Welcome back for another installment of Ask TON. (Wondering what Ask TON is? See here for background information and our introductory post. Click on “Ask TON” above to see previous installments.) Today’s question: I’d like to do more international travel as part of my work. I don’t really know how to begin finding stories in [...]
Posts Tagged ‘Borrell’
Ask TON: Finding international stories
Posted by Jeanne Erdmann and Siri Carpenter on March 7th, 2012
Posted in Ask TON 
Tags: Ask TON, Borrell, Field Reporting, Finding Ideas, Fox, Graber, International, Pitches, Rosner, Sohn, Stone 
1 Comment »Lost and found: How great nonfiction writers discover great ideas
Posted by Brendan Borrell on December 13th, 2011
In June 2010, Michael Finkel needed a new idea. The Bozeman-based author of True Story: Murder, Memoir, Mea Culpa and writer for GQ, National Geographic, and Men’s Journal wasn’t satisfied with the stack of print-outs in the two-inch deep brownie pan on his desk. And none of the hundreds of ideas in a Word document [...]
Posted in Elements of Craft Tags: Borrell, Elements-of-Craft, Finding Ideas, Guest Contributor 4 Comments »Ask TON: From idea to story
Posted by Jeanne Erdmann and Siri Carpenter on October 27th, 2011
Welcome to day four of our first-birthday palooza. Today, we greet you with another episode of Ask TON. (If you need to catch up on earlier episodes, see here, here, and here.) Here’s the question for today: What questions do you ask yourself about a story that you’re considering pursuing? How do you decide whether it’s a good idea? [...]
Brendan Borrell jets to Bolivia for a hot story on chili peppers
Posted by Jeanne Erdmann on November 24th, 2010
For his first major feature, freelancer Brendan Borrell crisscrossed Bolivia for 2 ½ weeks in an old truck with notebook, recorder, and camera, waiting out roadblocks, going a long time between meals, and of course munching hot chili peppers. [What’s So Hot About Chili Peppers? appeared in Smithsonian in April 2009.] Here, Borrell tells the [...]
Posted in Behind-the-Story Interviews Tags: Borrell, Drafts, Erdmann, Field Reporting, Narrative, Pitches, Profile, Smithsonian, Writer Interview No Comments »