Journalist’s Trade

Serial Narratives

Their power comes from ‘that delicious sense of enforced waiting.’

An Unexpected Ending

“What Price the News” was written a couple of years ago but certainly resonates today because of the subject matter. The writer is a young man named Ian Stewart. And…

‘Stories are for eternity, when memory is erased, when there is nothing to remember except the story.’

Tim O’Brien had the bad fortune to be caught up in the Vietnam War, and he’s written about it several times, and he wrote a book called “The Things They…

Endings

‘The inverted pyramid makes endings impossible.’

A Love Fest on Narrative Elements

It’s the voice, you fool. No, it’s the theme, dummy. No, it’s the story, you buttonhead.

Reporters Read From Their Narrative Articles

During the conference, there would come a time each day when writers would share their narrative writings with participants who wanted to listen. And many did. The hundreds of chairs…

Scenes, Suspense and Character

‘Everything really boils down to one or another of those three things.’

‘Writing is all about rewriting, which means you’ve got to get something down.’

Steps for Managing Your Stories Lower your standards. Get something down. Swallow the bile that rises in your throat when you write a first draft. Print out early. Read aloud.…

Finding Time to Write

Hold yourself accountable. Get your work on paper.

‘Very few writers understand that a story has an arc, not just a beginning, a middle, and an end.’

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.…