Welcome to Narrative Journalism! While this genre/craft/form of art goes by many names (i.e. Creative Nonfiction, Narrative Nonfiction, Literary Nonfiction, New Journalism, etc.), narrative journalism is most simply defined as the following: storytelling (narrative) through the use of primary and secondary research (journalism). Narrative journalism is ALWAYS concerned with nonfiction writing (true stories!), but what sets narrative journalism apart from say, history or news journalism, is that narrative journalism is hyper-focused on the craft of the story, often relying on literary techniques more often found in fiction writing. As a framework, these literary techniques will be explored through the five elements of fiction: theme, character, setting, plot, and point of view. This textbook is largely organized around these five elements of fiction, though the first couple of chapters are concerned with foundational journalism concepts, including Ethics (Chapter 1) and Research (Chapter 2). Following these chapters on journalism basics, we then delve into what uniquely defines narrative journalism from other forms of journalism. Not only do the elements of fiction create some structure for the textbook, but we will also work through and explore a sequence of projects that engages with these various elements in creative and informative ways. One of the most useful aspects of this text is the abundance of student examples featured within, examples that showcase the different projects and elements of fiction through inventive and instructive ways. I’ve added commentary throughout each example to supplement the more explicit instruction found in each chapter.