Great insights, thank you. I did listen to The Psychopath Test and loved how you portrayed yourself as sometimes checking the boxes and wondering if you might be a bit of a psychopath yourself. Brilliant and a great example.
> My heroes growing up were the journalists who experimented with first person narrative in memorably strange and complex ways. Like Hunter S. Thompson, who’d take LSD and gatecrash police conventions.
Can I recommend High White Notes, by David S. Wills? It is a *fantastic* biography of Thompson that has a focus on how his writing changed over the years, which I found fascinating. It follows his personal life of course but also on how hard he worked to develop and revise this style which sounds like it's off-the-cuff narration.
I just got a contract which will have me writing about an event from a very personal point of view so I doubly appreciate your highlighting that this does not mean I have to get spaced out on drugs and see what happens :D
So, so helpful to me at exactly the right moment! I love that you're writing how-tos for higher-level nonfiction writers, which are so hard to find. Thanks.
One thing I have learned is that I hear the messages that work for me at any given time. You may get extra value about rereading from the start later but I don't think you should be worried at diving in as a novice.
I concur! I think this is for people who are experienced at this and it’s also for novices. I honestly don’t think the advice works better for one or the other…
Absolutely. I didn't mean to imply that it was *only* for experienced folks, only that I find it helpful even though I've been lucky enough to write several books, and I haven't found helpful advice many other places. I love nerding out about nonfiction writing, which is rarer than advice about fiction writing.
I think all levels can benefit from his advice! It's just hard to find advice that's meaningful after you've been doing it for a while, and I think his is. You can't go wrong!
Super helpful perspective here, thanks! Hunter Thompson is a perfect example, and an interesting case since later in life he wound up feeling trapped by the persona he’d created.
My first novel is heavily autobiographical, and writing it broke me of my “protagonist as inoffensive upstanding aspirational reader surrogate” disease. I found whenever I leaned into the uncomfortable choice, the story became so much more interesting—not for scandal’s sake, but because it made the protagonist a real person in an ugly situation born from the ugly parts of himself.
Do you sometimes over-characterize or overexplain your in-book self and then dial that back? Or do you rather “sprinkle yourself in” as an extra spice, foil, or lens after the book has taken shape?
Excited to read the rest of this set of articles! Thanks!
Great insights, thank you. I did listen to The Psychopath Test and loved how you portrayed yourself as sometimes checking the boxes and wondering if you might be a bit of a psychopath yourself. Brilliant and a great example.
Thank you so much!
> My heroes growing up were the journalists who experimented with first person narrative in memorably strange and complex ways. Like Hunter S. Thompson, who’d take LSD and gatecrash police conventions.
Can I recommend High White Notes, by David S. Wills? It is a *fantastic* biography of Thompson that has a focus on how his writing changed over the years, which I found fascinating. It follows his personal life of course but also on how hard he worked to develop and revise this style which sounds like it's off-the-cuff narration.
https://www.amazon.com/High-White-Notes-Gonzo-Journalism-ebook/dp/B0991LJ6DF
I just got a contract which will have me writing about an event from a very personal point of view so I doubly appreciate your highlighting that this does not mean I have to get spaced out on drugs and see what happens :D
So, so helpful to me at exactly the right moment! I love that you're writing how-tos for higher-level nonfiction writers, which are so hard to find. Thanks.
Yay thank you so much! TBH it's the only kind of substacking I want to do, so I am VERY glad there are people out there who will find it helpful
This worries me as I’m not a higher level non-fiction writer, but just a novice with a story to tell….
One thing I have learned is that I hear the messages that work for me at any given time. You may get extra value about rereading from the start later but I don't think you should be worried at diving in as a novice.
I concur! I think this is for people who are experienced at this and it’s also for novices. I honestly don’t think the advice works better for one or the other…
Absolutely. I didn't mean to imply that it was *only* for experienced folks, only that I find it helpful even though I've been lucky enough to write several books, and I haven't found helpful advice many other places. I love nerding out about nonfiction writing, which is rarer than advice about fiction writing.
I think all levels can benefit from his advice! It's just hard to find advice that's meaningful after you've been doing it for a while, and I think his is. You can't go wrong!
Thanks Jon. This is awesome :)
Super helpful perspective here, thanks! Hunter Thompson is a perfect example, and an interesting case since later in life he wound up feeling trapped by the persona he’d created.
My first novel is heavily autobiographical, and writing it broke me of my “protagonist as inoffensive upstanding aspirational reader surrogate” disease. I found whenever I leaned into the uncomfortable choice, the story became so much more interesting—not for scandal’s sake, but because it made the protagonist a real person in an ugly situation born from the ugly parts of himself.
Do you sometimes over-characterize or overexplain your in-book self and then dial that back? Or do you rather “sprinkle yourself in” as an extra spice, foil, or lens after the book has taken shape?
Excited to read the rest of this set of articles! Thanks!