"The worst thing you can do is pitch a topic, not a story. You start with a topic. I like to talk to a few people before I write a pitch, which can be difficult because people you're asking to talk to don't know where it's going. I just look for topics that interest me first, and I dig down to an expert, and then from the expert, I try and find individual stories within that," says Peter Ward, whose "Master and Commander" appeared in The Atavist Magazine.

It’s that Atavistian time of the month, so there might be some spoilers here. I can’t remember. Good chance of it. Visit magazine.atavist.com to read the story by Peter Ward, a writer whose work has appeared in GQ, The Atlantic, Wired, The Guardian, and others. He’s the author of two books of nonfiction, The Consequential Frontier and The Price of Immortality. This story for The Atavist titled Master and Commander is wild. Here’s the deck: When a scraggly band of folk musicians arrived to tour the UK, residents of a small Welsh town were enamored—until they learned that the band’s leader ruled with an iron fist.

There’s sea shanties, people.

We’re gonna hear from lead editor Jonah Ogles first and dive into the Atavist’s national magazine award nominations, namely Drew Philp’s story “There Will Be No Mercy.” You can hear out chat about it on Episode 449.

Peter is here to talk about how he arrived at this story.

Pitching a story, not a topic
Off the record conversations for trust
His cheat code
How the story was a house of cards
Better Call Saul
Finding voice
Interview prep
And the video clip of Matt Stone and Trey Parker that really helps with story development

Promotional support: The 2026 Power of Narrative Conference. Use narrative20 at checkout for 20% off your tuition. Visit combeyond.bu.edu.

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Welcome to Pitch Club

Show notes: brendanomeara.com

Episode 515: Pitching Stories and Not Topics with Atavist Writer Peter Ward

The Creative Nonfiction Podcast with Brendan O'Meara

Episode 515: Pitching Stories and Not Topics with Atavist Writer Peter Ward