Story Craft

How writers show you the love

How writers show you the love

It’s a predictable moment: A reporter needs some relevant emotion for story, so — recorder running and notebook poised — asks: “How does it feel?”You can insert the situation of…
A blocked writer rediscovers her voice as she discovers America's national parks

A blocked writer rediscovers her voice as she discovers America’s national parks

Dan Zak of the Washington Post toured 800 miles of Iowa in five days to explore the real place behind the political headlines and cultural cliches
Using narrative digression to weave backstory, context and suspense into stories

Using narrative digression to weave backstory, context and suspense into stories

I’m bleary-eyed as I write this. Late last night, I finished several weeks of binge-watching “The West Wing,” all 156 episodes of the nostalgic political series which ran on television…
In good writing, clarity is job one

In good writing, clarity is job one

After 40-some years of practicing journalism, I decided there was much I still had to learn about the craft. So I became a teacher. Any of you who have gone…
Dancing your way into the art of writing

Dancing your way into the art of writing

Shop Class: A science freelancer opens herself to the syntax of traditional Indian dance — and the possibilities of free writing
Free writing: Releasing your inner artist

Free writing: Releasing your inner artist

Somewhere in the early pages of “Draft No. 4: On the Writing Process,” John McPhee gives a nod to daily news reporters. The author and New Yorker writer was explaining…
An investigative journalist takes a yearly "leap out of the comfort zone" into fiction

An investigative journalist takes a yearly “leap out of the comfort zone” into fiction

Every journalist has an unfinished novel or a screenplay tucked in their desk drawer or hard drive. Of course, that’s not true in every case, but there’s no doubt a…
The narrative of the year behind? Start now

The narrative of the year behind? Start now

Come the close of any calendar year, and look-back pieces are as common as failed New Year resolutions. At the close of a decade — even more.So when one rises…
Some warbly thoughts on "voice"

Some warbly thoughts on “voice”

Defining a writer’s “voice” has always stumped me. It came up again recently, when a journalism professor put me on speaker phone with her class of college freshmen, who had…
From five minutes to finished

From five minutes to finished

Hang out at a journalism workshop, anywhere in the world, and inevitably the subject comes up: We’re being asked to produce more and more, in less and less time.It was…