Frank McCourt, On Getting Started as a Writer

00:25 I'd get their attention in writing class by bringing in the New York Times on Friday and reading Mimi Sheraton's restaurant review. She'd write about the ambiance, and she'd write about the courses, and she'd use adjectives for the gravy like "satiny" or "lemony." And she'd describe the fish, the meat, how well it was done, and the vegetables, how well it was served, and so on. And then the service, and the price, and the wine. And that always got their attention. Then I'd have them go and do likewise. I'd have them review a dinner

01:00 at home. Last night's chicken. And I said, you, à la Mimi Sheridan, review the dinner at home. And they'd come in with these wonderful adjectives. But then I'd say, review the review of the food in the cafeteria. Well, it's predictable. You always sneer at the food in the cafeteria. Now, imagine you're a kid from some slum in Mexico, or from some distant tribe in Nigeria, and you come to this cafeteria

01:30 for the first time. Describe it now, from their point of view. That was a hell of an exercise for them. Forget about trying to tell a story, developing anything. Just get it all in a notebook and then sit quietly and you'll find that little echoes will come trembling up from your consciousness or subconsciousness. Stories will start coming. And watch out, if you develop a kind of Geiger counter that you run

02:00 over your life, the landscape of your life, and it will start clicking. Click click click along the way, a moment when your parents are not getting along very well, a moment when you fell in love, a moment when you felt rejected. Click click click. Watch out for the clicking Geiger counter over the landscape of your life, and get that down on paper. This is the hot stuff. This is the meaty and fruitful material.