Writing, Unbroken

The NYTimes published a fascinating portrait of the modern writer, and a discussion pertinent to all students of writing, about research, style, and serendipity (open the old newspaper!).

Laura Hillebrand has had a surprisingly important effect on recent writers, after the success of Seabiscuit. Her meticulous research is unusually old-fashioned, relying on paper artifacts rather than google or microfilm simply because of the author's own physical limitations. This allows her to be more immersed in the time period, and thereby include the small details that then immerse the reader as well. We also find out that the idea for Unbroken came from her accidental viewing of an article about Louis Zamperini while she was reading an actual copy of the New York Times with an article about Seabiscuit.
Let this be a vote for varied research sources!

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