Saturday, October 11, 2008
Miami brings Crime Writing to VCU
By Hailey Stuart
Maggie Eugene Richard, was part of a community known as Diamond, was surrounded by sickness and death throughout her life. Not only did neighbors fall victim to this illness, but her family did as well.
First her sister and father and finally her mother died. The cause of her loss: an industrial processing plant, operated by Shell and located only 25 feet from her home, emitting toxins into the air.
Eugene took it into her own hands to stop this sickness and challenged the industrial giant Shell.
Forteen years after the death of her beloved sister, the people of the Diamond community were victorious, and paid to move the community.
This was the plot and true story of Ronnie Greene’s first published book, Night Fire. Greene, an investigative reporter for the Miami Herald, and fellow author Sergio Bustos, a deputy editor for the Miami Herald, spoke about their first books for Mass Communications Week on Thursday. Both are alumni of VCU.
According to Greene, writing a book is different from writing for a newspaper. With news, Greene “had to fight for every word” in stories that took place throughout the years. However, with a book, he could give the reader information that is far more in depth.
Bustos shared similar opinions.
“It was just the opposite from writing in the newspapers,” said Bustos, author of Miami’s Criminal Past Uncovered, when asked if there were limitations on what material could be in the book. He explained that, unlike news writing, in a book you must include each detail so characters and situations are able to develop and keep the reader interested.
Two years ago, Bustos and a fellow editor wrote a series called Flashback, in which they retold crime stories from Miami’s past with new angles and details. It appealed to many local readers as it told stories many of them knew about and could relate to.
As their series began to gain popularity, Bustos received a call from an editor of History Press, in Charleston, S.C. He asked Bustos if Bustos could write a book based on the idea of Flashback, including six stories.
“It’s not every day that someone just calls you to write a book,” said Bustos, and so he and his editor “decided to take the plunge.”
When they started, they believe that they could simply transfer the stories they had already written from the newspaper to the book. Much to their surprise, however, book writing required much more details and development.
Bustos explained when writing for a newspaper, “you really put a story on a diet,” as information and details must be cut out to make it a fast and easy article to read.
Both Bustos and Greene found the work put into book writing very rewarding.
Do the authors have a preference of books or news writing?
Greene responded, “no doubt books, and this is my first one.”
Bustos has already been approached to do a second book. “I am dying to do it,” he said. “I would much rather do it this way.”
# posted by HStuart @ 1:45 PM 
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