Gilson: Two examples of great writing to emulate

If I am about to watch a movie, and a friend who has already seen it starts telling me the plot, I erupt: "Stop! Not another word! I have a rule: I want to experience the story for myself."

Today, I'm breaking that rule by presenting, to all who want to write well, a gift: exemplary writing by the great newspaper columnist Jimmy Breslin.

A few days before Thanksgiving, in 1963, Breslin wrote two columns that fellow journalists consider among the finest ever written.

The first described how doctors in Dallas tried to save the life of President Kennedy; the second described how the gravedigger went about his work, and how the president's widow carried herself at Arlington National Cemetery.

You will find the columns by Googling "Jimmy Breslin on JFK's Assassination." I encourage you to read them twice, first for a fresh experience; second, to appreciate Breslin's techniques. For today, focus on the story about the gravedigger.

In it, Breslin honors Joseph Conrad's credo: Writers should make readers feel, hear and, above all, see what is happening.

The story brims with concrete details: what Clifton Pollard, the gravedigger, had for breakfast, on a day on which we readers do not yet know what lay ahead of him; how he felt about that day's assignment; the deft insertion of how a grave is dug; the profile of Pollard's life and work, concluding with this payoff:

"One of the last to serve John Fitzgerald Kennedy, who was the 35th president of this country, was a working man who earns $3.01 an hour and said it was an honor to dig the grave."

And then we see Mrs. Kennedy, whose bearing throughout the ceremony Breslin pinpointed by showing her – eight times – walking, walking, walking ... with silent resolve.

Cheers for Breslin's having created an original and riveting way to tell his story. I don't suggest that you imitate Breslin's style.

I do encourage you to choose concrete images; strong verbs; varied lengths of sentences for pace and rhythm; simple, economical and conversational language — in service to your own style.