150 Years Ago...Part II

In my last post I wrote about the national tragedy that was the loss of Abraham Lincoln (150 Years Ago – PartI). For our country, this single event was one of the largest tipping points contained in our history—an event so enormous that it resonates still today, shaping the very fabric of our society. This is exactly why I find tipping points so fascinating (For more on what I mean by the term see my much earlier post—Tipping Points). There’s something compelling about a moment in time that changes the world we all know.

If we step back 150 years we find a nation in turmoil. (I would ask you to close your eyes and imagine it but then that would probably be a hindrance in reading any further!) Our Civil War was dying, though not dead. And the entire nation, not just the North, reeled from the shock of Lincoln’s assassination. John Wilkes Booth expected to be heralded a hero, but instead, even Confederate President Jefferson Davis expressed remorse for the loss of Lincoln. He knew—as did others in the South—that the North had their martyr. Further fighting would be met by a stiffened resolve, and the most favorable terms for any surrender were to be had right then. Instead of energizing a failing Confederacy, Booth had driven the final nail into the proverbial coffin. 

The Lincoln Funeral Train

Today marks the 150^th anniversary of the capture of John Wilkes Booth. In what was the greatest manhunt in the history of our nation, the final chapter of the Civil War began to close with the death of a Shakespearean actor on a tobacco farm in Virginia. Though the angst felt by the nation might be hard to comprehend today, there are historians who bring it back to life in such glorious detail that you might as well be reading a taut paced thriller. At times, it is hard to improve upon real life as the source of drama, conflict, and ultimately insight into the human condition. 

For anyone interested in our nation’s history, especially as we pass this important anniversary in American history, I highly recommend the following works. They were both instrumental to my research. 

1. April 1865: The Month That Saved America By Jay Winik

Winik brings to life the very last month of the Civil War, tracing the fighting from the fall of Richmond, General Lee’s retreat, the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia, President Lincoln’s assassination, and ultimately the final surrender of Confederate General Joe Johnston. This is a brilliant look at thirty-days that shaped America forever, with a masterful account of the politics, the figures, and the outcome that gave us a new-birth. 

Of particular note, Winik outlines the last-ditch plan forwarded by Confederate President Jefferson Davis, to fight a guerilla war. If successful, it would have paralyzed the United States and forced exactly the type of outcome I used as the premise of my novel—an insurgency that threatens to tear apart the nation, something very similar to what our country has experienced in our conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

2. Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase to Catch Lincoln’s Killer By James Swanson

While Winik covered the entire month of April 1865, Swanson zeroed in on the specifics of hunting Booth and his conspirators. This is a gripping tale of the greatest manhunt in American history, and Swanson does not disappoint. Sharing a birthday with none other than Abraham Lincoln, Swanson writes with a passion that few could rival, bringing to life a tale of murder, betrayal, and intrigue. Follow the chase from Washington DC, to a lone tobacco farm where Booth meets his end.

Once again, a well-written account of actual history was critical for my research, as I altered the outcome of the greatest historical injustice in our nation’s past—the death of Lincoln. Understanding the past, in particular all the politics swirling around the assassination, allowed me to craft a new narrative where our greatest President survives in Ford’s theater…only to unleash unexpected outcomes.

TJ Turner is the author of LINCOLN'S BODYGUARD, an alternative history that rights one of the nation’s greatest wrongs—the death of President Abraham Lincoln. Told from the perspective of the bodyguard who saves Lincoln, it presents an alternative dystopian view of the nation that would be, and one man’s attempt to find redemption while saving the nation.

150 Years Ago...Part I

On April 15th, 1865—150 years ago—America lost our president to assassination. The nation was just beginning to exit the most costly war in American history, with over 600,000 soldiers killed and an untold number of civilians. The destruction of the nation, especially the southern states of the Confederacy, was incomparable to anything seen before. And yet, through the despair, there were glimmers of the hope to come—the Emancipation Proclamation, the 13th amendment to the Constitution, and a leader who plotted the direction in the uncertain times ahead. “With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds…”


In one of the great injustices in American history, the man who guided our nation would not live to see those wounds bound up. It is little consolation, though important to note, that we would be an entirely different country, a different people, without him. Even today, President Lincoln is still trapped in our national consciousness—a figure and a story that provides endless fascination. As we approach the 150^th anniversary of his passing, a new crop of books attempts to make sense of his story, his impact on the nation, and ultimately why he perished in sacrifice to our people. 

