There’s a video of Britney Spears shot in 2007, not long after Valentine’s Day. She’s pacing around a tattoo parlor, where she’s just gotten a pair of bright red lips inked on her wrist and a cross etched onto her hip. She’s bookended by men so large their silhouettes rival refrigerators, but enough of her [...]
Tag Archives: Rolling Stone
Life in the cave: highlights from Boston University’s “The Rebirth of Storytelling” conference
May 10, 2011 – 12:50 pm
What does it take to make a great story? Boston University’s “The Power of Narrative” conference, held on campus April 29-30, aimed to offer some insights. The event included the kind of writing techniques and “show don’t tell” advice you’d expect (and hope for) at such a gathering. But beyond hearing about the mechanics of narrative [...]
Mark Boal profiles “The Kill Team”
March 30, 2011 – 11:28 am
Our latest Notable Narrative, “The Kill Team,” recounts a series of killings in Afghanistan by American soldiers, one of whom recently pleaded guilty to three counts of murder.
Rolling Stone has made an extensive commitment to investigating the conflict in Afghanistan, and Mark Boal upholds that commitment with riveting storytelling. Many of the facts of this [...]
Awards season begins: narrative highlights from ASNE and Polk awards; announcement of CRMA finalists
February 23, 2011 – 11:42 am
Looking for some quality narrative journalism you might not have noticed before? As awards season for newspapers and magazines gets underway, we wanted to share links to stories recognized for their writing and storytelling. Here are some of the more narrative categories and entries from the 2010 Polk Awards in Journalism, the list of finalists [...]
The very, very personal post: Richard Morgan, Jennifer Lawler and a new kind of Notable Narrative
August 11, 2010 – 3:11 pm
Sometimes long posts appear online that would feel out of place anywhere else. These pieces are often first-person, revelatory and not edited to fit the brand of a magazine, newspaper or corporate website. While it’s hard to imagine a news organization adopting their style, these posts offer a vivid form of storytelling.
As is the case [...]
Joe Donnelly on Slake, long-form journalism and launching a vision: “it’s about finding the right rhythm and the right way of presenting it”
July 21, 2010 – 1:22 pm
Last month, we heard rumors from the West Coast of a new magazine devoted to long-form storytelling – a magazine that existed in print only and had no digital presence. The ghostly enigma turned out to be Slake, an upstart publication run by an editing team formerly with the L.A. Weekly. (Slake has since rolled out [...]
Michael Hastings’ “The Runaway General” and the power of narrative
June 23, 2010 – 3:13 pm
While it may not spark a revolution in newsrooms, Michael Hastings’ narrative profile of Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal in this week’s Rolling Stone has already made history. “The Runaway General,” which depicts the general and his aides mocking nearly everyone associated with the White House and U.S. diplomacy efforts in Afghanistan, led to McChrystal being [...]
What we’re reading: first edition, in which we offer hockey fights, Christmas and a litany of poisons
June 9, 2010 – 4:19 pm
Summer is upon us! Well, actually it’s kind of cold and gray outside here, but as you, our imaginary beachgoer, break out the sunblock and pack the Cheetos and flip-flops for a day in the sand, we’d like to introduce the first in an ongoing series of posts listing stories we’re reading, watching or listening [...]
Merchants of Trivia
February 1, 2008 – 12:00 am
“Merchants of Trivia” may not trace a conventional narrative arc, using plot, dramatic conflict, or character transformation to build to a satisfying resolution. Instead, its organizing principle is a thesis—an accusation that the candidates and the media itself have let a once-exciting 2008 presidential race sag with the equivalent of “stage-managed glory” and schoolyard taunts. [...]
