How to Write Like James Comey
The testimony of former FBI Director James Comey was released in writing yesterday ahead of his hearing today. This is a simple account of several conversations he had with the president, so you don’t expect this to be an entertaining read. But it’s well thought out: just the right amount of detail, just the right amount of scene settings. Have you ever needed to tell a story? Use these tips to tell it like James Comey.
Keep it short
Comey could spend hundreds of words describing why he is testifying and how he prepared his statement. Nobody cares. Therefore, he said briefly and sweetly:
Tells you everything you need to know, right? When people read (or listen to) your introduction, they want to understand something good, so now is not the best time to explain general information. Comey does have a backstory to tell – such as when and why he started recording conversations – but he puts it in the right moments in the story as he tells it.
Write in scenes
Conversation is more than just dialogue. Well said, this is a scene. “When you’re going to create a documentary story, it doesn’t hurt to think of yourself as a playwright,” writes editor and scripting coach Jack Hart in Storycraft . “After all, you have to create a scene … you can fill it with characters. Then, by snapping their fingers, the characters can breathe, move, act. “
Comey describes five conversations, and for each he prepares a scene. We know where they go, when and what kind of mood was in the room. Here’s how he arranged the dinner on January 27:
It’s not just about the entertainment – the details can be crucial to linking the story with other events and people. Does Trump have a habit of surprising people with one dinner? Do naval stewards have a history? In the novel, these details are likely to be linked to other parts of the story. Real life is more chaotic, but reading Komi’s document I feel like it lays the foundation for future scenes that may or may not appear. Take this detail from the Oval Office meeting:
What is the significance of the door at the grandfather clock? Maybe this is in order to awaken other people’s memories: oh yes, I remember being in the crowd waiting outside this door . There may be another reason he included this detail, but we don’t know it yet. All I know is that The Door to Grandpa’s Clock sounds like a book I would read in its entirety.
Expand and shorten time
The events that Komi describes span several months and must include lengthy meetings, briefings and dinners. Komi skips the yawning and / or classified parts, but slows down to play out important moments carefully.
At a dinner in the Green Room, Komi describes the essence of the conversation, not line by line. the content is important, but it doesn’t need to tell us every word. As the questions become more and more irrelevant – Comey says he is “worried” – the story slows down. And here we come to this point:
He doesn’t say yes, he doesn’t say no, he doesn’t even nod or make a face. This is important because the committee will want to know how it answered the question. But it also shows how tense the moment was. And it shows that Donald Trump, the man who is so eager to talk that he constantly interrupts himself, stopped the conversation.
Have a purpose to write
“Build your work around a key question,” advises Roy Peter Clarke on his Quick 50 Writing Tools list. In this case, the question is in the air : “Did the president obstruct justice?” This is not a Komi question to be answered; legally it is up to others to decide . But it looks like he picked out the details and set the scenes to provide the necessary information to answer this question.
In a novel or essay, we can expect the writer to help us understand the answer to a key question. “Help readers close the circle of meaning,” writes Clarke. This will not happen here, and it is not appropriate in all literary forms. Sometimes, for example, the purpose of a poem is to give the reader an opportunity to reflect. So think about how your story will end and whether it will happen on the page. And every time you think that the reader’s interest is waning, try using the phrase “prostitutes in Russia.”