"You want to be able to nab the details, but then you also want to be able to tell the story of why this matters and who's harmed by this, and finding the harm is oftentimes the hardest part of investigative reporting," Miranda Green, an investigative reporter.

Her latest piece is for The Atavist Magazine titled "All That Glitters" about the seedy underbelly of diamond sales, crypto, and sports ticketing and the man at the center of it all.

In this conversation, we talk about:

• How she earns trust
• How she navigates background
• The structure of the piece
• Finding the harm in an investigative story
• And her routine (or lack of one)

Podcast Specific Substack at creativenonfictionpodcast.substrack.com.

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Newsletter: Rage Against the Algorithm

Show notes: brendanomeara.com

"We're sadistic motherf*ckers," says John Glionna, @johnglionna on the Instagrams.

John is a longtime journalist and author of No Friday Night Lights (Bison Books). He made a name for himself at the Los Angeles Times pursuing what would be called "Glionna stories," stories about invisible people who have rich lives all their own.

In this episode we talk about

• The Glionna Story
• How John didn’t punch down in his writing
• Working with Glenn Stout on this book
• What he loves most about this kind of work
• And solving that thorny question of whether a story needs better writing or better reporting

Podcast Specific Substack at creativenonfictionpodcast.substrack.com.

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Newsletter: Rage Against the Algorithm

Show notes: brendanomeara.com

"It's kind of a mix of reporting to the very last minute to put off writing, and then when I have to write, having a panic attack, and then, like, booking a hotel room for a week and not leaving that room. This is the thing I have done until I figure it out," says Leah Sottile, in a live event at Gratitude Brewing.

She is the author of Blazing Eye Sees All: Love Has Won, False Prophets, and the Fever Dream of the American New Age (Grand Central). She's also the author of When the Moon Turns to Blood, an Oregon Book Award Finalist.

Leah is a freelance journalism whose work has appeared in The Atavist Magazine, the Washing Post, High Country News, and Outisde. She's the creator of the podcasts Hush, Burn Wild, and Bundyville.

In this podcast we talk about:

• The work of John Vaillant (See Ep. 376(
• How writing this book made Leah crazy
• How New Ageism and Far Right Extremism overlap
• Sagging Middles
• And not re-victimizing sources
• And much more…

Learn more about Leah at leahsottile.com and follower her on Instagram @leah.sottile.

Podcast Specific Substack at creativenonfictionpodcast.substrack.com.

Pre-order The Front Runner

Newsletter: Rage Against the Algorithm

Show notes: brendanomeara.com