Esquire freelancer: Opening scene of story was imagined

Ha, wouldn't mind if you left well enough alone.

Let someone who is actively trying to get Vann in trouble do any further reaching out.

 

Nothing to do with David Vann but the saddest thing about this is that I didn't remember this school shooting until I Googled it. (After all, there were "only" five people killed.)

 

Don't forget that in his letter, Vann says, "In my book, I say 'I imagine' for that scene because no one was there in the room with him and there was no video."

So it seems in the book, he was able to make it clear that the scene was based on conjecture. So perhaps he was fine with the editor's collaboration for the book, just ticked off that he wasn't allowed to do the same in the magazine story.


Editor's note: Of course, that is all conjecture on da man's part.

 

Slightly off topic, but if you have a chance—and you don't mind dark, dark material—read David Vann's Legends of a Suicide. It's an interesting cross between memoir and fiction, and it's pretty amazing.

 

So are his Esquire articles.

 

David Vann asked me to post the following, clarifying his collaboration with Tyler Cabot:

I do like and respect my editor Tyler, and working with him was the best collaboration I ever had, but I hated writing that opening scene and thought it was a mistake and would call into question the rest of my research, since no one else could access the files to verify. My story was a rare thing, a true scoop, getting access to the full unedited files that no one else was able to see, so I didn't want to damage that.

 

Impressive work Jeff.

 

Dear Jeff,

Thanks for your note. We remain extremely proud of David Vann's story. It was a monumental act of reporting. Every detail of that piece is grounded in evidence and documents such as medical records, emails, photographs, phone logs, credit card logs, and interviews with those who interacted with Steven Kazmierczak and knew him best. Like every article we publish, it was rigorously fact-checked.

The opening section is no different. Vann took everything we knew about Kazmierczak in his final days, which was quite a lot, and shaped it into a riveting scene that sets the stage for the story to come. He transformed a mountain of insight and reporting into narrative, which is what the best magazine writing seeks to do.

It's well beyond reason to think that David Vann—or any writer or person for that matter—would have been in that motel room as Kazmierczak was preparing his rampage. We expected our readers to understand that, and believe the vast majority did. But to be clear for those who are still wondering: No, David Vann was not sitting on Steven Kazmierczak's bed while he was plotting murder. Yes, every aspect of that scene was based upon reporting.

I've only heard good things from David since the piece was published almost five years ago now. We hope his book based on the article does well and wish him the best.

Best,

Tyler Cabot

 

Crock of shit.

 

Is that poking fun at what I said on the Worst Lede Ever thread, or do you actually think the response is disingenuous?

Or both?

 

I must have missed your post on the worst lede ever thread.

It's disingenuous.

For the same reason the Atlantic should not have run the Scientology Advertorial, Esquire shouldn't run imagined scenes, expecting their readers will understand.

These magazines have a brand, they have standards, and their readers have expectations.

He's basically saying you're a fucking idiot if you didn't "get" it.

Well. one author who writes for him, and another big time writer were fooled by it.

Are typefitter & Azrael fools? Or did they just expect more from Esquire?

He gets to have it both ways. If you get it fine. If you don't fine. You're just an idiot.

 

FWIW, I don't find it disingenuous. I just think he's wrong. Does it seem far-fetched that someone would think Vann witnessed it? People here - professionals - thought he must have, or at the least talked to someone who had seen footage. At the least, I think the tonal change is jarring. There's a subhead break, but it's the only part of the piece written as a fantasy. At the absolute least, you put that section in italics, no? That wouldn't have been enough for me - I'm a stickler - but it would have been a start, a signal, and at least you rope off the really drastic tone change.