Story Craft 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… February 5, 2020 Chip Scanlan 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… January 30, 2020 Chuck Haga 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 January 23, 2020 Jyoti Madhusoodanan 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… January 23, 2020 Jacqui Banaszynski 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… January 15, 2020 Chip Scanlan 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… January 1, 2020 Jacqui Banaszynski 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… November 22, 2019 Jacqui Banaszynski 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… October 18, 2019 Jacqui Banaszynski Lessons from biographer Robert Caro’s instructive mini-memoir “Working” If there were no Robert Caro, he could not easily be invented. Consider the job description: Commit your career to exhaustive research into the lives of two legendarily powerful men,… October 15, 2019 Don Nelson The story in the music — and the music in how the story is written I fall to pieces every time I hear a recording of Patsy Cline singing “Crazy” or “Sweet Dreams” — or “I Fall to Pieces” — and it’s not just because… September 26, 2019 Chuck Haga Previous 1 … 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 … 39 Next
