Story Craft

"How'd you find that 'invisible army' story, Sarah Stillman?"

"How’d you find that ‘invisible army’ story, Sarah Stillman?"

Sarah Stillman’s “The Invisible Army” (The New Yorker, June 2011) told the stunning and deeply reported tale of the 70,000 “third-country nationals” who work on U.S. military bases in war…
May 2, 2013
Paige Williams
"How'd you find that secret-compartments story, Brendan Koerner?"

"How’d you find that secret-compartments story, Brendan Koerner?"

Brendan Koerner’s recent Wired piece about Alfred Anaya, a “genius at installing secret compartments in cars,” was nothing short of delicious as a piece of storytelling and discovery. Sure, someone’s out…
April 5, 2013
Paige Williams
Inside "Snow Fall," the New York Times multimedia storytelling sensation

Inside "Snow Fall," the New York Times multimedia storytelling sensation

“Snow Fall,” the widely celebrated New York Times multimedia narrative on a deadly avalanche in Washington State, won a Peabody this week (and would later win the Pulitzer) for being “a…
March 29, 2013
Paige Williams

Just one question … for Michael Graff, on the death of Earl Badu

Big buzz earlier this month when Michael Graff‘s story on the suicide of former University of Maryland basketball walk-on Earl Badu hit SB Nation‘s longform wing: You know the wish can’t come true, but people…
March 28, 2013
Michael Kruse
Just one question ... for Gene Weingarten, on the Jeffrey MacDonald case

Just one question … for Gene Weingarten, on the Jeffrey MacDonald case

Everybody's read his latest? Great.WILMINGTON, N.C. — They are old men now, the doctor and the lawyer, ancient adversaries confronting each other one last time.The doctor shuffles into the courtroom, his…
March 7, 2013
Michael Kruse
Building your canon: Small-scale narrative

Building your canon: Small-scale narrative

Narrative isn’t synonymous with long-form work. A narrative journalist doesn’t need thousands of words or loads of reporting and writing time to tell a memorable story. For you hunter-gatherers of…
March 1, 2013
Paige Williams
Kathryn Miles on tall ships, the 'boxcar' structure, finding the story, reading 'promiscuously' and putting an English Lit degree to work

Kathryn Miles on tall ships, the ‘boxcar’ structure, finding the story, reading ‘promiscuously’ and putting an English Lit degree to work

Our latest Notable Narrative is "Sunk," a detailed narrative of the deadly capsizing of the tall ship HMS Bounty during Hurricane Sandy. Kathryn Miles’ story, in Outside magazine, gave a gripping account of…
February 22, 2013
Paige Williams
Editors' Roundtable: Two boys, a basketball and a 'magical' shot

Editors’ Roundtable: Two boys, a basketball and a ‘magical’ shot

The Oregonian’s Anna Griffin wrote a story last Sunday about a small but rare and memorable moment in high school sports. Deadspin set it up this way:A young man named Davan Overton in…
February 15, 2013
Paige Williams
Work the problem: How to look at your own stories more objectively

Work the problem: How to look at your own stories more objectively

Our storytelling advice column continues: A journalist asks a question and we find an accomplished narrative writer or editor to answer it. In our first installment, Dave Tarrant of the…
February 14, 2013
Paige Williams
Just one question ... for Lane DeGregory, on the presidential hugger

Just one question … for Lane DeGregory, on the presidential hugger

My Pulitzer-winning pod-mate Lane DeGregory in the Tampa Bay Times, on the Florida pizza man who famously gave Barack Obama that bear hug:FORT PIERCE — After talking to MSNBC and Inside Edition, while waiting to be miked…
February 7, 2013
Michael Kruse