Many of the Lincoln-related books occupy the shelves of non-fiction in your local bookstores. This year is no exception. Among the better offerings are a pair that are sure to cast new light into the most tumultuous time period in American history.

1. President Lincoln Assassinated by Harold Holzer

There is little doubt that Harold Holzer is one of the preeminent Lincoln scholars of our time. He has written numerous accounts of all aspects of President Lincoln’s administration. And he does not disappoint with his latest offering.

President Lincoln Assassinated recaptures the dramatic immediacy of Lincoln’s assassination, the hunt for the conspirators and their military trial, and the nation’s mourning for the martyred president. The fateful story is told in more than eighty original documents—eyewitness reports, medical records, trial transcripts, newspaper articles, speeches, letters, diary entries, and poems—by more than seventy-five participants and observers, including the assassin John Wilkes Booth and Boston Corbett, the soldier who shot him. Together these voices combine to reveal the full panorama of one the most shocking and tragic events in our history. (From his Publisher’s Information)

2.    Fortune’s Fool by Terry Alford

Terry Alford is a professor of History at Northern Virginia Community College. He is the author of Prince Among Slaves, which was made into a PBS documentary in 2007.

In Fortune's Fool, Terry Alford provides the first comprehensive look at the life of an enigmatic figure whose life has been overshadowed by his final, infamous act. Tracing Booth's story from his uncertain childhood in Maryland, characterized by a difficult relationship with his famous actor father, to his successful acting career on stages across the country, Alford offers a nuanced picture of Booth as a public figure, performer, and deeply troubled man. The textured and compelling narrative gives new depth to the familiar events at Ford's Theatre and the aftermath that followed, culminating in Booth's capture and death at the hands of Union soldiers 150 years ago. (From his Publisher’s Information)

  

But Non-fiction doesn’t own the Lincoln narrative. At times, our creative imaginations long for more than the history we find in text books or even the compelling books listed above. Maybe it’s to right a historic wrong, to bring a voice to the voiceless or just as pure story set in a time period wrought with drama and conflict.

3. Lincoln's Assassin: The Unsolicited Confessions of John Wilkes Booth by Jeffrey Francis Pennington

In his debut novel, Pennington explores an alternative narrative where John Wilkes Booth survives the manhunt after he assassinated President Lincoln. Capitalizing on our love of conspiracy theories, Pennington delivers a story that probes the political landscape of Lincoln. 

Written in a confessional style, it aims to offer an insight into the true motivations at the heart of the Lincoln assassination, an event that continues to be the subject of much theorising and interest (From his publisher’s info).

4.    O Captain! My Captain! By Walt Whitman

Perhaps however, the greatest work of fiction in honor of Abraham Lincoln remains that of Whitman, in a poem written for our fallen captain. While it is not new, and might in fact be the first creative work written about the passing of our president, it is just as relevant today as it was 150 years ago.

O Captain! my Captain! our fearful trip is done,

The ship has weather’d every rack, the prize we sought is won,

The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting,

While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring;

But O heart! heart! heart!

O the bleeding drops of red,

Where on the deck my Captain lies,

Fallen cold and dead.

O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells;

Rise up—for you the flag is flung—for you the bugle trills,

For you bouquets and ribbon’d wreaths—for you the shores a-crowding,

For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning;

Here Captain! dear father!

This arm beneath your head!

It is some dream that on the deck,

You’ve fallen cold and dead.

My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still,

My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse nor will,

The ship is anchor’d safe and sound, its voyage closed and done,

From fearful trip the victor ship comes in with object won;

Exult O shores, and ring O bells!

But I with mournful tread,

Walk the deck my Captain lies,

Fallen cold and dead.

TJ Turner is the author of Lincoln’s Bodyguard, an alternative history that rights one of the nation’s greatest wrongs—the death of President Abraham Lincoln. Told from the perspective of the bodyguard who saves Lincoln, it presents an alternative dystopian view of the nation that would be, and one man’s attempt to find redemption while saving the nation. 

