“Where crime comes into it for me is that I need a narrative engine to strap myself onto so I can write the book. ‘Cause otherwise, I feel like, “Oh, fuck, where’s this going.” And then he’s in the room thinking about things and the dust is blowing in the sunlight.” – George Pelecanos I’ve [...]
“Nice writing… but where’s the story?” I only needed to hear that a couple times when I started my MFA program to realize that I had a little problem. What’s the story? Whose story is this? Where’s the conflict? “There’s a nice mood here… but what’s the story about?” In the years before going to [...]
I had a conversation with my good friend Jeff recently — not a wholly original conversation — about the inconsistent pleasures of reading fiction in “The New Yorker.” Just today, I cracked open my latest issue and read the story “Bad Neighbors” from Edward P. Jones. It’s a good story.
