds of stories you find hard to read

A narrative journalist immersed in the tyranny of mass incarceration comes to terms with compassion fatigue, in her life and her writing

By Lauren Kessler • September 20, 2022

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From the Editor

How narratives defined a Queen and a Queen changed a narrative

By Jacqui Banaszynski

September 13, 2022

The life and death of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II can be seen through disdain for monarchy or as an insightful view of history

Story Craft

What stacking wood can teach us about structuring stories

By Kim Cross

September 7, 2022

Author and wood-splitter Kim Cross tackles a mountain of firewood, which helps her work through the mountainous first draft of a story

Strictly Q&A

So you want to write book? A long journey from newspaper reporter to book author

By Lisa Grace Lednicer

September 6, 2022

In "The Diary of a Misfit," Casey Parks' had to let go of some journalistic boundaries to write about being queer in the religious, rural South

From the Editor

Teaching (or learning) story craft? Storyboard is here to help

By Jacqui Banaszynski

September 2, 2022

A sampling of possibilities on how to use Storyboard in your journalism and writing classes

Strictly Q&A

Combing through clips, records and emotions for lessons from the past

By Trevor Pyle

September 1, 2022

A Los Angeles Times reporter revisited a little-known U.S. Supreme Court abortion rights case that helped pave the way for Roe v. Wade

From the Editor

Cutting through compassion fatigue with sensory writing

By Jacqui Banaszynski

August 29, 2022

The editor reflects on war stories that reach through distraction, make the abstract real and bring the faraway close

Story Craft

Hacking and whacking the way to writing clarity — and pie

By Lauren Kessler

August 25, 2022

An author and freelancer contemplates story craft as she tames and harvests the blackberry brambles on her land

From the Editor

Storytelling that reaches through your feet to your soul

By Jacqui Banaszynski

August 23, 2022

A Chicks concert delivers a strong through-line in percussive, sequined, unapologetic multilmedia

Story Annotations

The Pitch: Landing a “definitive narrative” in The Atavist Magazine

By Carly Stern

August 18, 2022

Editor Seyward Darby: "I definitely want people who are willing to strip a story down to its basics and figure out how to build it back up."

Strictly Q&A

Four years of reporting follows new threads in a previously reported crime story

By Carly Stern

August 17, 2022

Katia Savchuk spent a year pre-reporting before she pitched The Atavist on a nuanced story of crime and mental illness

From the Editor

J-school everywhere, everyday

By Jacqui Banaszynski

August 16, 2022

A new school year comes with potential, but the lessons needed for great story work are all around us

Story Craft

Not just SayWhat, but SezWho?

By Dale Keiger

August 12, 2022

A magazine writer and editor argues that it's not enough to fact-check our reporting.— we have to know-check our conclusions