Wil S. Hylton, a contributing writer for The New York Times Magazine, is the author of Vanished.

"I despise the fucking nut graf. I think it's a joke, a cop out. The story probably should be about something larger than itself but if you have to tell people what that is, you've failed form the beginning. If they can't find it, you didn't put it there and you shouldn't be beating them over the head with it."

Thanks to TinyLetter and The Fog Horn for sponsoring this week's episode, and to the Writing Department at the University of Pittsburgh for hosting.



Show notes:


@wilshylton
wilshylton.com
Hylton on Longform
[1:45] Longform Podcast #28: Joel Lovell (live)
[2:15] Vanished (Riverhead Books• 2013)
[7:45] "The Search for the Lost Marines of Tarawa" (New York Times Magazine • Nov 2013)
[11:30] "The Return of the Trolls" (Baltimore Sun • Apr 1992)
[24:15] Longform Podcast #66: Andy Ward
[25:00] "There Goes the Neighborhood, Up in Flames" (Esquire • Aug 1999)
[31:15] "Hot Enough For Ya?" (Esquire • Aug 2000)
[35:45] "The People vs. Richard Cheney" (GQ • Mar 2007)
[36:15] "Casualty of War" (GQ • Jun 2004)
[36:15] "The Big, Bad Wolfowitz?" (GQ • Dec 2003)
[41:45] "Meltdown" (GQ • Feb 2008)
[42:30] "How James Turrell Knocked the Art World Off Its Feet" (New York Times Magazine • June 2013)
[47:15] "What Happened to Air France Flight 447?" (New York Times Magazine • May 2011)