5 Questions

Singular moments, timeless questions

Two-time Pulitzer winner Gene Weingarten finds the beating heart at the center of his new book about one ordinary, extraordinary day

By Chip Scanlan • October 22, 2019

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Story Craft

From five minutes to finished

A writer and physician stumbles into a solution for writing fast and relaxed. Sleep is required.

By Jacqui Banaszynski • October 18, 2019

5 Questions

Ditching “monkey mind” to find joy while writing

Shop Class: An author and meditation guide teaches writers how to get through the "bardo," or stuck places, with mindfulness practice

By Hope McLeod • October 16, 2019

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Investigative Reporting Short Narratives Tom Junod Poverty Narrative Journalism
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5 Questions

Singular moments, timeless questions

By Chip Scanlan
October 22, 2019

Two-time Pulitzer winner Gene Weingarten finds the beating heart at the center of his new book about one ordinary, extraordinary day

5 Questions

Ditching “monkey mind” to find joy while writing

By Hope McLeod
October 16, 2019

Shop Class: An author and meditation guide teaches writers how to get through the "bardo," or stuck places, with mindfulness practice

5 Questions

Stories that unfold — and pain that is measured — from the ground up

By Trevor Pyle
October 9, 2019

A native Alaskan returns home to his Tlingit community, which "Didn't Stand a Chance" against the opioid epidemic

5 Questions

“Life is too short to write something boring.”

By Kim Cross
September 26, 2019

A conversation with Los Angeles native and magazine journalist Mary Melton, who profiled a famous photographer in 36 exposures, as in a roll of film

5 Questions

When gun violence visits, a pastor finds faith and a reporter finds those not noticed

By Chip Scanlan
September 18, 2019

A veteran of multiple mass shootings, David Montero of the Los Angeles Times rejects easy narratives to explore reality on deadline

5 Questions

A bag of ashes, a research-loving reporter, the public library, and a three-hour hunt

By Trevor Pyle
September 6, 2019

Shop Class: A newspaper reporter accepts a two-word challenge, and finds a veteran's survivors after police give up

5 Questions

A self-made freelance career (with a little help along the way)

By Allison Kirkland
August 29, 2019

Barry Yeoman talks about a life of learning to report, write, listen, and keep up

5 Questions

Reclaiming history with jars of dirt, and building stories from the ground up

By Kim Cross
August 23, 2019

FROM THE ARCHIVES: Alabama's memorial to slavery was conceived through the eyes of slavery's descendants

5 Questions

14 hours from event to post: Delivering narrative with context on deadline

By Chip Scanlan
August 6, 2019

Politico Magazine’s Michael Kruse leans on tried-and-true storytelling techniques (and a good editor) to deliver "something else" from a news event

5 Questions

A hitchhiker’s guide to a galaxy of stories

By Andrew Fedorov
July 5, 2019

Michael Paterniti meditates on hitting the road as a way to discover the wonders of the world, and the intimacies and risks of human connections

5 Questions

An investigative journalist tries his hand at a true crime series for middle schoolers

By Jill U. Adams
July 2, 2019

Bryan Denson recast decades as a newspaper reporter into a top-selling spy biography, and now a series on the FBI for young readers

5 Questions

An amputee runs a grueling ultra-marathon in the desert; a reporting team chases along

By Matt Tullis
June 25, 2019

Veteran sports reporter Jere Longman of The New York Times travels the globe to to write about the people and passion behind the games

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