The risks of tackle football run through the center of a tortured conversation that escalates with each new tale of the shattered life of a famous pro. More and more NFL families are stepping up with testimony about the … Read more
Editor’s note: Our third Shop Class – part of our Story Craft posts – grew out of breaking news stories and blogs that offer rich lessons on how to do the work we do. Even in narrative, we need to know … Read more
Why it’s great: Deadline reporting of natural disasters is a tightrope walk. Too little drama and events are reduced to factoids that don’t take hold in the readers’ mind or heart. Too much and a story risks becoming overwrought. As … Read more
Editor’s note: This is our second edition of Shop Class, a new Story Craft feature. The goal is to break down the work that goes into creating stories, and offer prompts or small suggestions to help you practice the craft that … Read more
Why is it great? My mentor Ron Speer of the Virginian-Pilot liked the opening line of the Bible for Greatest Short Lede Ever. I go with Buchanan. I’m hooked with four words. I can’t stop reading. Not possible. I … Read more
EDITOR’S NOTE: Yesterday, we featured contributor Rebecca Boyle’s interview with Washington Post general assignment reporter Avi Selk about his intriguing, elegiac story of the world’s longest living spider. Today, we broaden that interview as Boyle delves … Read more
EDITOR’S NOTE: Writing about science and animals (creatures?) can be challenging. It is essential to get it right. It is also essential to make it accessible. In other words, to translate the hard-to-know world to a semblance of the known … Read more
Editor’s note: We have written about Tom Junod’s 1998 Esquire profile of Mister Rogers before. The release of the documentary film, and the climate of the times, prompted us to revisit a piece that has now become a classic. Read more
Why it’s so great: Tyler is a novelist, not a journalist. But the work of writing is the work of writing. In this New York Times profile by Charles McGrath – based on a rare bit of time with reclusive … Read more