Life Between Moments: New York Stories is a collection of short fiction, written during my time living in Manhattan over the past year and change. It is about to publish in August, and I couldn’t be more excited.
This differs from my first book, Everywhere But Home, because, while that one painted short vignettes of Southeast Asia, this book is entirely of my invention. Life Between Moments is fiction, as opposed to a memoir. The details may have been accrued from real places and happenings, but the people and events are invention.
And as a business reporter, these stories certainly gave me plenty of challenge. On one hand, reporting is simple — you find the facts, and recount them.
Not that it is always easy, but it is straightforward enough, and it is a trade you can teach.
Fiction, meanwhile, is always a blank slate, a tabula rasa. The pen and paper don’t have anything else to rely on other than your imagination. Without your own inventions, the sheet remains dry and bleak.
My approach for writing fiction is to observe to the best of my ability the day to day life of interesting people. I try to ask good questions to my friends and colleagues. I keep my eyes open, rather than on my phone, when I’m walking around the city or commuting on the subway.
There’s a story unfolding at all times, in all locations, so long as there’s a writer willing enough to scoop it up as it happens.
I don’t know if my fiction is any good, but I do know that I’m a lot better at it now than I was before I wrote this book. The best way to get better at writing fiction is to write more fiction. And that happens when you show up on a daily basis — especially on the days you don’t want to write.
Here it is. Below, I am publishing the book description for Life Between Moments: New York Stories for the very first time. I hope it entices you enough to add it to your Goodreads account, or to grab a copy when it publishes on August 9, 2022 on Amazon.
Thanks for reading, and talk to you soon.
Book Description
A stylish debut work of fiction from Business Insider senior reporter and Amazon #1 bestselling author Phil Rosen.
This collection of striking, atmospheric stories is populated by people that grapple with the fears and uncertainties that define everyday life. In sketches ranging from the grandest heights of Manhattan society to the anonymous streets of New York, compelling characters discover their demons, confront heartbreak, and learn to stumble through life in the dreamy, oppressive city.
A Manhattan writer discovers a miracle in a slaughterhouse. A young kid finds a jazz club in the heart of the city. The smartest doctor in the world wants to forgo everything to pursue obscurity. A broken marriage realizes its vulnerabilities.
As you turn through pages of spare prose and smart dialogue, Life Between Moments: New York Stories will give you a fresh glimpse into an old city, and remind you why tales of the Big Apple have resonated for centuries.
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