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“Writing is so easily not done.” — Robert Weintraub
Continue reading “Episode 487: Robert Weintraub and the ‘American Hindenburg’”
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Personal News and/or Shoutouts for Pals
Hey CNFers, The Front Runner is officially out. I like to think I don’t ask for much, but now is the time buy a copy or three and, if you read it, you know the drill, need ratings and reviews. I won’t read them because I don’t want to be driven insane, but that’s the world we live in: ratings and reviews. Your call to action to support the book, me, and ye ol’ CNF Pod. If you’re still on the fence, and why would you be, there’s an excerpt of the book over at Lit Hub. Dig it.
Saturday, August 16, 6-8 p.m. ET, I’m the featured author for this event. It’s free!
I also started what’s proving to be a pretty popular venture called Pitch Club. It’s at welcometopitchclub.substack.com and I have a writer audio annotate a pitch. It’s tactical and it’s practical. It’s going to help you get where you want to go.
“If you’re going to have a narrative story that works, it helps to have somebody who is irrationally fixated on a goal that allows them to do traditional protagonist operations in a way that that gives you a lot to work with as a writer.” — Matthew Wolfe
Continue reading “Episode 482: Matthew Wolfe and the Grammar of Delight”Become a Patron!
Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever!
Hey CNFers, The Front Runner is officially out. I like to think I don’t ask for much, but now is the time buy a copy or three and, if you read it, you know the drill, need ratings and reviews. I won’t read them because I don’t want to be driven insane, but that’s the world we live in: ratings and reviews. Your call to action to support the book, me, and ye ol’ CNF Pod. If you’re still on the fence, and why would you be, there’s an excerpt of the book over at Lit Hub. Dig it.
Next two events are July 17 at Elliott Bay Books in Seattle at 7 p.m. and July 27 at Gratitude Brewing for a live taping of the podcast, 1 p.m.
I also started what’s proving to be a pretty popular venture called Pitch Club. It’s at welcometopitchclub.substack.com and I have a writer audio annotate a pitch. It’s tactical and it’s practical. It’s going to help you get where you want to go.
“If nothing else, it says a lot about chasing a story even when you don’t have an assignment, because Dave had reported this entire thing before he even pitched it to us.” — Jonah Ogles, lead editor of “Conversations with a Hit Man.”
Continue reading “Episode 477: David Howard and the Search for Stories He Believes In”Friday, Feb. 28, 2025
Promotional support is brought to you by the Power of Narrative Conference, celebrating its 26th year on the last weekend of March 28 and 29. 300-400 journalists from around the world are coming. Keynote speakers Susan Orlean, Connie Schultz, Dan Zak and Connie Chung will deliver the knowledge. Listeners of this podcast can get 15% off your enrollment fee by using the code CNF15. To learn more visit combeyond.bu.edu … and use that CNF15 code.
Become a Patron!Two pods in one day? It happened! Allegra Rosenberg (@tchotchke.bsky.social) is here to talk about her Atavist story “From Antarctica with Love“: Captain Robert Falcon Scott’s doomed journey to the South Pole captivated the world. But hidden with the legend was a story that has never been told—a love affair between two of the crew who survived.
Allegra’s work has appeared in WIRED, National Geographic, Slate, and The Atlantic. She writes about tech, fandom, media, AI, history, science, music and, of course, polar exploration.
Continue reading “Episode 454: Allegra Rosenberg’s Tale of Love on Ice for The Atavist”Promotional support is brought to you by the Power of Narrative Conference, celebrating its 26th year on the last weekend of March 28 and 29. 300-400 journalists from around the world are coming. Keynote speakers Susan Orlean, Connie Schultz, and Dan Zak will deliver the knowledge. Listeners of this podcast can get 15% off your enrollment fee by using the code CNF15. To learn more visit combeyond.bu.edu … and use that CNF15 code.
By Brendan O’Meara
When Andrew Dubbins locks into a story idea, it’s got to tick (tic?) certain boxes. Above them all is it’s got to have a story engine, it’s got to be cinematic.
And so it is with his story for The Atavist Magazine, “The After Dark Bandit.” This is a wild story about twin brothers who robbed banks at the same time, thus confounding authorities about how, it would appear, one guy was knocking off two banks at the same time.
Andrew is the author of Into Enemy Waters: The Story of the WWII Frogmen Who became the Navy SEALs. He was journalist of the year by the LA Press Club in 2020, and his work has appeared in Men’s Health, Slate, the LA Times, Smithsonian, Alta, and The Daily Beast.
Continue reading “Episode 445: For Andrew Dubbins, It’s About the Love of the Story”By Brendan O’Meara
It’s that Atavistian time of the month, and we’ve got Kate McQueen on loan from the Pollen Initiative to talk about “The Good Traitor,” how a group of journalists in Nazi Germany sought to free one of their own from a concentration by means of … winning him the Nobel Peace Prize. Where do people find these stories?
Kate has a Ph.D. in literature from Stanford University and a master’s in journalism from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. She’s the editorial director of the Pollen Initiative, “a nonprofit organization dedicated to cultivating media centers inside prisons across the country.”
Continue reading “Episode 440: How to be a Truffle Pig with Kate McQueen”
By Brendan O’Meara
Kesley Rexroat brings you a beautiful love story for The Atavist Magazine, this one titled “Love, Interrupted.” The dek reads, “Two women promised they would see the Golden Gate Bridge for the first time once they were together. They had no idea how long that would take.”
It’s a wonderful, redemptive story that proves the power of commitment and following one’s true path.
Kelsey is a “meticulous copy editor and dynamic content writer based in San Francisco, California. She specializes in technology, health, and lifestyle.”
Continue reading “Episode 427: Kelsey Rexroat on Dealing with the Monstrosity”
Photo credit: Scott Streble
Become a Patron!It’s that Atavistian time of the month and, boy, is “Anatomy of a Murder” a dark one. Brilliant, but bleak.
John Rosengren is the reporter behind this gripping story of how a vigilante murder divided a town. The story couldn’t be in better hands than John’s.
He is the author of twelve books including The Greatest Summer in Baseball History, Hammerin’ Hank, George Almighty and the Say Hey Kid, as well as the novel A Clean Heart.
Continue reading “Episode 414: John Rosengren on Cuts, Note Taking, and Darkness for The Atavist”Become a Patron!
By Brendan O’Meara
For this month’s Atavist, Lily Hyde wrote “Two Thousand Miles from Home,” as Russia invaded Ukraine, theree women from the same family became pregnant at the same time. Then the war tore them apart.
Pretty bonkers, right?
Just wait till you read it.
Lily riffs on how she arrived at this story, how she came to live in Ukraine, the novel that’s helping her narrative nonfiction, and how she earns trust.
We start off by speaking with lead editor Jonah Ogles so, you know, you’re gonna get some inside baseball from the other side of the table.
Continue reading “Episode 391: For the Atavist Magazine, Lily Hyde Takes Us to Ukraine”