Story Craft

March Editors' Roundtable: Mother Jones looks at rape in Haiti

March Editors’ Roundtable: Mother Jones looks at rape in Haiti

The narrative for discussion in the second installment of our Editors’  Roundtable is “Welcome to Haiti's Reconstruction Hell” by Mac McClelland. Appearing in Mother Jones earlier this year, the story was written after…
March 3, 2011
Andrea Pitzer

Time's David Von Drehle on narrating tragedy and the evolution of his Tucson story

Yesterday, we posted our first Editors’ Roundtable, in which a group of word wizards did their magic on a piece of narrative nonfiction. Our debut story for consideration was “The Real…
February 2, 2011
Andrea Pitzer
February Editors' Roundtable: Time magazine takes on the Tucson shootings

February Editors’ Roundtable: Time magazine takes on the Tucson shootings

The narrative selected for discussion by our first-ever Editors’  Roundtable is “The Real Lesson of the Tucson Tragedy” by David Von Drehle. Appearing in Time magazine five days after the shooting of…
February 1, 2011
Andrea Pitzer
Keeping it real: how round characters grow from the seeds of detail

Keeping it real: how round characters grow from the seeds of detail

When I first read the New Journalism manifestos by Tom Wolfe in the late 1970s, they changed forever my vision of narrative. In spite of my Ph.D. in English, I…
January 24, 2011
Roy Peter Clark
Michael Paterniti on storytelling (part 2): William Burroughs' final months, Mitterrand's last meal, and magical cheese

Michael Paterniti on storytelling (part 2): William Burroughs’ final months, Mitterrand’s last meal, and magical cheese

Today we bring you Part 2 of a discussion on narrative nonfiction with long-form storyteller Michael Paterniti. (If you just tuned in to the conversation, you might want to check…
November 30, 2010
Paige Williams
Michael Paterniti on narrative voice, the power of rewrite, Bill Clinton, old cheese, and flying Spaniards (part 1)

Michael Paterniti on narrative voice, the power of rewrite, Bill Clinton, old cheese, and flying Spaniards (part 1)

Veteran magazine writer Michael Paterniti visited the Nieman Foundation a couple of weeks ago for a discussion about literary journalism with Narrative Writing instructor Paige Williams’ class and other fellows.…
November 29, 2010
Paige Williams
Roy Peter Clark on "the power of the parts" for storytelling

Roy Peter Clark on "the power of the parts" for storytelling

Roy Peter Clark holds the post of senior scholar at the Poynter Institute, and as such is one of narrative journalism's hardest-working midwives. You may have already encountered him here on…
November 9, 2010
Andrea Pitzer

Lane DeGregory's 10 tips for editors at AASFE 2010

Pulitzer Prize winner and St. Petersburg Times reporter Lane DeGregory spoke at the American Association of Sunday and Feature Editors Conference in Florida earlier this month. She has made a…
October 27, 2010
Andrea Pitzer

Tracy Kidder in conversation with Darcy Frey, part 2: "I write as fast as I can to prevent remorse for having written badly."

Today we offer part 2 of last week’s discussion of narrative nonfiction between Tracy Kidder and Nieman Fellow Darcy Frey. (Check out the first installment, if you haven’t read it…
October 22, 2010
Andrea Pitzer

Tracy Kidder in conversation with Darcy Frey, part 1: "Anyone who writes for a living and doesn’t admit to being very lucky is almost certainly insane"

Last week, veteran writer Tracy Kidder offered his reflections on narrative nonfiction a public conversation with current Nieman Fellow Darcy Frey. Part of the Harvard Writers at Work series, the…
October 21, 2010
Andrea Pitzer