The Road to Published – Part III: Rejection & How NPR Made Me a Writer

I know I left some of you hanging in the last edition of this mesmerizing mini-series (The Road to Published—Part II: How to Survive a Rocket Attack). So I’ll go ahead and drop the ending on you…I made it through that first rocket attack—with all my fingers and toes. Hopefully that wasn’t too much of a spoiler. In fact, I’ve been back to Afghanistan twice since then, and lived through plenty of other attacks, all without forgetting to duck when I ran into the bunkers.

Keep reading...I promise it will make sense why I have a picture of Terry Gross in here!

Since I already let out the spoiler, let’s recap—I have no idea how to get published. It’s some wonderful combination of hard work, more hard work, pain, hard work, lack of sleep, self-doubt, luck, and rejection! And somehow all of it makes you a better writer…if you keep going. So far we have, in order:

1. Start writing
2. Finish writing
3. Get honest feedback (from someone who DOESN’T love you)
4. Get REJECTED
5. Never Give Up (Corollary: unless you truly suck, then you should quit…or go to a workshop or find a good writing course)

You got it…REJECTION is step four, and dusting yourself off and trying all over again, that’s step five. Remember how I said that my first novel sucked? Well, it did. After I learned what a literary agent was…I wrote to them ALL. (I can’t actually confirm that I wrote to every literary agent in the world, but it was damn close to it if I didn’t). Half decided my novel was so bad they never responded. Half sent back form letters. The third half (90% of the time I’m really bad at fractions all the time—think about that one!) sent back form letters with the wrong name on them. And then finally, one agent, one very special agent, she sent me a form rejection with my name! And it was hand written! Of course, my name was spelled wrong…which is fairly impressive since it only has two letters, but it was progress! That’s when I decided to move on, and write a new novel. I ignored the corollary to step 5.

Calling on my inner Hemmingway by using all my Afghanistan experience, I wrote about the war. That novel has a chance—it’s Catch-22 meets the Kite Runner. It may someday see the light of day—once significantly revised. But more important to me at the time, I was armed with two novels. I could finish these things! And by going to a few writers’ workshops, I knew what I needed next…more rejection. And this time it went better. I pitched to a few agents. One even asked for the first 50-pages. That’s like sticking your big toe in the tepid pool just to figure out if you really want to swim, but hell…it was progress. And she spelled my name right! After she read the first 50-pages, she asked for the whole thing. I thought for sure that was it, literary destiny awaited. But then it fell through. I got the whole…”I loved the story, but it’s just not right for me.” In other words, the pool was just a degree or two off!

And that’s how it goes. I quit. I gave up, went back overseas for another tour, and decided I wasn’t going to keep beating my head against the brick wall of literary failure. But there was a glimmer of something in there. I still wanted to write. And one evening after I came back from that tour, I was listening to NPR’s Fresh Air on the radio. Terry Gross was interviewing someone, and they were discussing Lincoln. In fact, I think they may have been talking about critical moments in history (Historical Tipping Points). And someone mentioned President Lincoln. I think Terry even said something to the effect of “Imagine if Lincoln had a bodyguard that night in Ford’s Theater…” (He actually did! Just a completelycrappy bodyguard) Now, that’s hardly an original thought. Tons of people have asked the same thing. But for some reason the phrase “Lincoln’s Bodyguard” stuck with me. It wasn’t even the idea of the “what-if”. It was just the fact that it would be a great title for a novel. And that’s where it started.

So when someone asks me where do they start in publishing, how do they get their next great American novel written and published? I tell them that I start at the beginning—the title. For me, there’s something about the title that defines the work, what it becomes as the story evolves, maybe even how I write it. I’m not certain. But for me…those first two little words were what forced me back to the keyboard and pushed me down Step 5: Never Give Up.

...to be continued.

The Road to Published – Part II: How to Survive A Rocket Attack

As I sit and write this, I am seated at the same exact table at my parent’s house where I started Lincoln’s Bodyguard 4 years ago. When I say it out loud, it seems like such a long time ago. But in reality it’s been a whirlwind. Of course, the current novel is the third I’ve written, so I’ve been hacking away at this writing gig for a lot longer than 4-years…a lot longer!

A Russian 107mm Rocket with the optional launching kit!

