Writing Tools

Not long ago, I found myself in my office, door closed, tears down my face, not because I had doused my peepers with eye drops, but because I was listening to a story.

The story came in the form of a 12-minute radio documentary written by one of my favorite young writers, Adrian Nicole LeBlanc. Our paths have crossed at several writing conferences, and we must have chatted the year my father died, because I remember how devastated she felt over the serious illness of her own dad. Adrian so loved and admired her father that she changed the spelling of her first name to match his.

A monument to that love is the Sound Portraits documentary scheduled to air today on NPR's "All Things Considered." I felt honored to preview the piece, and I encourage you to listen. You can find it online tonight at 7:30 EST. The story covers the last few months of the father's life, revealed in whispered recorded conversations with his daughter. I found it consoling. It was wonderful to learn that the struggle of dying could be peaceful, and that kindness and love could brighten a darkening world.

For you writers out there, you will find a tight narrative that evokes sentiment without sentimentality; not any easy trick. I think it has to do with the careful pacing of the piece, a line of emotional narrative interspersed with cooler commentary and appreciation by a loving daughter.