Story Craft

A few years ago an intern did a study of the writing that showed up in our newspaper. He ran our stories through a computer program that measured the reading…

[Editor’s Note: These comments are adapted from a talk given by Michael Pollan at the 2006 Nieman Conference on Narrative Journalism.] Book by book, project by project, it’s usually hard…

“Life means suffering.” According to the Buddha, that is the first of four “noble truths” that together define human existence. I’m not much of a Buddhist (I’m a lapsed Catholic…

[Editor’s note: This essay first appeared on transom.org, “a showcase and resource for new public radio.”] Dear Transomistas, It was daunting to have Jay Allison’s invitation to be a guest…

[Note: The following is an edited transcript from a talk at the 2001 Nieman Conference on Narrative Journalism. It first appeared in the Spring 2002 issue of Nieman Reports.]The ending…

For an ambitious young reporter who loved writing stories, it sounded like the assignment of a lifetime. My editor, Joel Rawson, wanted daily narratives for the front page of The…

Getting stuck next to a compulsive talker is one of the worst things that can happen at a dinner party or on a long bus ride. Even worse: the self-centered…

Many—surprisingly, perhaps most—of the stories we read for this site are about, or involve, children we worry about: They're alone, ill, miseducated, lost in the system, abandoned or abused. Mark…

We call lots of things “stories” in American journalism, but very few of them are true narrative storytelling. Most journalistic accounts are reports, whose primary purpose is to pass along information…

There are stories everywhere. Any idea could probably be a story if you had enough time and stamina, but I try to expedite the process a bit.I read whatever I…