Jim CollinsThese are things I have learned from my best writers, and now I pass them on to you in 10 lessons. Voice is important, seductive, subversive and can be crucial. It … Read more
Interview time is not social time, and a mistake that younger narrative reporters frequently make is to be too nice and too obliging and to act too much like the guest and not enough like the reporter. I tell my … Read more
Steven A. HolmesIn daily journalism, you often don’t get a lot of time. But in trying to cover the lives of ordinary people and make it news, your best friend is time. Read more
Select a good topic. Secure good access. Find good narrative runs. Find character hints in action. Find the right scene details. Find emotionality for your subjects, not for you. Do some contextual research. Find or crystallize the point, the destination. Read more
Tom French’s talk was an argument for the power of the slowly unfolding story—the wait, the suspense (though I don’t think he ever used the word cliffhanger). For him, the world in general, and the newsroom in particular, are like … Read more
My friend D. reports that when the Vietnam War was winding down, his young son told him that he wanted to celebrate on the day the war ended. “How?” D. asked. And his son said, “I want to blow the … Read more