Search results for “so you want to write a book”

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Pinned: Story trailers, a notable narrative, writers on rejection, writers on Twitter, Michael Hastings' tips for young journalists

Pinned: Story trailers, a notable narrative, writers on rejection, writers on Twitter, Michael Hastings’ tips for young journalists

Pinned this week, for your storytelling pleasure: Inspired: Story trailers. Esquire made not one but two (a 46- and 20-second version) for Chris Jones’ “Animals,” a taut narrative about the Zanesville, Ohio,…
June 21, 2013
"Why's this so good?" No. 78: Eli Saslow and "Into the Lonely Quiet"

“Why’s this so good?” No. 78: Eli Saslow and “Into the Lonely Quiet”

Sunday’s Washington Post carried the kind of story that can leave you limp for days. Rare anymore is the narrative that has such a visceral effect, but Eli Saslow’s piece…
June 10, 2013
Professor Hersey: one student, the iconic author of 'Hiroshima,' and 6 timeless takeaways

Professor Hersey: one student, the iconic author of ‘Hiroshima,’ and 6 timeless takeaways

In good fiction, the reader absorbing a compelling narrative never notices the writer as intermediary. In nonfiction, that translator’s presence is inevitable. Since the former is the ideal relationship with…
May 30, 2013

"Why’s this so good?" No. 76: William Nack and "Pure Heart"

I still remember where I was—sitting in a dive bar in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., trying to tune out the noise from the beach bums and a jukebox blaring Madonna and…
April 23, 2013
"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

"Why’s this so good?" No. 74: Charlie Pierce and Tiger Woods

I think it’s fair to say that most of America was shocked when news of Tiger Woods’ sex scandal broke in late 2009. I’m also pretty sure that anyone who…
March 26, 2013

"Why’s this so good?" No. 73: Carol Smith and the cipher in Room 214

In all likelihood, “The Cipher in Room 214” began with a fairly empty notebook. Most stories do, but in this case it probably looked like it was going to stay that…
March 12, 2013
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

"Why’s this so good?" No. 71: John Jeremiah Sullivan and "Upon This Rock"

Last summer, John Jeremiah Sullivan wrote an essay about Faulkner’s Absalom! Absalom!, and amid his deft and borderline genius thoughts on the novel – “It…dramatize[s] historical consciousness itself, not just human lives but the…
February 12, 2013
Thomas Curwen and the brave young man

Thomas Curwen and the brave young man

Our new Notable Narrative is “A young man’s fateful dance with death,” in which Thomas Curwen of the Los Angeles Times elegantly chronicles 19-year-old Jesús García’s struggle with a brain tumor.…
February 1, 2013