Denver Joe Arridy was the happiest man on death row - Westword

Just finished this. It's worth a look.



via Pocket

You've probably never read a novel this way

Fans of action-driven narrative storytelling should check this out. Buffy has broken down her novel into tweets. Should be quite a ride:

Novel starts at 11 a.m. follow @brain_invaders hashtags = #Invaders & #Twitterfiction Or follow compilation here: bit.ly/YtuMC0

— Buffy Andrews (@Buffyandrews) November 29, 2012

The deer hunter who shot 'Pink 23': Letting the story unfold

I like what Teresa Boeckel did with the story about the hunter who shot "Pink 23," the doe that escaped from a farm where chronic wasting disease had been discovered.

She started the story at the moment the hunter spotted the deer, and let the story unfold at a natural pace, to the point where the hunter realized that it was "Pink 23." And then Teresa used three short (and decreasing in length) sentences to describe the hunter taking out the deer.

Nicely done -- and a much better read than what would have resulted with some other possible approaches to the story.

Spielberg at Gettysburg on Lincoln, history and justice

Steven Spielberg gave the keynote address during Dedication Day at Soldiers' National Cemetery at the Gettysburg National Military Park. At the beginning of the clip, Stephen Spielberg thanks the men and women serving in the armed forces today. At 2 minutes he talks about keeping company with Lincoln's ghost, and how, if he misses Lincoln, he can just call Daniel Day-Lewis and ask him to tell a story. At 5:10, Spielberg talks about the importance of history, memory and justice.

Ever seen something like this?

Here's a new one: A story (a review, actually) that is 100 percent questions.

It definitely works for me -- although it goes on and on. You might feel like the reviewer's point has been made about halfway through or so, and the rest is the reviewer making sure you know that he ate (or tried to eat) a lot of stuff.

Anyway ... can you think of any other types of stories for which this approach would work?

The reviewer, Pete Wells of The New York Times, explains how he did the story in this post on Poynter.

The Lethal Presidency of Barack Obama, by Tom Junod - Esquire

Just finished this. It's worth a look.



via Pocket

'I need to keep writing'

YDR managing editor Randy Parker called our attention to this blog post at a meeting the other day. It's by a member of our staff, Stacia Fleegal, about giving birth to her son almost three months before the due date.

Randy said it was a compelling read. He was right.