When ProPublica and NPR put out a call for stories about women who died or nearly died in pregnancy or childbirth, they got thousands of replies. But only 200 about the experiences of black women—even though they are most affected by this issue. That’s when ProPublica engagement reporter Adriana Gallardo got creative and used a StoryCorps model to get more black women involved in the conversation.
As a diagnostic tool, says Jacqui Banaszynski, the literary forensics technique she developed and uses in editing and teaching helps writers identify their habits, strengths, and weaknesses, and then correct them in revisions. “This technique hasn’t changed the way I write,” she says. “I still let myself write the way I always have in the first draft. But it has changed the way I revise.” Here, Banaszynski shares the technique with Christina Selby, who demonstrates it on a piece of her own unedited writing.
Becky Lang is executive editor of the Kalmbach Media Science Group and editor in chief of Discover magazine, where she's worked since early 2013. She moved to the magazine world from newspapers after 11 years as the health/science/environment editor at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. She's been writing and editing as a job since high school, when she covered minor league baseball in Helena, Montana (the Milwaukee Brewers’ farm team—go figure). She's a graduate of Northwestern University.
We are thrilled to announce that Science Sandbox, an initiative of the Simons Foundation, has awarded The Open Notebook a $150,000 grant to expand our work. The goals of the grant, $75,000 per year for two years, are twofold: to launch a new "Diverse Voices" series of articles, a project that will be a partnership with the National Association of Science Writers Diversity Committee; and to support a substantial portion of TON's operating expenses.
When a journalist is on the prowl for story ideas, every yarn spun by a friend, every vacation adventure, and every quirky local news item can seem like the beginning of a great story idea. But few of those glimmers of inspiration will turn out to be real gems. Learning the right questions to ask about an idea can help journalists figure out whether an idea deserves to exist as a story, and what kind of story to pitch.
Many science reporters get their start in other beats, including crime, business, fashion, or politics. But science touches every aspect of life, so it’s no wonder many of them say the skills they developed in those beats have made them better-equipped—and sometimes uniquely positioned—to report on science.
Adriana Gallardo Finds the Untold Stories of Black Mothers
Jacqui Banaszynski’s Literary Forensics: A Diagnostic Tool to Improve Writing
Pitching Errors: How Not to Pitch
Narrative X-Rays: Looking at Stories’ Structural Skeletons
Is This a Story? How to Evaluate Your Ideas Before You Pitch
Storygram: Sarah Wild’s “Bones Specialists Try to Prise Secrets from the Veld Bodies”
Good Endings: How to Write a Kicker Your Editor—and Your Readers—Will Love
Including Diverse Voices in Science Stories
David Tuller Untangles the Research History of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
How Rebecca Skloot Built The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
On the Scene: Reporting from the Field
Asking for More: Negotiating Rates for Freelance Assignments
The Science Byline Counting Project: Where Are the Women—and Where Are They Not?
The Open Notebook is growing, thanks to a $150,000 grant from Science Sandbox
A Day in the Life of John Timmer
Taking Good Notes: Tricks and Tools
Are You a Writer or an Editor? Part I: The Writers
Storygram: Cally Carswell’s “The Tree Coroners”
Tools: Planner Pad, the Funnel of Focus
Pictures and Prose: When Photographers and Writers Work Together
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