From the Editor

Writing that dares to sing

Playing with "what if?" can send stories into new and creative directions

By Jacqui Banaszynski • December 8, 2021

Reporting the untold tales of executioners’ songs

South Carolina reporter Chiara Eisner used public records and sensitive sourcing to tell stories of people who execute condemned prisoners

By Trevor Pyle • December 3, 2021

Narrative News

How to tell a good story, by Stephen Sondheim: Hummable helps

Washington Post columnist Alexandra Petri pays tribute to the musical theater genius and "artifice (that) is in service of a higher truth."

By Jacqui Banaszynski • November 30, 2021

Featured Contributors

Chip Scanlan

Julia Shipley

Roy Peter Clark

More contributors

Featured topics

Show section navigation Hide section navigation ⨂

Personal Essays

A journalist’s journey into her family story leads to a history of American pie

By Dustin Renwick

November 26, 2021

Washington Post columnist Megan McArdle baked a humble dessert into a big idea

Personal Essays

Two Native American journalists talk turkey about Thanksgiving

By Jason Begay

November 24, 2021

University of Montana journalist Jason Begay, of the Navajo Nation, talks to Washington Post journalist Dana Hedgpeth, of the Haliwa-Saponi tribe, about living with and correcting history

Story Annotations

A profile of one family divided by vaccine politics reflects the divide of a nation

By Chip Scanlan

November 23, 2021

Peter Jamison of The Washington Post immerses into the emotional chasm of a family struggling with divergent views and a sudden death

Why's This So Good?

Nerding out on big weather, a big lake and and a little Gordon Lightfoot

By Jacqui Banaszynski

November 19, 2021

An editor's questions led data reporter Greta Kaul of MinnPost to explore new territory in a much-covered event

From the Editor

The spiraling nature of news

By Jacqui Banaszynski

November 17, 2021

Connecting the dots between current news, past events and future implications can help readers understand context and significance

Notable Narratives

Editing advice from the world’s best story critic: a child

By Jyoti Madhusoodanan

November 16, 2021

A writer's 4-year-old offers a lesson in the essentials of effective narrative

One Great Moment

“It smelled like margarine and white bread, marriage and cramped flats.”

By Jacqui Banaszynski

November 12, 2021

Douglas Stuart, from his novel, "Shuggie Bain"

From the Editor

Stumbling into a social media community

By Jacqui Banaszynski

November 11, 2021

A local BuyNothing website becomes a sense of neighborhood connection

Story Craft

#7 rule of pitching: Prove your skills and your passion

By Jacqui Banaszynski

November 10, 2021

Pitching a story you want to pursue is not the time to hide your light under that proverbial bushel — or to sell what you can't deliver

Story Annotations

Immersing into the lives of children damaged by gun violence, and laws that don’t stop it

By Chip Scanlan

November 5, 2021

John Woodrow Cox of The Washington Post talks to kids like an adult, sits on their bedroom floors, and doesn't push until they're OK with him

One Great Moment

“That’s what writing is, after all the nonsense…”

By Jacqui Banaszynski

November 4, 2021

Ocean Vuong in his novel, "On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous"

Personal Essays

50 shades of nuance in a polarized world

By Shoba Narayan

November 3, 2021

An essayist ponders when to write black-and-white polemics that attract clicks, and when to be more considered