Richard Russo's Writing Advice to Andre Dubus III

My editor had read the first draft, and she said, well, the street violence is interesting, but didn't you live with people?

(LAUGHTER)

DUBUS: I said, yeah, but I don't want to - I mean, come on. It's one thing to shine a light on my own privacy. I mean, how do I write about them? She said, but isn't that part of your story, too? And so that night, I saw Rick [Russo] at a party, and I told him what she said. And he gave me the most helpful advice, and I have to share it because I think it's really helpful to people who are writing essays or memoirs about their lives. He said, if it were me, I'd ask myself, am I trying to hurt anybody with this? Am I trying to settle any scores? If the answer is yes, I wouldn't write it, or I'd write it, but I wouldn't publish it. If the answer is no, I'd go ahead and write it. source