I just pulled out my version of Janet Burroway's, Writing Fiction: A Guide to Narrative Craft. Decades into my career, eight years after publishing a bestseller in Columbine, I still turn to this amazing book. If you're just starting out with writing, or definitely if you've been toying with it but feel a bit rudderless, this is THE book. For anyone interested in writing — fiction or non — this is an amazing tool, which I highly recommend. Each chapter takes you step by step through one core element: plot, character, setting, POV, etc. And while the examples are fiction, the exact same techniques apply to narrative nonfiction. It's a classic, in its 9th edition, with heavy revisions each tim
How did I think Vladimir Nabokov devoted 300 pages to just an old man craving a 12-year-old girl? I'm 130 pages into Lolita and no spoilers, but whoa! So much more is going on in this tale. And it's delicious. Best prose of any book, ever, that I've ever read. (His Conclusive Evidence is my all-time favorite book.) (It was very hard getting past the central crime, though smart for the narrator to begin by addressing the jury. (We are consoled from the first notes that he's failed to get away with it.) On attempt #3, I've been able to accept that yes, there's a guy like that, and fascinated to get into his mind. And to hear this captivating tale in his exquisite prose. Here is p. 39, where I
1 a.m. Thursday night. Bike ride home, 8th Ave in Hell's Kitchen. I need to explore the city more on weeknights. It comes alive in unexpected ways. At first, it felt like a nuisance — having to ride around the work —until I realized how cool it was.
We had two horrible shootings yesterday. I can't believe there are people who believe that's a good solution — especially to a political grievance! But regardless, these keep happening, so I finally did something ghastly, and created a When A Shooting Strikes page. (Someday, maybe I can change that first word to If...) It includes: Run, Hide, Fight info on how to respond if you're attack My Skeptic's Guide To Media Coverage Thoughts on how to stop these "spectacle murders."
Vanity Fair just surprised me with this tweet: A year after the Pulse shooting in Orlando, V.F. contributor @DaveCullen's questions sti
I'm on a very brief vacation in "Michigan."* Definitely needed that. It's just 3 days, but it's a start. * (We're at a lake by that name, and a city by that name, but not a stat — i.e., Michigan City, Indiana.) (Pictures coming.)
when the news broke that John Lennon had been shot outside his New York residence and was pronounced dead on arrival at Roosevelt Hospital.
More and more schools are using Columbine, but I don't think most teachers know the guide exists, or that we've made it free online.
"I then had the fantastic pleasure of creeping through that pitch-dark tunnel, where I lingered a little to listen to the singing in my
It was great to see old friends, do some business, see some Columbine survivors and write! It's really good for my writing. Got my momen
