When I first met journalist Ed Orzechowski in one of my classes, his book project fascinated me. It wasn't an easy task to write a true story about a patient at the infamous Belchertown institution. But Ed persevered. You'll Like It Here, the true story of Donald Vitkus, patient #3394, is being released this month from Levellers Press. I asked Ed to share some of the process of building a book on someone else's true--and horrific--story.
Friday, November 4, 2016
Nonfiction Book Success--The Challenge of Telling Someone Else's True Story
One of my favorite kinds of emails come from past students in my
book-structuring classes whose books are being published. Three such
emails came to my inbox this week, and I wanted to share the story
behind one of them in this week's blog.
When I first met journalist Ed Orzechowski in one of my classes, his book project fascinated me. It wasn't an easy task to write a true story about a patient at the infamous Belchertown institution. But Ed persevered. You'll Like It Here, the true story of Donald Vitkus, patient #3394, is being released this month from Levellers Press. I asked Ed to share some of the process of building a book on someone else's true--and horrific--story.
When I first met journalist Ed Orzechowski in one of my classes, his book project fascinated me. It wasn't an easy task to write a true story about a patient at the infamous Belchertown institution. But Ed persevered. You'll Like It Here, the true story of Donald Vitkus, patient #3394, is being released this month from Levellers Press. I asked Ed to share some of the process of building a book on someone else's true--and horrific--story.