Articles

Time's David Von Drehle on narrating tragedy and the evolution of his Tucson story

Yesterday, we posted our first Editors’ Roundtable, in which a group of word wizards did their magic on a piece of narrative nonfiction. Our debut story for consideration was “The Real…
February 2, 2011
Andrea Pitzer
February Editors' Roundtable: Time magazine takes on the Tucson shootings

February Editors’ Roundtable: Time magazine takes on the Tucson shootings

The narrative selected for discussion by our first-ever Editors’  Roundtable is “The Real Lesson of the Tucson Tragedy” by David Von Drehle. Appearing in Time magazine five days after the shooting of…
February 1, 2011
Andrea Pitzer

Death and football: reconstructing the last days of Max Gilpin

In our latest Notable Narrative, “The Boy Who Died of Football,” Sports Illustrated senior writer Thomas Lake takes on the collapse of high school football player Max Gilpin during team…
January 27, 2011
Andrea Pitzer

Richard Just on long-form journalism and online cover stories at The New Republic

Last week, The New Republic began posting "online cover stories" on its website. Announcing the move, the magazine's new editor, Richard Just, wrote about his belief  that "beautifully crafted, methodically…
January 25, 2011
Andrea Pitzer
Keeping it real: how round characters grow from the seeds of detail

Keeping it real: how round characters grow from the seeds of detail

When I first read the New Journalism manifestos by Tom Wolfe in the late 1970s, they changed forever my vision of narrative. In spite of my Ph.D. in English, I…
January 24, 2011
Roy Peter Clark

The Justice League of narrative? Even better: it's the roster of our new Editors' Roundtable

Earlier this week, we announced a new offering on Storyboard – an Editors’ Roundtable, in which a stellar group of editors will collectively analyze a piece of narrative journalism. We invited…
January 21, 2011
Andrea Pitzer

Robert Caro, Stacy Schiff, Diane Ackerman and more: narrative conferences and workshops in 2011

Was one of your resolutions in 2011 to become a better storyteller? If so, here are a few conferences and workshops slated for the coming months that can probably teach…
January 20, 2011
Andrea Pitzer
Calling all writers and fans of narrative: submit stories to our new Editors' Roundtable

Calling all writers and fans of narrative: submit stories to our new Editors’ Roundtable

After three weeks of ice, you’ve watched every “Law & Order” spinoff in syndication from inside your snow fort. The long weekend is over, and you’re looking out the window through…
January 18, 2011
Andrea Pitzer
Harvey Smith on environmental storytelling and embedding narrative: "It has to be possible to miss some things to make finding them meaningful"

Harvey Smith on environmental storytelling and embedding narrative: "It has to be possible to miss some things to make finding them meaningful"

In a bit of serendipitous surfing last fall, I stumbled onto “What Happened Here?” a presentation by Harvey Smith and Matthias Worch at the 2010 Game Developers Conference in San…
January 14, 2011
Andrea Pitzer

What we’re watching: newspapers go documentary

It used to be that long-form newspaper narratives were, well, printed on newspaper. These days, long-form is taking on another meaning. Our latest installment of “what we’re watching” includes two…
January 12, 2011
Andrea Pitzer