In 1973, Richard Todd was a young editor at The Atlantic Monthly. His boss, Atlantic editor-in-chief Bob Manning, had just handed him a manuscript with a note scrawled across the top, “Let’s face it, this fellow can’t write.” The story was about a mass murder in California and its author was a student at the [...]
Archive for the ‘Behind-the-Story Interviews’ Category
Richard Todd on Good Prose
Posted by Christie Aschwanden on May 7th, 2013
Posted in Behind-the-Story Interviews 
Tags: Aschwanden, Atlantic, Books, Collaboration, Editing, Kidder, Structure, Todd, Writer Interview 
1 Comment »Words with Friends: The story behind the Scilance book
Posted by Kendall Powell on May 1st, 2013
In 2005 Kendall Powell founded SciLance, an online community of 35 science writers, as a way to keep in touch with the colleagues she had met at conferences. The initial invitation to the group described it as “A network to discuss, ask advice, gripe, gossip, or otherwise virtually socialize about the business, ethics, logistics, struggles and [...]
Posted in Behind-the-Story Interviews Tags: Hayden, Nijhuis, Ornes, Powell, Rosner, Science Writers' Handbook, SciLance 2 Comments »Rachel Aviv examines the science of sex abuse
Posted by Lauren Friedman on April 9th, 2013
The criminal justice system has long relied on scientists — and especially psychologists — to make some of the most crucial assessments about defendants. Is this person fit to stand trial? Should the so-called insanity defense be applied? In many instances, the law lags far behind the science, with sometimes disastrous results. In “The Science [...]
Posted in Behind-the-Story Interviews Tags: Aviv, Friedman, Guest Contributor, New Yorker, pedophilia, Writer Interview 3 Comments »Paige Williams investigates a dinosaur fossil underworld
Posted by Christie Aschwanden on March 26th, 2013
A dinosaur known as Tarbosaurus bataar once roamed what is now Mongolia’s Gobi Desert. About seventy million years later, its fossilized bones turned up at an auction in New York City, placing it at the center of a contentious battle between governments, paleontologists and professional bone hunters. From the moment Paige Wiliams learned about the black-market [...]
Posted in Behind-the-Story Interviews Tags: Aschwanden, New Yorker, Paleontology, Williams, Writer Interview 2 Comments »George Johnson chases lightning
Posted by Siri Carpenter on February 26th, 2013
Some people fret over the chances that lightning might strike the same place twice. After three summers trailing lightning-chaser Tim Samaras on a unique photographic quest, science writer George Johnson would perhaps have been content with it happening just once. On assignment for National Geographic, Johnson patiently waited and watched as Samaras tried to capture a [...]
Posted in Behind-the-Story Interviews Tags: Carpenter, Drafts, Field Reporting, Johnson, National Geographic, Notes, Writer Interview 2 Comments »Ed Yong profiles a scientific dynasty
Posted by Carl Zimmer on February 19th, 2013
Science is practiced by people, and people never work in isolation. Scientists train their students, who grow up to be scientists in their own right and train students to follow in their own footsteps. Along the way, scientific dynasties emerge, working together to establish new ways of thinking and applying their ideas to new problems. [...]
Posted in Behind-the-Story Interviews Tags: Guest Contributor, Nature, Notes, Profile, Writer Interview, Yong, Zimmer 5 Comments »Maryn McKenna reports the dark side of agriculture
Posted by Jeanne Erdmann on February 12th, 2013
Science journalist Maryn McKenna has covered the infectious diseases beat for more than a decade. During that time, she’s written countless articles and two award-winning books on the subject. Through her reporting, she developed an interest in how large-scale farming operations spread antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Last year, McKenna produced a package of stories on women who had [...]
Posted in Behind-the-Story Interviews Tags: ABC News, Atlantic, Erdmann, McKenna, Pitches, Public Health, Superbug, Wired, Writer Interview 2 Comments »David Quammen on turning research into story, part II
Posted by David Dobbs on January 29th, 2013
Last week, we published the transcript of a discussion between David Dobbs and David Quammen that we sponsored at last year’s National Association of Science Writers meeting. Today, we present Part II of the conversation between the two Davids. Most of this interview took place by phone in early December. David Dobbs: Where do you [...]
Posted in Behind-the-Story Interviews Tags: Dobbs, Field Reporting, Guest Contributor, Quammen, Spillover, Structure, Video, Writer Interview 1 Comment »Video: David Quammen interview
Posted by Christie Aschwanden on January 25th, 2013
On Tuesday, we posted an edited transcript of an interview that TON contributor and editorial board member David Dobbs conducted with author David Quammen. This conversation took place before a live audience at a TON event at the National Association of Science Writers meeting in Raleigh, North Carolina last October. Below is a video of the conversation [...]
Posted in Behind-the-Story Interviews Tags: Dobbs, Guest Contributor, Narrative, Quammen, Video, writing 1 Comment »David Quammen on turning research into story, part I
Posted by David Dobbs on January 22nd, 2013
David Quammen has been one of the world’s leading science writers for over a quarter century, with eight acclaimed nonfiction books, including the iconic The Song of the Dodo, as well as four novels. His new book, Spillover: Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic, gave us the excuse to interview him for TON — [...]
Posted in Behind-the-Story Interviews Tags: Dobbs, Field Reporting, Guest Contributor, Quammen, Spillover, Structure, Writer Interview 6 Comments »Cynthia Graber profiles a modern-day Dr. Frankenstein
Posted by Melanie Bauer on December 21st, 2012
While Cynthia Graber isn’t new to reporting on regenerative medicine, her interview with Tufts University biologist Michael Levin led to some unexpected stories. In research that recalls the toils of Dr. Frankenstein, Levin uses electricity to initiate regeneration of body parts in living organisms. In light of recent advances in DNA research, the field of [...]
Posted in Behind-the-Story Interviews Tags: Bauer, Edits, Graber, Guest Contributor, Interviewing, Matter, Narrative, Reporting, Structure, Writer Interview No Comments »Brian Vastag profiles a dinosaur tracker
Posted by Siri Carpenter on December 13th, 2012
When Washington Post science writer Brian Vastag found Ray Stanford, an amateur dinosaur footprint tracker in the D.C. suburbs who had found an unusual baby dinosaur footprint, he thought he had stumbled upon a “nice little day story.” Soon, though, he realized that Stanford’s newest find was only the most recent chapter in a far [...]
Posted in Behind-the-Story Interviews Tags: Carpenter, Drafts, Edits, Narrative, Reporting, Structure, Vastag, Writer Interview 4 Comments »