Story Craft

When the best form for a complex narrative is a simple structure

When the best form for a complex narrative is a simple structure

A standard — some would say ideal — approach to effective narrative nonfiction is to follow a single, primary character through an intimate journey that illuminates a larger social situation.…
October 20, 2022
Jacqui Banaszynski
How one death by gun violence revealed an epidemic of indifference

How one death by gun violence revealed an epidemic of indifference

Shootings are so common in the U.S. that victims are often reduced to 10-point type in news stories: A name and age, maybe alongside a loved ones’ baleful quote set…
October 13, 2022
Trevor Pyle
A better way to teach writing? Try journalism

A better way to teach writing? Try journalism

A PhD in literature argues that journalism, not "comp," is the most effective way to help college student learn to write
October 6, 2022
Elizabeth Toohey
What reporters need from editors and editors need from reporters

What reporters need from editors and editors need from reporters

Moni Basu was a news reporter at the Atlanta Journal Constitution (AJC) when she was sent to Baghdad to write about a Georgia-based military unit. It was 2005. The 48th…
September 29, 2022
Jacqui Banaszynski
What stacking wood can teach us about structuring stories

What stacking wood can teach us about structuring stories

Author and wood-splitter Kim Cross tackles a mountain of firewood, which helps her work through the mountainous first draft of a story
September 7, 2022
Kim Cross
Hacking and whacking the way to writing clarity — and pie

Hacking and whacking the way to writing clarity — and pie

An author and freelancer contemplates story craft as she tames and harvests the blackberry brambles on her land
August 25, 2022
Lauren Kessler
Not just SayWhat, but SezWho?

Not just SayWhat, but SezWho?

For a time in the early 1990s, I wrote narrative journalism for a business magazine. One of my better efforts recounted the fight for control of an investment bank. Someone…
August 12, 2022
Dale Keiger
Yardscaping your way to a story

Yardscaping your way to a story

The temperatures topped 100 Fahrenheit week (38+ Centigrade) up at the mountain cabin one day last week. The three-man yardscape crew seemed indifferent. They spent their first afternoon prepping the…
August 3, 2022
Jacqui Banaszynski
Raise your glasses to four lessons all writers can learn by judging craft beer

Raise your glasses to four lessons all writers can learn by judging craft beer

Maybe not 99, but at least a few dozen bottles of beer are along the wall. We take one down, pass it around, make sure the barcode on the bottle…
July 15, 2022
Charles Scudder
So you want to write a book? The risks and rewards of memoir

So you want to write a book? The risks and rewards of memoir

For well over a decade, my memoir was a perennial backburner project. I would vow to carve out time to write each week, but work or life always took precedence.…
July 6, 2022
Mallary Tenore Tarpley