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looking for a book on nonfiction writing process mentioned here
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Posted by Argonsnorts
May 1, 2019 at 04:46 PM
It’s behind a soft paywall, but a key chapter of his book, in which he describes his process and his use of Kedit, was first published in the New Yorker:
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2013/01/14/structure
I wonder if anyone here has given any thought to his system, as he describes it.
Posted by Dr Andus
May 1, 2019 at 08:14 PM
Argonsnorts wrote:
It’s behind a soft paywall, but a key chapter of his book, in which he
>describes his process and his use of Kedit, was first published in the
>New Yorker:
>
>https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2013/01/14/structure
Brilliant! I saved it. All 27 pages ;-)
Thank you again.
Posted by Hugh
May 2, 2019 at 08:41 AM
Yes, many thanks. I wasn’t so much interested in K-edit, but more in McPhee’s ideas about long-form structure itself. And in particular ideas about when the writer can step out of the framework provided by chronology (which, broadly speaking, is I think even harder* to do when writing a script for sound or moving pictures - because the audience can’t easily refer back - than it is when writing for the printed or electronic page.)
*Hard, but not, of course, impossible - see, the “in media res” hooks of many TV thrillers, or, for an extreme example, the movie Memento.