Story Craft

"Power of Narrative" Conference: Mary Roach's bad habits

“Power of Narrative” Conference: Mary Roach’s bad habits

Mary Roach doesn’t do her homework. She didn’t go to J-school. By her own admission, she’s never quite sure she knows what she’s doing.“I always have the sense that I’m…
Esquire Classic: Mike Sager's country includes old men

Esquire Classic: Mike Sager’s country includes old men

Back in 1998, magazine writer Mike Sager was best known for his fearless profiles of drug dealers, crackheads, porn stars, and neo-Nazis. But that year Esquire handed him a very…

Esquire Classic: Colum McCann, Bitcoin and the Winklevoss twins

The last time most of us heard of the Winklevoss twins—hell, the first time we heard of them—was in David Fincher’s acerbic 2010 movie, The Social Network. You remember: Tyler…

Esquire Classic: Elizabeth Kaye and great profile writing

Esquire has long been fascinated by men in power—and by the frailties and anxieties that lie just beneath their polished facades. Beginning in the late eighties, contributing editor Elizabeth Kaye…
Radio Diaries' Joe Richman and "The Last Man on the Mountain"

Radio Diaries’ Joe Richman and “The Last Man on the Mountain”

Joe RichmanJoe Richman practices narrative without narration. His production company, Radio Diaries, crafts public radio stories whose characters do all the talking. In the absence of a reporter’s voice, which…

From Esquire Classic: “Love in the Time of Magic”

Mid February marked the anniversary of Magic Johnson’s 1992 return to the NBA after having retired the previous fall, when he announced he was HIV positive. He turned in a…
From Esquire Classic: Mark Warren on “The End of War” for C.J. Chivers

From Esquire Classic: Mark Warren on “The End of War” for C.J. Chivers

C.J. Chivers, widely regarded as a superman of war coverage, covered conflicts for The New York Times and Esquire for 14 years. In “The End of War,” Mark Warren explains what…
From Esquire Classic: Gay Talese on Profiling Boxer Floyd Patterson

From Esquire Classic: Gay Talese on Profiling Boxer Floyd Patterson

To help celebrate Floyd Patterson’s birthday, let’s turn for a moment to Esquire Hall of Famer Gay Talese, who called Patterson a “writer’s dream.”Esquire Classic: You wrote more than thirty stories…
From Esquire Classic: Tom Junod on Profiling Hillary Clinton

From Esquire Classic: Tom Junod on Profiling Hillary Clinton

Tom JunodHillary Clinton has changed greatly over the past twenty-five years of public service, as First Lady, then Senator, then Secretary of State, and now presidential front-runner. No one has…

Narrative Conferences and Workshops: Where to Hone Your Skills in 2016

Happy Narrative New Year! If you resolved to get better at narrative in 2016, or even just to figure out what it is, here’s a list of conferences and workshops…