Helpful resources for narrative writers

A writer asked me for some resources to help with narrative writing. I started with the four handouts I use for my full-day narrative seminar, which I will present next week in Roanoke, Va., for the Outdoor Writers Association of America:
Writing as You Report
Sweat the Details
The Elements and Structure of Narrative
Make Your Story Sing

In addition, you can find lots of helpful resources for narrative writing, including outstanding examples, at the Nieman Narrative Digest. Bob Baker's Newsthinking web site also has lots of helpful advice for narrative writers. "What does it take to produce a serial narrative?" and "Turning court testimony into a narrative-style story," both from the Providence Journal's old "Power of Words" site, are also good.

While I'm on the topic, I'll share two outstanding examples of narrative writing:
This "hike into horror" story by Thomas Curwen of the Los Angeles Times is one of the examples I will be using next week in Roanoke and it's the featured story now on the Nieman Narrative Digest. A horrifying but inspiring story of an attack by and recovery from an attack by a grizzly bear.

This story by my former Omaha World-Herald colleague Erin Grace illustrates how a narrative approach can get the most out of a story. Do the beloved-teacher-retiring story as a straight feature, with the sources talking to the reporter, and it's a nice feature but nothing special except to her and her students. Do the plucky-person-battling-degenerative-disease story as a straight feature, with the sources talking to the reporter, and it's a nice feature but nothing special except to the plucky person and other people struggling with the disease. But Erin's narrative approach makes you understand the disease and the teacher at a deeper level. There's no quotes here of people talking to the reporter. Quotes are the teacher's thoughts, the teacher talking to students, to her principal, reading notes from students. You're right there in the classroom with the teacher, watching her interact and occasionally even getting inside her head.