Articles

Everything you need to know about storytelling in 5 minutes

Everything you need to know about storytelling in 5 minutes

This basic framework is at the heart of it all
May 24, 2013
Tommy Tomlinson
Writing a tornado narrative, with Esquire's Luke Dittrich

Writing a tornado narrative, with Esquire’s Luke Dittrich

The news out of Moore, Okla., couldn’t help remind us of the historic tornado in Joplin, Mo., and of one narrative in particular: Luke Dittrich’s National Magazine Award-winning Esquire piece…
May 23, 2013
Paige Williams
Annotation Tuesday! Amy Wallace and one of "the most despised and feared" men in Hollywood

Annotation Tuesday! Amy Wallace and one of "the most despised and feared" men in Hollywood

When Amy Wallace profiled then-Variety editor Peter Bart for Los Angeles magazine, she took on issues of access, personality, misdirection, industry politics, journalism and retaliation. To write about a guy…
May 21, 2013
Elon Green
Work the problem: Story regret

Work the problem: Story regret

Our “Work the problem” series continues with a psychological situation that every writer faces:How do you make peace with stories you wish you’d done differently?Fielding this one is Esquire legend…
May 17, 2013
Paige Williams
"The Prophets of Oak Ridge"

“The Prophets of Oak Ridge”

Our latest Notable Narrative: “The Prophets of Oak Ridge,” Dan Zak’s 9,448-word Washington Post project—and, as of this morning, e-book—about a house painter, a drifter and an 82-year-old nun who…
May 14, 2013
Paige Williams
How's it going with The Big Round Table and other narrative ventures, Michael Shapiro?

How’s it going with The Big Round Table and other narrative ventures, Michael Shapiro?

As if longtime Columbia J-school professor Michael Shapiro didn’t already have enough to do, with Big Round Table launching in September: Yesterday he put 17 of his students’ stories online…
May 10, 2013
Paige Williams
Why Charles Ramsey’s interview is great (and it’s okay* to think so)

Why Charles Ramsey’s interview is great (and it’s okay* to think so)

Everybody loved the Charles Ramsey interviews on freeing Amanda Berry, one of three young women abducted in Cleveland a decade ago and apparently held captive all this time. Then of…
May 9, 2013
Paige Williams
"Why's this so good?" No. 77: Danny and the carjackers

"Why’s this so good?" No. 77: Danny and the carjackers

@GlobeMoskowitzOne of the most riveting stories to emerge from the Boston Marathon bombing coverage was the Boston Globe piece, by Eric Moskowitz, about “Danny,” the young Chinese entrepreneur who spent…
May 7, 2013
Paige Williams
Prize stories, Part 2: A National Magazine Award for Pamela Colloff

Prize stories, Part 2: A National Magazine Award for Pamela Colloff

Storytelling prize season wound down last night with the presentation of the National Magazine Awards, the Pulitzers of the American magazine world. Texas Monthly’s Pamela Colloff took the “Ellie” for her two-part…
May 3, 2013
Paige Williams
"How'd you find that 'invisible army' story, Sarah Stillman?"

"How’d you find that ‘invisible army’ story, Sarah Stillman?"

Sarah Stillman’s “The Invisible Army” (The New Yorker, June 2011) told the stunning and deeply reported tale of the 70,000 “third-country nationals” who work on U.S. military bases in war…
May 2, 2013
Paige Williams