Don't Miss Narratively Academy's Top Stories of 2025
From how to land a book deal to how to blend art into your writing practice, here's a look at the 10 stories that got writers in our community most excited this year.
Yes, it’s another best-of-the-year post :) We couldn’t let 2025 close without one. It’s been a whirlwind six months since launching NarrativelyAcademy.com back in June. Our team and I have truly enjoyed working with so many of you in our classes, seeing you join our live videos, and more. We launched this new site because we wanted to create a resource to help writers day in and day out—with our writing classes—but also via our “Open Book” live video series (now a podcast too!), as well as the tips and how-tos in our StoryCraft section. Here’s a look at the 10 stories that you read, watched and shared the most this year.
Have a request for what kind of guide we should share or which writers and editors we should interview in the new year? Shout out in the comments.
What the Heck Is a Flash Essay?
Thanks so much to the over 400(!) of you who joined our live chat today with Lee Gutkind and Dinty W. Moore. What a pleasure to have these two literary legends get together to talk about flash essays—and to have so many of you join from all over the world and chime in with insightful comments and questions.
How to Take Rejections Well and Keep Going
A few months ago, I received a rejection email from a goal publication that left me feeling a bit bummed. I had been so sure it was a good fit, and yet the form letter stated exactly the opposite: “Our editors were drawn to your writing style, but unfortunately did not feel the piece was quite right for [redacted publication name].”
Erika Hayasaki on Writing Longform Features and Cover Stories
A former contributing editor at Narratively, Erika Hayasaki has written cover stories for The New York Times Magazine, WIRED, Newsweek and more, plus features for The Atlantic, The Guardian, National Geographic, Men’s Health, Elle, New York magazine,
Novelist Kern Carter on Landing the Book Deal…and What Comes Next
We really appreciate it when a successful author can be wholly honest and transparent about all of the ups and downs of the industry, and Kern Carter is nothing if not that. Kern has landed six separate book deals (yes, we said five when we promoted this chat; and yes, as he revealed in our live video, he landed yet another one since then!)
Lizzie Widdicombe on Writing and Editing for The New Yorker
Thanks so much to all of you who joined our first Open Book live video this afternoon!
How Reporting Can Add Layers of Meaning to Your Personal Essay
Next week at Narratively Academy, Kristina Gaddy is teaching Focus on Craft: Reporting the Personal Essay. (Just 4 seats left!) Today, Kristina joins us to share some of her favorite examples, from Melissa Febos to E.B. White, of how research and reporting took personal stories to the next level.
How to Write About Your Most Vulnerable Experiences With Susannah Cahalan
For someone as successful as Susannah Cahalan — she’s among a small pool of writers who actually once got to answer the question everyone always ponders, Who would play you in a movie? (Chloë Grace Moretz!) — she’s very humble. She’s this year’s Narratively Memoir Prize judge
How to Use Fragments to Tell Your Story
We recently read this Craft Classic from Creative Nonfiction by Beth Kephart for the first time, and it was just what we needed at this moment. Hope many of you feel the same!
Nupu Press on Blending Art Into Your Writing Practice
Our Open Book video series has offered tons of insight into the practicalities of publishing, from how to write longform features to how to land a book deal and much more. This Friday’s chat with artist Nupu Press was less focused on the business side of things but it was such a breath of fresh air!
Melissa Petro on How to Write a Hybrid Memoir
This week’s Open Book conversation was a really great one! Melissa Petro, author of Shame on You: How to Be a Woman in the Age of Mortification chatted with us about how she re-conceptualized her memoir into a hybrid book that feels very of-the-moment—and got a publisher’s attention with her new proposal. Several participants in this Wednesday’s
Thanks so much to Lee Gutkind, Jesse Sposato, Erika Hayasaki, Kern Carter, Noah Rosenberg, Lizzie Widdicombe, Kristina R. Gaddy, Susannah Cahalan, Beth Kephart, Nupu Press, Abeer Hoque, Melissa Petro, Parisa Saranj, Jerry Portwood, Eva Recinos and many others for dropping so much knowledge on us this year!