So where to begin? How about with a rocket, one of the lethal variety? The picture above is of a 107mm rocket, a nasty little bugger that wakes you up in the middle of the night with sirens scratching and makes you leave the comfort of a nice warm bed to find a concrete bunker.  You may be asking: what the hell does that have to do with writing, or even getting published? Well, it has everything and nothing to do with my writing—at the same time. After Nancy taunted me to start my first novel, I was in the enviable position of receiving orders for the first of my taxpayer-funded vacations to Afghanistan. It was on that very first tour that I finished that manuscript. And in typical rookie writer fashion, I expected the literary world would soon come crashing my door to see the masterpiece. I had no idea how the publishing world worked. I couldn’t even spell literary agent, let alone know what use I might have for one. In short, I had no idea how to get published. And that was where Nancy kicked again. She discovered that I needed a publisher (I told you I was publishing stupid), and that there was this intermediate broker who facilitated finding publishers, called a literary agent! I didn’t quite know what one was, but I knew I wanted one (in the end I got the best literary agent in the whole world, but that’s a whole different story). 

So back to the rocket… Since I had no idea what to do after finishing my first novel, but suspecting that I had made the magical first and second steps in both STARTING and FINISHING a manuscript, I knew I needed to show it to someone who didn’t love me. That’s actually a great THIRD step along the publishing lines…seek out honest feedback. And once again Nancy, ever so more in-tune with the literary world than I, realized that the Antioch Writer’s Workshop took place right in our hometown of Yellow Springs. As luck would have it, they had scholarships available through a competitive process. And that is where the confidence drained…I would have to send a sample of my glorious writing (trust me, I use the term in mocking derision to the work I pecked out at the time—maybe even now!) I must have filled out that application twenty times, writing and re-writing to get it just perfect. Each time I re-read what I had written, it some how devolved and became even more amateurish in my mind. In fact, I had just given up my literary aspirations (not for the last time, I might add) and thrown the application in the burn bin when the first rocket struck.

I'm super biased as this is where I started...but I love this workshop!

A 107mm rocket attack is an interesting thing. And by interesting, that’s a relative term depending on how far away you happen to be standing when it lands. Sometimes you can hear them launch, and then if the night is just right (they almost always come at night), you can hear the whistling as they pass overhead. We used to say, if you hear the boom on landing, then you’re going to be okay! But that night was my very first rocket attack. Back then I was still naïve enough to run to the bunkers—now I’m more resigned that if it’s my time to go then it’s just my time. But run I did, just about the same time as the alarms sounded and more booms echoed across base. I made it into the bunker, and as luck would have it, I was the only one who reached that particular concrete monstrosity. Everyone else was smarter and chose the bunker across the camp, which did not have six inches of standing water. To understand what happened next, you have to realize that the bunkers are inverted concrete forms in the shape of a “U”, which we then cover in sand bags for extra protection. But they’re only about four feet tall. So in my enthusiasm to get inside, I forgot to duck. Yep, I clear knocked myself flat on my back, staring up at a dull concrete ceiling, laying in stale muddy water. And that was when I thought:

“Fuck it, I’m turning that application in!”

Make sure to DUCK! Or wear your helmet...or both!

Although I didn’t know for months that I had landed one of those scholarships to the very best writer’s workshop I have ever attended, I credit that rocket attack with yet another kick in the ass that will shortly land Lincoln’s Bodyguard on bookshelves in real live book stores.  

To be continued…

The Road to Published – Part I: A Swift Kick in the Ass

Over the past few weeks I’ve been so busy tackling edits on my current manuscript, researching the next one, and even trying to sneak in writing time, that I’ve completely abandoned trying to keep up with the blog posts. Life is a circus, and I have no idea where all my monkeys are—literally. 

But as of today, my final edits for Lincoln’s Bodyguard are in. They’re actually incorporated into the final manuscript! That’s an awesome feeling, but it also leaves me uneasy, knowing all the other things that I have to get back to while I no longer have the pending publication as an excuse. So I figured I would start by writing some posts answering the most common question I get when people find out I write, and that my first novel is due out in April. After I get past the standard questions about my manuscript, it seems most folks want to know how I got to this point—how did I get a book in front of a publisher?

Out in April 2015 from Oceanview Publishing! 

