Jimmy Breslin is one of my writing gods. I’ve never read another writer who could catch the emotional wind so deftly or express rage or sorrow so you felt it in your gut. If you want a sample of how he worked, click through to his column titled “Digging JFK grave was his honor.”
I’ve been searching for some of Breslin’s writing advice since he died in March and forced me to give up a not-so-secret ambition. I finally found a tidbit of writing advice that Breslin gave to a journalism class at Columbia. It’s good advice for any writer. Here it is.
“You’ve got to make your living with verbs and the verb has to move.”
Want more? Check out the complete list of Advice from the Masters posts
If you want even more writing advice from writers, check out Jon Winokur’s blog, “AdvicetoWriters.”