5 Questions

How the personal narrative can make the difference between prison and release

A veteran journalist discovers the role of story in America's prison system — and "human resilience and grace in the face of adversity"

By Trevor Pyle • February 25, 2020

The shift of “branches” in a sentence creates shifts in mood and meaning

Writing guru Roy Peter Clark shows how a single, long sentence reveals the power of an overlooked writing tool: the placement of the main clause

By Roy Peter Clark • February 21, 2020

Narrative News

A new science writing anthology offers lessons for any journalist covering a complex world

"The Craft of Science Writing" collects more than 30 pieces from the how-to website "The Open Notebook"

By Jacqui Banaszynski • February 20, 2020

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One Great Sentence

“Iowa is a fairy tale.”

By Jill U. Adams

February 14, 2020

Dan Zak of the Washington Post in a story about the 2020 Iowa caucuses

Story Craft

How writers show you the love

By Jacqui Banaszynski

February 13, 2020

Shop Class: A Valentine's Day special on putting emotion into your stories

Story Craft

A blocked writer rediscovers her voice as she discovers America’s national parks

By Isabelle Roughol

February 6, 2020

How a daily free write from the open road unlocked the door to stories

Story Craft

Using narrative digression to weave backstory, context and suspense into stories

By Chip Scanlan

February 5, 2020

A narrative writer binges on "The West Wing" and contemplates the value of taking the reader on short detours from the primary plot

One Great Sentence

“If you think of all these words just staggering around, grammar is their social order, their government.”

By Jacqui Banaszynski

January 31, 2020

From "The Grammarians," a novel by Cathleen Schine

Story Craft

In good writing, clarity is job one

By Chuck Haga

January 30, 2020

A retired newspaperman teaches to learn, and introduces the next generation the parallel pillars of effective writing: Keep it simple and clear

Why's This So Good?

Basketball superstar Kobe Bryant’s death inspired deadline writing as daring and creative as he was

By Trevor Pyle

January 28, 2020

These four pieces took different paths, each offering its own moments of elegance on elegance

Story Craft

Dancing your way into the art of writing

By Jyoti Madhusoodanan

January 23, 2020

Shop Class: A science freelancer opens herself to the syntax of traditional Indian dance — and the possibilities of free writing

Story Craft

Free writing: Releasing your inner artist

By Jacqui Banaszynski

January 23, 2020

Shop Class: Moving your fingers to get out of your head and into your story

Notable Narratives

Four hundred years of harsh history delivered in 8,000 unflinching words

By Lisa Grace Lednicer

January 17, 2020

Nikole Hannah-Jones anchors "The 1619 Project" in the New York Times with a "reported essay" that weaves historical events and personal experience

Story Craft

An investigative journalist takes a yearly “leap out of the comfort zone” into fiction

By Chip Scanlan

January 15, 2020

What Milwaukee Journal Sentinel projects editor Greg Borowski has learned from writing a Christmas story for his family for the past 25 years

5 Questions

When the story we cover becomes our own

By Chip Scanlan

January 9, 2020

A reporter chronicles the shutdown of a factory and the closing of his newspaper, capturing a familiar “cycle of death and exodus”