Articles

"I think of myself as a humble student trying to get better and just lucky to still be getting chances to do it.”

“I think of myself as a humble student trying to get better and just lucky to still be getting chances to do it.”

Why it’s so great: This isn’t a particularly elegant sentence. It may even come across as disingenuous – a popular, successful Hollywood actor who, at 65, still claims to be…
August 9, 2018
Jacqui Banaszynski
"What is beyond grief?"

“What is beyond grief?”

Why is this great?  Writers wade into the world to witness it in all its dimensions, then remake it in the hieroglyphics we know as words – marks we use…
August 1, 2018
Jacqui Banaszynski
Q&A: Greg Bishop on a quarterback, a suicide and a search for answers

Q&A: Greg Bishop on a quarterback, a suicide and a search for answers

The risks of tackle football run through the center of a tortured conversation that escalates with each new tale of the shattered life of a famous pro. More and more…
July 31, 2018
Elliott Almond
Learning to read: The daily news as information and inspiration

Learning to read: The daily news as information and inspiration

Editor’s note: Our third Shop Class – part of our Story Craft posts – grew out of breaking news stories and blogs that offer rich lessons on how to do the…
July 27, 2018
Jacqui Banaszynski
"But the sea, too, took its toll."

“But the sea, too, took its toll.”

Why it’s great: Deadline reporting of natural disasters is a tightrope walk. Too little drama and events are reduced to factoids that don’t take hold in the readers’ mind or…
July 25, 2018
Jacqui Banaszynski
Learning to see: A landscape of ice, a blind boy's eyes, a grizzly bear and a wall stain

Learning to see: A landscape of ice, a blind boy’s eyes, a grizzly bear and a wall stain

Editor’s note: This is our second edition of Shop Class, a new Story Craft feature. The goal is to break down the work that goes into creating stories, and offer prompts or…
July 25, 2018
Jacqui Banaszynski

“Gary Robinson died hungry.”

Why is it great? My mentor Ron Speer of the Virginian-Pilot liked the opening line of the Bible for Greatest Short Lede Ever. I go with Buchanan. I’m hooked with four words.…
July 21, 2018
Tom Warhover

Take Two: Avi Selk on spiders, aggregation and writing fast

EDITOR’S NOTE: Yesterday, we featured contributor Rebecca Boyle’s interview with Washington Post general assignment reporter Avi Selk about his intriguing, elegiac story of the world’s longest living spider.Today, we broaden…
July 19, 2018
Rebecca Boyle
Avi Selk eulogizes the long life and too-soon death of Spider 16, and what she taught us

Avi Selk eulogizes the long life and too-soon death of Spider 16, and what she taught us

EDITOR’S NOTE: Writing about science and animals (creatures?) can be challenging. It is essential to get it right. It is also essential to make it accessible. In other words, to…
July 18, 2018
Rebecca Boyle
Can you say ... Thanks, and we miss you?

Can you say … Thanks, and we miss you?

Editor’s note: We have written about Tom Junod’s 1998 Esquire profile of Mister Rogers before. The release of the documentary film, and the climate of the times, prompted us to…
July 13, 2018
Matt Tullis