There are two types of people asking this question. First, there are those who are genuinely curious and appear to believe that getting published is impossible. Then there are those who have their own book idea brewing (which they may or may not have started) and think that getting published is umpossible. Notice the trend here, besides my inability to spell? Well, as that old annoying saying goes, I have good news and bad. 

First the good: If I can get published, ANYONE can! And I truly mean that. I never trained as a writer—I’m an engineer (see the note above about my spelling). And engineers are notoriously poor writers, maybe only worse than cops. Then to pile it on and make things worse, I’m also a federal agent. So now I’ve got two strikes against me. But here’s what I’ve learned: The most important thing to getting published is to START. The second most important thing is to FINISH! I know that’s not much advice, no epiphany to lead you to the publishing gods.  But it’s true. And an important thing to keep in mind is that you don’t have to know the ending in order to start, you just have to be curious enough to start the story (Authentic Curiosity). In fact, Lincoln’s Bodyguard started with nothing more than a title, something I heard Terry Gross say on NPR’s Fresh Air. The inspiration can come from anywhere.

Now the bad: I have no idea how to get published. I know, that sounds umpossible. I have a book about to be launched, so I should know how to get it done. Here’s the catch. I know how I got published (or will be shortly), but in general I still have no idea how it all works. Everyone’s path from story inception to seeing the book on the shelf is just so different. I love asking my author friends how it happened for them. Each has different twists along the way—different choices they made to land on Amazon or the shelves of their favorite local independent bookstore. And most of us have at least one book in the bottom of a desk drawer (or on an encrypted hard drive), which will never see the light of day. That was our first book (or the first and second in my case), which taught us that we could start AND finish a novel. 

So what’s the takeaway from my good and bad news? Easy—anyone can do it and we all do it differently! (I may have to caveat that more carefully or you’ll start to think this isn’t a blog about writing). Getting back to the original question then—how I came upon publishing a novel—the only thing I can do is to share my story. Hopefully that will be enough to fulfill most people’s questions on the subject, and if I’m really lucky, push one or two of you over to edge to actually starting on your own publishing journey. 

In the beginning…there was a sharp kick from my wife, Nancy. It wasn’t so much a kick as it was a taunting. Actually, it may not have even been a taunting, it was more like a minor dismissive statement in passing that made me start this crazy writing business. You see, after finishing up grad school and writing a 300+ page dissertation on Surface Roughening in AA7050 T7451 Thick Rolled Aluminum Plate, I felt out of balance. It was pure technical writing, devoid of any creative flourish. When I tried to put in some creativity, my academic advisor quickly tore it from the pages and stomped on it with the vigor that only comes from one trained as an NFL lineman (he actually played 6 years in the NFL…no joke!) So I had been thinking up this crazy idea, and even contemplating the start of a novel when I casually floated the idea to Nancy. I think I may have done it in a subtle manner, not because I was trying to slip it past her, but because I wanted an out if she laughed at me. I was looking for her reaction, and what I got was not quite what I hoped for, or feared. 

“Can you pass the ketchup? I’m thinking of writing a novel.”

“We’re out of ketchup. We only have mustard. You can’t write a novel. That’s hard.”

That was it. No laughing on her part, which may have actually dissuaded me through sheer embarrassment. I don’t even recall her changing her tone of voice. She just dismissed the suggestion casually and left no room for re-attack—nothing I could grab hold of to further float my crazy notion of becoming a writer. If she had ignored the statement and not addressed it, I might have been too embarrassed to ever put it out there again. Maybe she had heard and chose to ignore it? But this was the worst, and most beautiful, response I could ever imagine, though it didn’t feel like it at the time. It fueled me forward like nothing else. I was going to write a novel, and I was going to show her that I could do it. What other option did I have in order to preserve my manly dignity? After all, we were out of ketchup. 

To think what would have been if we only had ketchup...

And now twelve years after that first conversation I’m left wondering…did she do it on purpose? Occasionally she drops a hint like she tells me that I can’t do something just to modify my behavior (though she still won’t let me do the wash). Maybe she did, and her genius was in the perfect response at the right time, landing directly in my derrière. Whatever the truth is, sometimes a kick in the ass is a step forward!

