Search results for “so you want to write a book”

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"Why’s this so good?" No. 58: Scott Anderson and the hunger warriors

A tattered, stapled-together copy of Scott Anderson’s “The Hunger Warriors” now qualifies as one of my oldest and most treasured possessions. I distinctly remember snipping it out of the New…
September 11, 2012

“Why’s this so good?” No. 57: Joan Didion on dreamers gone astray

In 1977, Joan Didion told The Paris Review that she always kept in mind one line of poetry, from T.S. Eliot’s “Four Quartets”: “at the still point of the turning world.” I don’t…
September 4, 2012
The best of Storyboard: What’s that sound?

The best of Storyboard: What’s that sound?

The best stories – even the written ones – have audio. Maybe it’s a sensibility: voice or style, which Ben Yagoda explores in his craft book The Sound on the…
August 30, 2012

“Why’s this so good?” No. 56: Nora Ephron and the thing about breasts

Nora Ephron was a writer of many gifts. She was fearless. She was blunt. She was dazzlingly perceptive. She was writing at the right time. Her connections were fascinating. She could…
August 28, 2012
"I wanted people who were beautifully imperfect" -- Isabel Wilkerson on finding characters (Mayborn 2012, vol. 3)

"I wanted people who were beautifully imperfect" — Isabel Wilkerson on finding characters (Mayborn 2012, vol. 3)

Isabel Wilkerson closed out the Mayborn by describing the 15 years she spent reporting and writing her book, The Warmth of Other Suns. The book chronicles the migration of 6…
August 3, 2012
"You will always have work, and it will be the best kind of work" -- Richard Rhodes on writing (Mayborn 2012, vol. 2)

"You will always have work, and it will be the best kind of work" — Richard Rhodes on writing (Mayborn 2012, vol. 2)

Richard Rhodes, the Pulitzer-winning author of The Making of the Atomic Bomb, and of 23 other books, delivered one of the keynotes at this year’s Mayborn Conference for Literary Journalism.…
August 2, 2012
“Why’s this so good?” No. 52: Joshua Davis and the diamond heist

“Why’s this so good?” No. 52: Joshua Davis and the diamond heist

You could argue that a writer has no business critiquing the work of one of his closest friends. Knowing the person behind the words influences the reading experience, making it…
July 31, 2012
Jeanne Marie Laskas and Thomas Lake on sportswriting, voice, source love and more (Mayborn 2012, vol. 1)

Jeanne Marie Laskas and Thomas Lake on sportswriting, voice, source love and more (Mayborn 2012, vol. 1)

If you were following the activities out of Grapevine, Texas, last weekend you might’ve seen tweets like this one:And this one:And these:Peter Simek of D magazine recapped this year’s Mayborn Literary Nonfiction…
July 26, 2012

"Why’s this so good?" No. 50: Jennifer Gonnerman and real lives

I often tell students, both undergraduate and graduate, that beautiful stories are everywhere. You can head off to Iraq and Afghanistan and pen a riveting war epic, but you can…
July 17, 2012
Michael Mooney on trauma detail, his reading partner, the internal critic and his "I ♥ (Vince Young)" notebook

Michael Mooney on trauma detail, his reading partner, the internal critic and his "I ♥ (Vince Young)" notebook

We’ll be talking to Michael Mooney again soon about a small body of his recent long-form journalism, but today we give our attention to “When Lois Pearson Started Fighting Back,”…
July 6, 2012