Ask the Author: John R. Bohrer
Answered Questions (3)
John R. Bohrer
I read, review, or do research. Those are the basics. But my secret for drawing inspiration is to watch a classic movie. I usually pick something that won or was nominated for best picture. It motivates me to think about story arc, time period, dialogue, emotion. And even if it doesn't strike you, you'll have an opinion on a historic picture to talk about.
John R. Bohrer
Read all the time. Follow the footnotes back to the very beginning. Talk about your ideas with others. Remember what the bigger picture is, even when you're doing minute details. If you want to be professional, treat it like a job: be protective of your writing time and keep going even when it's not fun. Be generous and kind to others, but that's just being a good human.
John R. Bohrer
I wrote about Robert Kennedy as a college student, and then I discovered that he had hired these two twenty-something lawyers to develop his legislative agenda in the Senate, after he had come from being the second-most powerful man in Washington. I set out to write about them, but gradually, the story that revealed itself was one about Robert Kennedy and change, and it helped me understand why he still matters to people: because he helped free them from fear of change -- to be brave and to try.
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