Hello and welcome to the 40th issue of A Shot of Jack, my weekly newsletter.
It’s been a busy week for me. I was on a podcast the other day. I’ll let you know when it’s available. But most of my time has been spent working on a short story for paid subscribers following A Better Lie. That story will be out Friday.
People seemed to like last week’s deep dive into Thomas Mullen’s book, Darktown. This week I’m talking about one of my favorite novels I’ve read in recent years. Timothy Brandoff was a New York City bus driver (and still is because it turns out that a moderately successful novel doesn’t set you up for life). Cornelius Sky is his first published novel. Even so, he shows a mastery of storytelling that’s worth looking at.
Tell Then Show: Timothy Brandoff’s Storytelling Method in Cornelius Sky
Cornelius Sky is a novel by Timothy Brandoff that tells the story of an alcoholic doorman in New York City in 1974. The plot culminates with the title character giving an epic drunken interview on local television and does so in a manner that goes against the traditional sensibilities of telling a story. In creative writing classes, books, and lectures aspiring writers are instructed to ‘show, don’t tell’. In Cornelius Sky, Brandoff flips that advice on its head.
In order to understand what Brandoff is doing and how it works, some context is necessary. Cornelius Sky (aka Connie) is a doorman in the building where 13-year-old John F. Kennedy Jr. lives. Connie is friendly with John. They play cribbage and smoke joints together. When John gets his bike stolen on a ride through Central Park, Connie gets in the face of the Secret Service agents who he feels were neglecting their duties. The altercation results in Connie being sent home from work. He goes to the bar, gets drunk, and watches the news where the bike theft is blamed on John. Connie feels he’s witnessed an unforgivable injustice and calls a rival news station inviting them to talk to him at the bar.
One would expect that the next scene would be the interview, but Brandoff initially skips that. Instead we are transported into the future, after the interview:
“The interview Connie gave to WNEW-TV made the New York Times, the interview itself becoming news for reasons he could not envision. Hundreds of viewers called the station with complaints that the report was the ‘exploitation of an unfortunate person’ – meaning Connie – while the piece in the Times did not address the performance of the Secret Service, or John’s mugging, but rather the ethics of a television station which m ay have taken advantage of a disturbed drunk in a bar, and the station’s desence of its reporting. My God, people cried into their phones, to abuse such a man in such a manner, shame on you, WNEW.” (171)
Brandoff tells the reader about the interview and its aftermath rather than going straight to the interview. Typically in a story the tension is created by not letting the reader know what’s going to happen until it happens. In Cornelius Sky, it’s the opposite.
After telling readers what’s going to happen, Brandoff goes back and gives readers the full interview. Connie has no idea how badly the interview is going to go.
“A man introduced himself, and Connie hid his disappointment: they had sent a lightweight. The guy tried too hard, going for a Gabe Pressman-like effect, an everyman in shirtsleeves, but couldn’t quite pull it off.” (172)
Connie is more concerned about the reporter than he is about himself, but thanks to Brandoff telling us how the interview is going to be received, we cringe as he worries about the wrong things. It’s a train wreck and we can’t look away as Connie makes mistake after mistake.
By telling us how things are going to play out first, we know Connie’s doomed before the interview even begins. Rather than show, don’t tell, Bradoff tells, then shows. It works like a micro version of Roshomon. By skipping to the aftermath, the reader is forced to ask ‘How did that happen?’ on one page, and then is shown exactly how everything goes wrong for Connie. The result is more satisfying than a linear story.
Cornelius Sky is available at your local independent bookstore or you can buy it at amazon by clicking here.
What I’m Clicking On
Billy Joel has a new song out. There was a time when Billy Joel was my favorite songwriter. He’s still up there. And if anything, his latest song just makes me wish he’d never retired.
Kuzgesagt has a wonderful video on time and various theories on how time works. Personally, I’m a block universe man myself, but I’m open to debate on the topic.
A woman stole a guy’s memory card. What she found was evidence of a serial killer.
Lauren Boebert, arguably the most famous white trash currently alive got a restraining order against her ex-husband after their recent public fracas in a restaurant. I remember when the GOP were allegedly the party of family values.
The mother of a school shooter has been convicted of manslaughter. I’m personally of the opinion that such prosecutions are a good thing as there’s a chance they’ll remind bad parents to be good parents.
One Last Thing
You likely already know this, but in case you didn’t, I’ve spent the last 18 years writing about Tacoma homicides. Beginning last year I started posting an article about a homicide every Monday. I’m continuing the schedule this year. If absolutely no one else gets murdered in Tacoma this year, I’ll be all caught up by this time next year.
If you’re a subscriber to this newsletter and aren’t a subscriber to TacomaStories, you really should fix that by clicking here.
- Jack Cameron
Free issues of Shot of Jack come out Wednesdays for all subscribers. Installments of the serial crime novel A Better Lie come out Fridays for our paid subscribers. To become a subscriber (free or paid) just click the button below.