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Your brain on narrative: evolution and the story rope

Your brain on narrative: evolution and the story rope

“Our brains are hard-wired for story” is one common argument for why narrative is useful in journalism, in writing, in life. The phrase has always made me uncomfortable, because while…
November 4, 2011
Brady Dennis on “After the sky fell”

Brady Dennis on “After the sky fell”

This week’s “Why’s this so good?” post looked at Brady Dennis’ 296-word story about a toll booth operator’s love for the wife he lost to cancer. The piece ran in…
November 2, 2011
“Why’s this so good?” No. 18: Brady Dennis goes short

“Why’s this so good?” No. 18: Brady Dennis goes short

A few years ago, a bunch of us were sitting around the front porch of this crumpled old resort in the Catskills, knocking back drinks and talking shop. I can’t…
November 1, 2011
Jessica Pressler on New York, “millennium girls” and the love story that wasn't

Jessica Pressler on New York, “millennium girls” and the love story that wasn't

This week's Editors' Roundtable dives into Jessica Pressler’s story “A Holly Golightly for the Stripper-Embezzlement Age,” from New York magazine. A contributing editor and blogger for New York since 2007, Pressler…
October 28, 2011
October Editors' Roundtable No. 2: New York magazine updates an archetype

October Editors’ Roundtable No. 2: New York magazine updates an archetype

Our second October Rountable looks at “A Holly Golightly for the Stripper-Embezzlement Age,” by Jessica Pressler. Pressler introduces readers to former stripper Diane Passage, and a world in which a…
October 27, 2011
"Why's this so good?" No. 17: Meyer Berger delivers on deadline

"Why’s this so good?" No. 17: Meyer Berger delivers on deadline

The Pulitzer Prize for breaking news tends to go to a massive team effort, often one in which a dozen or more reporters feed material to one, two or even…
October 25, 2011

Michael Paterniti spins a fairy tale of loss and survival

Our latest Notable Narrative, “The Man Who Sailed His House,” tells the story of Hiromitsu Shinkawa, who was found floating alone on the roof of his home in the days…
October 21, 2011
Jack Hart on “Storycraft” and narrative nonfiction as an American literary form

Jack Hart on “Storycraft” and narrative nonfiction as an American literary form

A soup-to-nuts look at narrative nonfiction, Jack Hart’s “Storycraft” breaks down different approaches to telling true stories and the components that make or break them. In writing the book, Hart…
October 20, 2011

“Why’s this so good?" No. 16: David Foster Wallace on the vagaries of cruising

For seven days and seven nights in mid-March of 1995, David Foster Wallace took a cruise. He did not have a very good time. The results of the voyage are…
October 18, 2011
Amy Harmon on getting readers “to think about the limits of their own tolerance”

Amy Harmon on getting readers “to think about the limits of their own tolerance”

Our latest Editors’ Roundtable looks at “Autistic and Seeking a Place in an Adult World.” Amy Harmon's story follows Justin Canha, an autistic man in his early 20s, and the…
October 14, 2011