Search results for “writing the book”

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Foreshadow forward; echo back. How writers harness the power of the callback

Foreshadow forward; echo back. How writers harness the power of the callback

In his “New in Town” standup comedy special, John Mulaney tells how, when he was 10, he was in love with his babysitter, who he thought was much older. But as…
May 2, 2019
Going public with the private pain of suicide

Going public with the private pain of suicide

Modern society works hard to find ways to talk about subjects that have long been taboo, and that left sufferers isolated and shrouded in shame. Things like mental illness, abortion,…
April 24, 2019
About a bear: The story behind the story of "The Loneliest Polar Bear"

About a bear: The story behind the story of “The Loneliest Polar Bear”

“The Loneliest Polar Bear” wasn’t just a heart-tugging news story. It was a suspenseful, multi-thousand word saga about an abandoned newborn polar bear. It was rationed into five chapters that…
April 19, 2019
Avoiding false judgments in journalism about Trump's evangelical supporters

Avoiding false judgments in journalism about Trump’s evangelical supporters

Ever since Donald Trump launched his presidential campaign in the summer of 2015, I have grown accustomed to the constant drumbeat of stories that pose the same question: How can…
April 12, 2019
Probing dark corners and dark souls

Probing dark corners and dark souls

 “The Trials of Whiteboy Rick,” the Atavist Magazine story, by Evan Hughes, of a baby-faced young white man who rose to the top of Detroit’s mostly black cocaine world. “I’ll…
April 5, 2019
Ripping up the narrative arc and fumbling your way to structure

Ripping up the narrative arc and fumbling your way to structure

 Every story has a beginning, middle, and an end. But in the telling, stories don’t necessarily conform to that neat order. For Dave Cullen, freelance journalist and bestselling author, there…
April 4, 2019
Golden nuggets from the rich river of narrative nonfiction

Golden nuggets from the rich river of narrative nonfiction

EDITOR’S NOTE: The 2o19 Power of Narrative conference at Boston University was a full immersion into the craft, challenges and characters of story work. We are scrambling to mine as…
March 28, 2019
Grounding apocalyptic issues in reality without losing hope

Grounding apocalyptic issues in reality without losing hope

Look around, look around, at how lucky we are to be alive right now.History is happening. We are changing the world. So sings Eliza Schuyler in “Hamilton,” a magical musical set…
March 21, 2019
"She stares at me, but it feels like she's looking at who I used to be, her little girl with ponytails and a snaggletooth who swore she was a Powerpuff Girl."

“She stares at me, but it feels like she’s looking at who I used to be, her little girl with ponytails and a snaggletooth who swore she was a Powerpuff Girl.”

This sentence contains everything that good narrative writing should. There’s the specific detail of the narrator, and there’s universality — the wonder we humans experience when faced with a child…
March 20, 2019
Wired's executive editor seeks stories that reveal all faces of technology

Wired’s executive editor seeks stories that reveal all faces of technology

Rejections aren't personal: “70 percent of why pitches don't work has nothing to do with the writer”
March 5, 2019