Story Annotations

The Pitch: Landing a "definitive narrative" in The Atavist Magazine

The Pitch: Landing a “definitive narrative” in The Atavist Magazine

Editor Seyward Darby: "I definitely want people who are willing to strip a story down to its basics and figure out how to build it back up."
How Rolling Stone revisited a mass tragedy to 'humanize the horrendous'

How Rolling Stone revisited a mass tragedy to ‘humanize the horrendous’

After the Florida condo collapse, Matt Sullivan vowed not to forget a teen survivor. The year-later profile has credibility, empathy and a haunting ending
Shaping a historic narrative: The Jan. 6 hearings as story craft

Shaping a historic narrative: The Jan. 6 hearings as story craft

The public hearings of the congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol draw on core narrative elements
A reporter explores the laws and emotion involved in helping her father die

A reporter explores the laws and emotion involved in helping her father die

Bloomberg investigative reporter Esmé Deprez researched a range of death-with-dignity issues after becoming her father's end-of-life partner
Lauren Hough goes on a hunt for Bonnie and Clyde and her Grandpa Chuck

Lauren Hough goes on a hunt for Bonnie and Clyde and her Grandpa Chuck

A celebrated memoirist returns to her native Texas on a quest to determine if her family stories were true
Viewing the COVID divide through tensions in one rural community

Viewing the COVID divide through tensions in one rural community

AP reporter Tim Sullivan found a small town on the Minnesota prairie to explore the political chasms exposed by COVID
An Atlantic writer turned a fatal blow into a sensitive study of boxing, guilt and grit

An Atlantic writer turned a fatal blow into a sensitive study of boxing, guilt and grit

Atlantic editor and writer Jacob Stern can sum up in a single word, as flickering as a blurred jab, what he knew about boxing: “Nothing.” But when Stern embarked on…
How Rachel Aviv of The New Yorker exposed the "troubled teen industry"

How Rachel Aviv of The New Yorker exposed the “troubled teen industry”

Aviv scoured court records, social media and personal journals to reveal the abuses of a system of unregulated Christian boarding schools
A profile of one family divided by vaccine politics reflects the divide of a nation

A profile of one family divided by vaccine politics reflects the divide of a nation

Peter Jamison of The Washington Post immerses into the emotional chasm of a family struggling with divergent views and a sudden death
Immersing into the lives of children damaged by gun violence, and laws that don't stop it

Immersing into the lives of children damaged by gun violence, and laws that don’t stop it

For the past five years, John Woodrow Cox has worked to master the art of helping children talk about a fraught but rarely covered subject — the long-term physical and…