[Editor’s Note: These comments are adapted from a talk given by Michael Pollan at the 2006 Nieman Conference on Narrative Journalism.]
Book by book, project by project, it’s usually hard to say who you are as a writer or what your long-term subject is. But with hindsight you start to see threads. By my third book [...]
Tag Archives: Special to the Digest
Natural Narratives
February 16, 2007 – 12:00 am
The Four Noble Truths of Religion Writing
December 15, 2006 – 12:00 am
“Life means suffering.”
According to the Buddha, that is the first of four “noble truths” that together define human existence. I’m not much of a Buddhist (I’m a lapsed Catholic who owns a rarely used meditation pillow), but as a writer who deals primarily with religion, with stories of people living in the shadow of faith, [...]
Voice and Meaning
December 1, 2006 – 12:00 am
[Editor's note: This essay first appeared on transom.org, "a showcase and resource for new public radio."]
Dear Transomistas,
It was daunting to have Jay Allison’s invitation to be a guest on Transom.org, because I’m no insider to radio production. I do work in a cousin genre – narrative journalism in print – in books, magazines, weekly and daily papers. [...]
Endings
October 13, 2006 – 12:00 am
[Note: The following is an edited transcript from a talk at the 2001 Nieman Conference on Narrative Journalism. It first appeared in the Spring 2002 issue of Nieman Reports.]
The ending is something special. The ending is the last word. It’s the writer’s final chance to nail his or her point home to the memory of [...]
The Heart Attack Beat
August 8, 2006 – 12:00 am
For an ambitious young reporter who loved writing stories, it sounded like the assignment of a lifetime. My editor, Joel Rawson, wanted daily narratives for the front page of The Providence Journal. The idea also seemed impossible. I’d written narratives before, but usually had at least a week and even more on some occasions. Never [...]
First Person Singular: It’s not just about you
June 28, 2006 – 12:00 am
Getting stuck next to a compulsive talker is one of the worst things that can happen at a dinner party or on a long bus ride. Even worse: the self-centered compulsive talker. What makes this experience so awful? The person’s desire to tell his or her story, without thinking about which aspects might be interesting [...]
The Persuasive Narrator
May 23, 2006 – 12:00 am
We call lots of things “stories” in American journalism, but very few of them are true narrative storytelling. Most journalistic accounts are reports, whose primary purpose is to pass along information to readers. Reports require certain writing strategies to help readers figure things out: the telling quote, the revealing statistic, the deep explanation, a piece of [...]
Stories Are Everywhere
May 23, 2006 – 12:00 am
There are stories everywhere. Any idea could probably be a story if you had enough time and stamina, but I try to expedite the process a bit.
I read whatever I can: lots and lots of newspapers, magazines, literary journals and trade publications. I go to the public library and pick up books that look interesting, [...]
War-at-Home Narratives, Their Promise and Failures
May 3, 2006 – 12:00 am
Narratives that treat the impact of the Iraq War on American families and society often find their central theme in such remarks as “He was proud to serve his country,” “He loved the Army” and “He’d certainly do it again.”
One sympathizes with grieving survivors, of course, and can fully understand the need for comforting ritual [...]
