A narrative is a story that has a beginning, middle and end. It engages the reader’s mind and heart. It shows actors moving across its stage, revealing their characters through their actions and their speech. At its heart, a narrative contains a mystery or a question—something that compels the reader to keep reading and find [...]
Tag Archives: Special to the Digest
The Akron Beacon Journal’s Narrative Group
June 22, 2005 – 12:00 am
I started a narrative group at the Akron Beacon Journal in January 2004. We meet roughly twice a month to discuss narrative techniques, how to apply them and improve the newspaper’s storytelling. Our meetings have ranged from a handful of participants, discussing narratives we have written or seen in other publications, to more than two-thirds [...]
14 Tips for Building Character
June 1, 2005 – 12:00 am
This essay is adapted from Rick Meyer’s notes for a talk at the 2005 Nieman Narrative Editors’ Seminar. Rick’s presentation was paired with Laurie Hertzel’s talk on scenes. We probably ought to declare something right away, so no one can accuse us of cheating. In nonfiction, when we talk about building characters, we’re not talking [...]
Six Tips for Crafting Scenes
March 24, 2005 – 12:00 am
This is an edited version of a talk Laurie Hertzel gave at the 2005 Nieman Seminar for Narrative Editors. Her remarks were part of a joint presentation with Rick Meyer, who spoke about developing characters. Scenes are the backbone of narrative. They’re where the action of your story takes place, where the plot unfolds. Here’s [...]
Jon Franklin interviewed by Ole Soennichsen
November 18, 2004 – 12:00 am
What is your advice on structuring a story while reporting? You report for structure the same way you report for anything else. When you’re reporting for dramatic narrative, you’re reporting for character, meaning and structure at the same time. What should one look for then? We as humans live stories. What you do – and this [...]
Tips for Reporters
March 1, 2002 – 12:00 am
Note: The following is an edited transcript of a talk by Jim Collins at the 2001 Nieman Conference on Narrative Journalism. It was published in the Spring 2002 issue of Nieman Reports. These are things I have learned from my best writers, and now I pass them on to you in 10 lessons. Voice is [...]
Breakable Rules for Literary Journalists
January 1, 1995 – 12:00 am
When writers, readers, English teachers, librarians, bookstore people, editors, and reviewers discuss extended digressive narrative nonfiction these days, they’re fairly likely to call it literary journalism. The previous term in circulation was Tom Wolfe’s contentious “New Journalism.” Coined in the rebellious mid-’60s, it was often uttered with a quizzical tone and has fallen out of [...]
