Story Craft

Don't lose an interesting idea in a boring pitch

Two foundational definitions of news are proximity and immediacy. The closer and more urgent an event or issue, the more likely it is to grab a reader’s attention. That can…

 For Mayukh Sen, a James Beard Award-winning food writer and adjunct professor at NYU, the entry point into food writing has always been the stories of the people behind the…

Curiosity grounds all good journalism. Following up on curiosity — wondering about everything, and then caring to find out — is what makes journalism soar.Lane DeGregory finds and follows stories…

I didn’t make any New Year’s resolutions this year. However, I did launch a new morning routine.Every morning I get up, make coffee, get the woodstove going, sit in my…

About this time every year, the stories start rolling out, urging you to reset your  New Year’s resolutions — and make them realistic. That’s because by this time, every year,…

EDITOR’S NOTE: Cathy Henkel, a retired newspaper reporter and editor from Seattle, was wintering on the west coast of Mexico when borders closed because of COVID. She turned a hobby…

The lack of a simple clips search can tank your idea

Writing guru Roy Peter Clark analyzes an "astonishing lead," and unpacks the notions of objectivity and detachment in light of current events

Cal Hooper is a Chicago cop who was ditched by his wife, estranged from his daughter, haunted by past cases and addicted to the action. Somewhere along the way, the…