Inside the Story

A journalist has launched a quarterly digital magazine on the art of storytelling.

The magazine, called Inside the Story, is a follow up to an ebook of the same name launched last year by journalist and filmmaker Adam Westbrook to raise money for charity.

Westbrook told Journalism.co.uk that the new magazine will explore the craft of designing non-fiction stories for journalists, filmmakers and producers, and that it is an "experiment in web-native publishing".

The magazine, which costs £4 an issue, is designed to be read on tablet, mobile or desktop and can be viewed online or downloaded (as pdf or epub).

It is purchased via micropayment system TinyPass, which allows people to pay by PayPal, Google Wallet or credit or debit card.

The first issue, which is about the science behind storytelling, was released last week. The next issue is due to be published in April.

A page at the beginning of the magazine tells the reader that it is intended as a lean-back reading experience, explaining it will take around an hour to consume the five articles.

Westbrook told Journalism.co.uk that beyond the product itself, he sees the launch of the magazine as "an interesting experiment in web-native publishing".

"I've tried to design something that doesn't look like a print magazine shoved on the web, but built for the web itself."

He expands the idea on the magazine's website: "Inside The Story is what some people call a web-native magazine: it's built with HTML (rather than as a self-contained document) and is not intended to look like or be influenced by the magazines we are familiar with.

"There is no art direction, big centrefolds or ambitious design. In fact, there are just two colours and two typefaces running throughout the whole thing.

"There are only five articles (each one clocking up around 2,000 words) and none of the fast features that make it into mainstream publications. In short, it is the simplest iteration of my idea I could come up with."

Westbrook, who is publishing Inside the Story under his new 'digital publishing laboratory' Hot Pursuit, adds: "There are countless articles and websites about the so-called 'power of storytelling' but I don't see anyone really trying to understand the underlying mechanics of how a good story works.

"This project is an attempt to do that. Rather than talking in vague terms, Inside the Story magazine gets its hands dirty looking at the architecture of story structure. It talks about things like plot, tempo, progression, and events."

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