Showing posts with label dialogue. Show all posts
Showing posts with label dialogue. Show all posts

Friday, October 6, 2017

On writing after tragedies

On the morning after the latest mass shooting, one of the largest in US history, a writer and an editor met up in a chat channel to talk through their feelings of disbelief, frustration, and wanting to do something constructive. The following exchange, edited for clarity, is a record of that conversation.

WRITER: I can’t believe this has happened again.
EDITOR: What has happened? You fell in love with an Englishman, but you play the fiddle in an Irish band?
WRITER: “At least 50 dead, more than 400 hurt in concert attack.”
EDITOR: Oh yes.
Our inheritance as a society, for being tolerant of our gun-nut uncles at Thanksgiving.
. . .
A senior citizen did this
WRITER: It’s not funny.
EDITOR: It isn’t. Nor was I making fun.