Story Craft

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 Dallas Morning…
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

"How'd you find that story about grown men playing tag, Russell Adams?"

The Wall Street Journal’s Russell Adams wrote a story last week about four grown men who’ve spent the past 23 years playing tag. Their shenanigans started in high school, and the men have gone to…
February 4, 2013
Paige Williams
Work the problem: "How do you prospect for narrative beyond the obvious?"

Work the problem: "How do you prospect for narrative beyond the obvious?"

This is the inaugural installment of Work the Problem, a storytelling advice column featuring everyday craft quandaries and a roving band of narrative sages. Today's players:>Dave Tarrant, reporter, Dallas Morning…
January 25, 2013
Paige Williams
Reporting and writing "Never Let Go" -- inside Kelley Benham French's remarkable series

Reporting and writing "Never Let Go" — inside Kelley Benham French’s remarkable series

Kelley Benham French’s “Never Let Go,” about the extremely premature birth of her daughter, Juniper, was included in Storyboard's Best of Narrative list for 2012, and our final Notable Narrative of the…
January 24, 2013
Paige Williams
"How'd you find that pickpocket story, Adam Green?"

"How’d you find that pickpocket story, Adam Green?"

GreenIn “A Pickpocket’s Tale,” in the Jan. 7 issue of The New Yorker, Adam Green told the engrossing story of professional thief Apollo Robbins, who has plucked personal items from…
January 18, 2013
Paige Williams
Just one question ... for Justin Heckert, on the kid who scored 138 points in one game

Just one question … for Justin Heckert, on the kid who scored 138 points in one game

HeckertJustin Heckert had a great late 2012 with stories in Esquire and the New York Times magazine, and then this piece in Sports Illustrated, “The Loneliest Number,” which is about Jack…
January 17, 2013
Michael Kruse
Andrew Corsello on authorial empathy, the problem of goodness, the writer-editor relationship, the importance of rule-breaking, and naps

Andrew Corsello on authorial empathy, the problem of goodness, the writer-editor relationship, the importance of rule-breaking, and naps

In yesterday’s post, guest curator Michael Fitzgerald wrote about the storytelling power behind “The Wronged Man,” a 2004 GQ piece by National Magazine Award winner Andrew Corsello. Fitzgerald, a Massachusetts-based business…
December 7, 2012
Michael Fitzgerald
Eli Saslow on detail, dignity, nut grafs, patience, reporting v. writing, and what's in his notebook

Eli Saslow on detail, dignity, nut grafs, patience, reporting v. writing, and what’s in his notebook

Our latest Notable Narrative is an Eli Saslow story called “Life of a salesman,” about a swimming-pool salesman struggling in a terrible economy. Yesterday, we listed some of the story’s…
November 23, 2012
Paige Williams
Politics & storytelling, a sampler: Thompson, McGinniss, Sullivan, Lepore, Bowden, Bellow

Politics & storytelling, a sampler: Thompson, McGinniss, Sullivan, Lepore, Bowden, Bellow

Why hasn’t anybody Hunter S. Thompsonized this election? Or have they, and we missed it? Esquire’s Charlie Pierce approacheth –In the interest of keeping you abreast of news that hasn't…
November 6, 2012
Paige Williams