The Night the Lights Went Out (7130)

Aside from the fact that Drew Magary is a total badass and an extremely lucky man, he is also a very convincing writer. This is an insane story about how his brain basically just blew up, how he spent his time in recovery, what he does and doesn’t remember, and how his family coped with his illness and rehabilitation. He uses casual language that brings you into the hospital room with him. You feel the embarrassment when he has to be helped “washing his dick,” and sitting on the toilet. You understand his sarcasm and wittiness toward the nurses and his relatives, as he is basically a sitting duck. Each detail about the months of recovery is embedded in your brain because it’s written with such an aura of “life sucks sometimes” that we can all relate to. It was like reading about something I went through without actually having gone through it-- and that’s what I want my writing to emanate. 

There were times in the piece when Magary would mention a topic that he maybe had too much to say about for just one feature. Instead, he linked other pieces he wrote about the topics where they fit into the rest of the story. In other words, they weren’t details that were absolutely necessary to the main piece, but they were important enough to be fleshed out in other articles. I think this makes for an interesting, multi-layer story that shows the dimensions of how his brain was working during his recovery and writing processes.