Story Craft

A good pitch is not a scattershot, but a clearly stated central idea or question that is fresh, relevant, and a fit for the publication

Steve Padilla of the Los Angeles Times urges writers to tune up their writing with song

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,…

Retired sports editor Cathy Henkel created a daily countdown to the presidential inauguration in shells and stones, and found herself telling stories

The lack of a simple clips search can tank your idea