To be continued…

Authentic Curiosity

It’s a mystery that people need stories. We don’t know where that element of human nature comes from, but our fascination with books, and movies is clear evidence that it is true. There is some deep inner need to the human psyche that demands them. But where do they come from? To me, (and hopefully many people reading these posts) that need is best fulfilled through the written word, through the writer.

In my last post I talked about Pulling the Plug, or really, getting to know and believe in your self as a writer. And I dug up a great example from Andre Dubus III, who happened to deliver the keynote and Master Class at the Antioch Writer’s Workshop this year. I was lucky enough to be there to hear him talk first hand, and he used the same example for us. Andre posed it as a simple question: If you can go a whole year without writing, then you’re probably not a writer and you need to go find what you were meant to be.

Andre Dubus III delivering the Keynote Address at the 2014Anitoch Writer's Workshop

Well, I’m guessing most people who read these posts had a solid answer to that question (and if not they’re probably not still here!) So after you’ve made the decision and still dove headfirst into the writing life, where do you begin? If you ask a hundred different authors you’ll get just as many answers. And all of us want to get to that moment Joe Clifford so deftly captures as he runs downstairs pantless (with a poodle) to find his first box of books (The Day My First Box of Books Arrived). Even if that is a sad moment for Joe (and by reading his post you’ll understand), it’s magical nonetheless. So, how do we get there?

As I alluded to in my last post, Andre’s advice for writers didn’t just stop at finally standing back and calling yourself a writer. He delivered some poignant advice that in truth I have not fully digested even weeks after the workshop. In re-creating his words I may be distorting them with my own lens of interpretation, but I think the value outweighs the danger of the messenger inserting himself into the message.

Andre with Amazing Poet Tobin Terry

Authentic Curiosity—that was the term that Andre left us with during his Master Class. As a writer, if you want to reach deep and truly touch other people with your story, then you need authentic curiosity. Writing is a labor. Even if you love it, it’s hard work. All of us who have hit the keyboard know that, but we keep at it. What we’re hoping to do is to reach another person at some level, to write something so fantastic that they discover their own meaning in the story—a meaning shaped by who they are and their collective life experience.

Andre’s advice is to write what you are curious about, maybe something you don’t know yet that just tugs at your imagination. If you can find that thing, that storyline, that character, that conflict…then you have a shot of writing truly genuine prose that may reach out and touch another person. It’s that simple. Andre identifies himself as a character driven writer, and as such he finds the plot and the conflict from deep within his characters. He likes to go deep into the characters, to really be curious what they are about, and then find the story that the character wants you to tell. Writing from deep within a character like that causes the outward sequence of events that drives the story forward and creates the conflict.

Andre walked us through the conception of his novel, House of Sand and Fog. It was a fascinating tale. First, he wrote long hand, something I can’t imagine trying. Next, he wrote only 15 minutes a day while sitting in his car before work. One day he was driven off the street where he normally parked by a police officer, and wound up parking in a cemetery to write undisturbed. He did that for three years and the story developed, a story that started with a single character. He dreamed what that character’s life was like, and then started finding other characters she would interact with. Those characters had their own desires and goals, and when those were at odds with his main character, he had created a story with tremendous conflict. The story literally found him, and he scribed it into notebooks to capture the magic before it left him. Because he was curious about his main character—about what she was like, why she had wound up at this point in her life, what was happening to her—the entire novel developed.

Andre advised us to give ourselves permission to find our story, to never plot too soon. I admit that this is a completely different manner of writing for me, but it is something that has been a tremendous help as I have started my next project. In fact, imagining the main character and being curious about his life is how I landed on the whole next novel I’ve started crafting. I let the characters walk me through their story, the one they want me to see. And by asking the questions, being curious about their world, the story builds itself around me and all I have to be is a great observer.

I think that Eliza Cross did a great job in her post yesterday (20 Great Books that Sparked an Early Love of Reading). She had no idea what I was writing about today, but in truth they fit together very well. Go back to those first books you read, those books you were curious about. When we were all innocent readers, finding those stories that touched us most deeply was simply due to the same phenomenon that Andre talks about—Authentic Curiosity. If you can remember what it felt like to read something like that, or maybe you’ve encountered the same feeling recently. That’s what I am striving for in my writing, and I think that’s exactly what Andre Dubus III was talking about when he suggested that we dive deep into our characters. Be curious about them, or find characters you are curious about, and they will lead you to the story.