Will

Will asked Lawrence Wright:

Hi there, Mr. Wright! Massive fan of your work in The Looming Tower and just getting into The Terror Years now. I'm an aspiring writer currently beginning my research into a similar topic and was wondering if you had any tips on finding and synthesizing sources into something as readable as what you've written in the past? Thanks!

Lawrence Wright Thanks, Cooper. I always look for a central character, a figure I call a donkey. It sounds disparaging, but a donkey is a useful beast of burden; he can carry a lot of information on his back. Moreover, he can take the reader into a world he doesn't know. In the Looming Tower, I had four donkeys: John O'Neill, Ayman al-Zawahri, Osama bin Laden, and Prince Turki al-Faisal. Each of them played a critical role in the story I had to tell. Once you find your donkey, it's easier to meld the mass of information you accumulate. Good luck with your career.

More Answered Questions

Jon

Jon asked Lawrence Wright:

Mr. Wright: I'm an enormous fan of your non-fiction work and it's so ironic that of all times, now you're coming out with a fictional book. It's either ironic or perfect, I don't know. My question: In a world that is currently going through its own dystopian, sci-fi nightmare, does fiction still have the kind of central place in the public consciousness? Should it?

Stacy

Stacy asked Lawrence Wright:

What was your most prized find during your research, the thing you were most excited/amazed/horrified to discover?

Chris

Chris asked Lawrence Wright:

With so much of your non-fiction writing taking place in the Islamic world, did it make writing your new novel easier -apart from the medical aspect? Did you base any of your characters in the novel on people you've met or researched from your non-fiction works?

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