72395873289

enormous amount of time on it. If you can’t get your reader in at that point, you’re lost. When I teach, I
begin every class by reading the opening page from a piece of nonfiction. Those opening lines set the
tone for the book. But my initial goal is to get through a complete rough draft. Psychologically, it
helps me to have something down, to confirm that I really do have a story. As you can tell, I’m filled
with insecurities when I’m writing.
You don’t write from an outline?
I guess my first very rough first draft is sort of a rudimentary, impressionistic outline. I work from
it the way that some writers might work from a more formal outline. It won’t have the quotes, and
details are missing, but it’s all down there.
What do you do once you’ve written your first draft?
I go back and rewrite, scene by scene, detail by detail. It’s the part I love the most. It’s all I think
about. I’ll awake in the middle of the night with a perfect sentence. Or during a game of basketball
will find a word I’d been looking for. I’m sure, to some, I must seem like an unholy, scatterbrained
mess.
Do you discuss a story while you’re working on it?
No, I’m incredibly private. I don’t talk about my work-in-process. I worry that if I talk about it too
much, it’ll get stale, and I want the writing to be as fresh as it can. I’m sure people think I’m rude, but
I just can’t get myself to talk about what I’m writing on.
When do you show your writing to other people?
Once I’ve finished four or five polished chapters, I give them to a couple of friends. And I give
everything to my wife, who is such a careful reader, and so blunt and critical. She has saved me from
myself on numerous occasions.
Do you show it to your book editor, Nan Talese?
I’ve tried. But she won’t look at an unfinished manuscript. She doesn’t even want to hear about it.
She wants to come to it fresh. I remember the first time she turned me down, when I was writing
There Are No Children Here, I just about panicked. But I admire it now. It’s how it should be. It’s so
important to have her fresh eyes on it once I’ve got it to a place where I feel good about it.
How much do you work with your editor after you’ve finished writing?
When I was at The Wall Street Journal I realized that the worst writers were the obstinate ones,
those who resisted their editors’ suggestions. Having a great editor is a blessing, and more often than
not they’ll improve your writing, not dampen it.
Is writing more difficult than reporting or vice versa?