From the Editor

Four questions mine for bottomless wisdom

Writing coach Chip Scanlan brings back "Chip on Your Shoulder," which features formatted interviews that yield a surprising range of answers

By Jacqui Banaszynski • July 10, 2020

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Story Annotations

Navigating ethics, culture and safety to immerse in immigration and Covid

Pulitzer Prize winner Hannah Dreier writes an "unusually quiet story" that presented challenges of access, health risks and structure

By Trevor Pyle • July 8, 2020

Strictly Q&A

Rejecting the simplified news narrative

Documentary filmmaker Erin Lee Carr probes the complexity of the human psyche in well-known criminal cases

By Kristen Chin • July 2, 2020

Featured Contributors

Chip Scanlan

Diana K. Sugg

Roy Peter Clark

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Storytelling Free writing Gay Talese Longform narrative Writing tips
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One Great Moment

“His conversation is so delightfully sauced …”

By Madeline Bodin
July 1, 2020

Robin Wall Kimmerer from an essay in "Braiding Sweetgrass"

Story Craft

What crisis reporting can teach about better sports reporting

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An award-winning sports reporter draws on three tools to find relevant stories in any situation

Strictly Q&A

Reporting the emotionally sensitive story through trauma and physical distance

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June 25, 2020

An L.A. Times metro reporter leans on eight years covering South L.A., and on her humanity, to write about Nipsey Hussle, covid, racial injustice and more

One Great Moment

“Violence of the light miraculous.”

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From the novel "The Dust That Falls from Dreams" by Louis de Bernieres

Strictly Q&A

The route to a Pulitzer in opinion writing: rigorous reporting

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A newcomer to a tiny newspaper in rural Texas brings fresh eyes, big-city experience, a drummer's rhythm, and some "swagger" to his editorials

Story Craft

The challenge of precision: As descriptors evolve, the press must be clear

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A resource offers terms and definitions within the world of LGBTQ+

One Great Moment

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Mads Mikkelsen as TV character Hannibal Lecter

One Great Moment

“They were tired, so tired and still they returned.”

By Jacqui Banaszynski
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Washington Post staff

From the Editor

The challenge of writing a life in two lines

By Jacqui Banaszynski
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How contemplating the essence of your own brief obituary can teach you how to report and write about others

From the Editor

A confluence of hard news that demands uncomfortable considerations

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June 9, 2020

Essays following the death of George Floyd challenge journalists to confront racial blindness in society, in their newsrooms and in themselves

Notable Narratives

How F. Scott Fitzgerald guided the hand and aspirations of a newspaper journalist

By Lisa Grace Lednicer
June 4, 2020

An editor and writer revisits the lessons she found, as a young reporter, embedded in Fitzgerald's short stories

Short Takes

Reading (Stephen King) to learn to write

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June 3, 2020

A "starter's guide" to the king of terror, from the New York Times, is a reminder that learning happens in many forms

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