Nieman Storyboard - Nieman Storyboard

Story Annotations

Annotation: How to write a nuanced portrait of singer-songwriter Elliott Smith, 23 years after his death

Journalist Jamie Fisher interviews 140 people to get to the heart of an artist’s life in ‘Nobody Broke Your Heart’

Trevor Pyle

Podcast

Journalist Wudan Yan on the importance of fact-checking as ‘peer review’

The founder of the fact-checking agency Factual discusses how journalists can organize their reporting to work collaboratively with fact-checkers

Mark Armstrong

Story Annotations

How ESPN’s Seth Wickersham followed an NFL team’s playoff run from the inside

The award-winning sports journalist and author of the new anthology ‘Be on That Hill’ parlays his years of experience into an immersive profile of Denver Broncos coach Sean Payton

Brendan O‘Meara

Podcast

Author and editor Sari Botton on giving yourself permission to write personal essays

The editor behind the popular newsletters Oldster and Memoir Land discusses her own journey to writing a memoir, and how journalists can find their voice

Mark Armstrong

Nieman Storyboard’s guides on storytelling

Story Craft

The art of pitching: How to sell your book or story idea

Editors from The Atavist, Wired, and more share what they’re looking for in a story or book proposal.

Story Craft

How to craft a narrative: Everything you need to know

A four-part series on the key elements of nonfiction storytelling, including scene, character and endings.

Lauren Kessler

Story Craft

The Nieman Storyboard guide to books on storytelling

Journalists, authors, producers, filmmakers, and Nieman Storyboard readers share more than 40 books that inspire their work.

Mallary Tenore Tarpley

Story Craft

How to interview for narrative vs. news

From broad and open-ended to narrow and specific: Journalist Kim Cross’s five-part series on interviewing for narrative nonfiction.

Kim Cross

Strictly Q&A

Podcast Strictly Q&A

Journalist Wudan Yan on the importance of fact-checking as ‘peer review’

The founder of the fact-checking agency Factual discusses how journalists can organize their reporting to work collaboratively with fact-checkers

Mark Armstrong

Podcast Strictly Q&A

Author and editor Sari Botton on giving yourself permission to write personal essays

The editor behind the popular newsletters Oldster and Memoir Land discusses her own journey to writing a memoir, and how journalists can find their voice

Mark Armstrong

Audio journalist Will James on investigating the unsolved murder of a teenager in Seattle's CHOP zone

Podcast Strictly Q&A

Story Annotations

Annotation: How ESPN's Seth Wickersham followed an NFL team’s playoff run from the inside

The award-winning sports journalist and author of the new anthology ‘Be on That Hill’ parlays his years of experience into an immersive profile of Denver Broncos coach Sean Payton

Brendan O'Meara

Story Annotations

Annotation: Yiyun Li reconsiders the language of loss in her Pulitzer-winning memoir, ‘Things in Nature Merely Grow’

The acclaimed author discusses how words like “grief” fail when writing about the loss of her teenage son James

Mallary Tenore Tarpley

Story Annotations

Song Annotation: ‘Cold Missouri Waters’

In a song about a wildfire, songwriter James Keelaghan narrates a story that took Norman Maclean a whole book to tell

Kim Cross

Story Craft

How 5 journalists structured their stories to hook readers

From the Editor

What does it mean to fact-check a story?

Wudan Yan on the future of fact-checking in journalism. Plus: Advice for freelancing, and re-introducing yourself to your audience

Mark Armstrong

From the Editor

The power of seeing potential: Three kinds of writing mentors

How Pulitzer winner Miriam Pawel used archives and human-centered storytelling to retrace the epic journey of the University of California. Plus: National Book Award finalists and AI writer scams

Erika Hayasaki

From the Editor

On refusing to look away

How student journalists broke news of the Cornell sexual assault case. Plus: Deesha Philyaw’s advice on detaching from rejection in the publishing world

Mark Armstrong

Annotation: How to write a nuanced portrait of singer-songwriter Elliott Smith, 23 years after his death

Journalist Wudan Yan on the importance of fact-checking as ‘peer review’

How ESPN’s Seth Wickersham followed an NFL team’s playoff run from the inside

Author and editor Sari Botton on giving yourself permission to write personal essays

Nieman Storyboard’s guides on storytelling

The art of pitching: How to sell your book or story idea

How to craft a narrative: Everything you need to know