Story Craft

The Sixth Cactus: When green becomes so much more than green

A writer learns to see beyond the obvious to the creative

Story Craft

Five life hacks for beating writer’s block

When you're stuck as deadline looms, here are ways to get on with it

Short Takes

Newsroom Ode #1: Friday night on the city desk

A dead-tree dinosaur writes from the edge of extinction

5 Questions

A writer Instagrams his way back to love … or something close to it

Conversation with Tyrone Beason: How a Seattle Times reporter chronicled his relationship with the streets, and learned to tell a story with his phone

One Great Sentence

“Everyone likes to reminisce, but no one wants to listen, and everyone feels annoyed when someone else tells a story.”

From "The Three-Body Problem" by Cixin Liu

Why's This So Good?

Yes, everyone, there is a reason to believe …

From one crusty newspaperman in 19th century to another in the 21st, the "Yes, Virginia" letter endures, transcending time and cynicism

Short Takes

An “Advent Manifesto” written in 100 short bursts becomes a study in deep writing

Story Craft

Roy Peter Clark: A red-nosed reindeer lights the way to better writing

A holiday share from our friends at the Poynter Institute

5 Questions

A “final” phone call from the wildfires inspires an unusual, intimate story written under the fire of deadline

A conversation with Corina Knoll of The Los Angeles Times: She broke with convention and just wrote it "how I felt it should be told"

Annotation Tuesday!

THE PITCH: How to crack the code of live storytelling with Pop-Up Magazine

"Ephemeral" true stories that inform, surprise and delight

Story Craft

Want to make your headlines sing? Try writing to the beats of “Hamliton”

A Washington Post editor raps to the rhythm of the Broadway musical

Annotation Tuesday!

How film class led to fighting wildfires which led to finding a home which led to a memoir

Sarah Berns took Outside readers smokejumping (and brothel-hopping). Now she takes us on a screenwriter's journey through narrative