Jake Lourim

When it came time to choose a topic for my capstone project, I had three goals in mind: I wanted to write something that I wouldn't otherwise have an opportunity to write; I wanted to take advantage of the time and resources available to work on a major project (that is, work on something that mattered to me); and I wanted to write something that would be valuable to me as I enter my career in journalism. Looking back, I accomplished all three goals. My work on this project took several different avenues, from creative research to generating writing, and the fact that this project had two distinct parts gave me a broad set of goals. One part was a survey of advice from four of today's best writers (Joan Didion, Eli Saslow, Tom Wolfe and Wright Thompson) on the best ways to tell stories. In this way, I learned so much about writing as I prepare to spend the rest of my life telling stories. The other part of the project was me putting those techniques to use in writing four stories that I always wanted to tell but never did. I may never have a chance to tell them again, so I certainly think I took advantage of this opportunity.

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Below is the final product, "On Telling Stories," a compilation of stories and an analysis of how best to tell them.