Essays on Craft

  • Bruce DeSilva

    Endings

    Special to the Digest

    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 reader. It's the moment when you give the reader something to take away from the story and think about or when you fail to achieve that.

    Tags:
    Finding the Story,
    Narrative Arc
  • Jack Hart

    The Art of the Short Story

    Second Takes Newsletter

    It's important that we learn to tell actual stories—that is, stories in the literary sense—in short, quick-and-dirty versions. The point, after all, is that we use improved storytelling skills to make more appealing reads. A Sunday story that runs 3,000 words helps. But short daily stories that brighten the weekday paper may be even more important. Short stories reach more people. And they reach them more often.

    Tags:
    Finding the Story
  • Adrian Nicole LeBlanc

    Stories Are Everywhere

    Special to the Digest

    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.

    Tags:
    Finding the Story
  • Michael Pollan

    Natural Narratives

    Special to the Digest

    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 I realized that I was always gravitating back to nature.

    Tags:
    Finding the Story,
    Writing,
    Research