Tracy Kidder
Tracy Kidder
John Tracy Kidderis an American writer of nonfiction books. He received the Pulitzer Prize for his The Soul of a New Machine, about the creation of a new computer at Data General Corporation. He has received praise and awards for other works, including his biography of Paul Farmer, a doctor and anthropologist, titled Mountains Beyond Mountains...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionNon-Fiction Author
Date of Birth12 November 1945
CountryUnited States of America
character create fiction invent suspense techniques writers
I can't invent stuff, but the techniques fiction writers use to create character and suspense can also be used when writing non-fiction.
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The view from the summit of Mt. Holyoke has been one of the most famous landscapes in America. And yet, all these things are going on underneath.
good
The world doesn't make much sense to me generally. I don't feel like I'm good at that.
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I wanted some way to invite readers in, to set the stage for the book - and I tried many different things.
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At the time I began writing the book about Northampton, I had recently been in Haiti to do a story for the New Yorker. I don't think I would previously have been able to imagine a place as dreadful as Haiti, and when I came back I couldn't help but think about the advantages we have in this place.
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Don't join America's collective amnesia for the suffering that seems so distant but in fact surrounds us, ... Don't forget about the forgotten people in this world.
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From my experience, sure, if you were a truck driver, you could be incredibly unlucky, ... But I had the feeling that I was safer than I would have been back here as a late adolescent with a car.
cutting night wound
I would read and write all night long and, as a result, wound up cutting a lot of my other classes.
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Returning to Northampton, I thought: here's a town that seems to be working pretty well, and I wonder why.
shadow
I was really so afraid. Of my own shadow practically.
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When we see a bag lady ... on the street, in that moment in our lives we try to get as far away from that person as possible, ... But the truth is, that person is me. That person is all of us, to a certain extent.
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I'm a little suspicious of the great, overarching view. It always leaves something out.
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New Journalism was such the rage with authors like Tom Wolfe and John McPhee. All I kept hearing was that non-fiction was so much more interesting than the novels being written at that time.
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I wanted to stay with my friends on Long Island, but I finally agreed to take a look at Andover. I remember being impressed by the school's extraordinary facilities. I thought about it long and hard and decided to give it a try.