Story Craft

A veteran journalist tuned into music to turn on her writing

I‘m not much on Valentine’s Day. I liked the grade school tradition of exchanging Valentine’s Day cards with classmates. (Is that just a U.S. thing?) Each of us was supposed…

EDITOR’S NOTE: Storyboard recently revisited the long-standing debate over the ‘nut graf’ — variably called the summary nut, the billboard, the transition, the significance graf, the so-what passage, the foreshadow. Veteran writer…

Editor’s note: We’re looking at the never-ending debate over what is called, in journalese, the “nut graf” — that so-what paragraph or section that pulls out of the news or…

A defense of the summary nut as it is used in variations by Ken Burns, the Beatles and Shakespeare

When a summary nut beeps like the back-up horn on a truck or blinds like a searchlight, it can ruin the magic of a narrative

Conference panels can be frustrating things. Several subject experts droning on, absorbed with the minutiae of their own work, sometimes failing to make bigger points, often repeating what other panelists…

Editor’s note: This is another in our Shop Class series. The goal is to break down the work that goes into creating stories, and offer prompts, suggestions or exercises to help you…

Every writer procrastinates. Even John McPhee, one of the most prolific writers of our time. “I’ll go hours before I’m able to write a word,” he has said. “I’ll make tea. I…

Roy Peter ClarkEDITOR’S NOTE: In the spirit of the giving season, the Poynter Institute gave us permission to use this piece (first published by Poynter Dec. 10) in which Roy Peter Clark teaches…