David Hoffman
Author of The Billion Dollar Spy
Discussion
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David E. Hoffman
@thedeadhandbook · author, The Billion Dollar Spy
Espionage is the art of illusion, but what I am about to tell you is absolutely true. I am David E. Hoffman, author of The Billion Dollar Spy: A True Story of Cold War Espionage and Betrayal. You might think this sounds like a spy novel. But from the first page to the last, it is all true. This is my third book about Russia and the end of the Cold War. So, ask me anything!
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Grrrrl
@polly_withers · PhD Researcher
@thedeadhandbook Hey again David, also interested to hear more about your third book - how much is fact and how much is fiction? Thanks! Polly
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David E. Hoffman
@thedeadhandbook · author, The Billion Dollar Spy
@polly_withers The Billion Dollar Spy is fact. It is based on 944 pages of declassified, formerly secret documents which the CIA made available. It is based on interviews, too. I hope that's what makes it more interesting. The spy fiction bookshelf is enormous. This is not Ian Fleming. It is real life--and in real life, espionage wasn't all car chases and assassinations.
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David E. Hoffman
@thedeadhandbook · author, The Billion Dollar Spy
@polly_withers I wrote the book to show what it was like to be out there on the front lines of an espionage operation, what it was really like. There are dull moments, long waits, huge surges of anxiety.
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David E. Hoffman
@thedeadhandbook · author, The Billion Dollar Spy
@polly_withers Some readers have wondered why the book isn't more like James Bond. And my answer is, because life isn't that way.
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David E. Hoffman
@thedeadhandbook · author, The Billion Dollar Spy
@polly_withers shocking, i know
Grrrrl
@polly_withers · PhD Researcher
@thedeadhandbook Hey David, what made you make the transition from journalism into literature? Thanks! Polly.
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David E. Hoffman
@thedeadhandbook · author, The Billion Dollar Spy
It wasn't a genre that I was attracted to so much as one story. The story in The Billion Dollar Spy is what pulled me in. I wanted to know, why did this guy do what he did? How did it happen?
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David E. Hoffman
@thedeadhandbook · author, The Billion Dollar Spy
And it took a while to get the answers to those questions--years.
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David E. Hoffman
@thedeadhandbook · author, The Billion Dollar Spy
@polly_withers And thanks for calling it literature, Polly!
Alex Carter
@alexcartaz · Operations @ 60dB. Ex-PH Podcasts 😻
Hi @thedeadhandbook, what has most surprised you about being an author?
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David E. Hoffman
@thedeadhandbook · author, The Billion Dollar Spy
@alexcartaz There is a rush, a real deep thrill, when you reach readers who like the work, get the story, or even argue with you. It is like nothing else. But to get to that point, you may spend a few years all alone, wondering if what you are doing is crazy.
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David E. Hoffman
@thedeadhandbook · author, The Billion Dollar Spy
@thedeadhandbook @alexcartaz And it might be crazy, and it might be that you discover the story only at the end.
Jacqueline von Tesmar
@jacqvon · Community, Product Hunt ✌️😻
Hey David, What are you most proud of in your life as a journalist, and now as an author?
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David E. Hoffman
@thedeadhandbook · author, The Billion Dollar Spy
@jacqvon I was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for general nonfiction for The Dead Hand -- bursting with pride!
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David E. Hoffman
@thedeadhandbook · author, The Billion Dollar Spy
@jacqvon But there are also a thousand quiet moments to be happy about, when a good story is told, or makes a difference.
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David E. Hoffman
@thedeadhandbook · author, The Billion Dollar Spy
@thedeadhandbook @jacqvon I think people sometimes misunderstand what journalism is about -- you really are a bit of a detective. And that means trying to puzzle out complex stuff. You never are certain. It feels good when you get it right!
Andrew Ettinger
@andrewett · Product Marketing, Twitter (ex-PH)
@thedeadhandbook Have you always wanted to be a writer? If not, when did you know you would have a career in writing?
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David E. Hoffman
@thedeadhandbook · author, The Billion Dollar Spy
@andrewmettinger I know the exact moment
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David E. Hoffman
@thedeadhandbook · author, The Billion Dollar Spy
@andrewmettinger It was during college --
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David E. Hoffman
@thedeadhandbook · author, The Billion Dollar Spy
@andrewmettinger I went to the student newspaper to see if they needed a photographer, since I was interested in that
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David E. Hoffman
@thedeadhandbook · author, The Billion Dollar Spy
@andrewmettinger But so much interesting stuff was happening (in the world, and at the university) that I started writing
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David E. Hoffman
@thedeadhandbook · author, The Billion Dollar Spy
@andrewmettinger I took some photos too, but the writing took over!
Emily Hodgins
@ems_hodge · Community and Marketing, Product Hunt
What is your writing process? Can you talk us through how you go from idea, to a published novel? It seams like such a daunting process, for someone wanting to start out, what advice would you give?
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David E. Hoffman
@thedeadhandbook · author, The Billion Dollar Spy
@ems_hodge It is just very, very important to have a sense of what that idea is. Not a bunch of loose buttons in a drawer, but a sense of a coat of many colors. (Sometimes the big idea is hiding in the drawer.) You have to force yourself to think about that. If there's a good answer, that's a good sign.
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David E. Hoffman
@thedeadhandbook · author, The Billion Dollar Spy
@ems_hodge My books are all nonfiction. They all grew out of my reporting in journalism. I would write a story and it would be in the newspaper and then I would think, hmm -- is there more? And more? And after years, and boxes full of stuff, hard drives full of stuff, and my head full of stuff -- maybe a book. It is accumulating a lot of bits and pieces in hopes that you can create one big interesting story.
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David E. Hoffman
@thedeadhandbook · author, The Billion Dollar Spy
@ems_hodge I confess some people have it all in their head right away. Not me.
Mike Coutermarsh
@mscccc · Code @ Product Hunt
@thedeadhandbook What was the most surprising event you covered during your whitehouse days?
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David E. Hoffman
@thedeadhandbook · author, The Billion Dollar Spy
Easy -- the Reykjavik summit, October 1986. Reagan and Gorbachev want to rid the world of nuclear weapons. That takes the cake for surprise.
Mike Coutermarsh
@mscccc · Code @ Product Hunt
@thedeadhandbook Hi David, can you tell us what an average day for you is like while you're writing a book? :)
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David E. Hoffman
@thedeadhandbook · author, The Billion Dollar Spy
@mscccc No day is average. Part one -- a couple of years -- may be research. Interviews, going out, finding people, putting together the pieces. Then the writing is a kind of agonizing process of creating what you THINK happened from all the stuff you have collected. So you draft. Rewrite. Argue with yourself. Show to friends. Rewrite. Over and over until it seems polished. Usually I do better work in the morning, and always better closer to the coffee pot. When you finally have a draft, you feel great, but still --
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David E. Hoffman
@thedeadhandbook · author, The Billion Dollar Spy
@mscccc -- you are not finished. A good editor will show you all the faults, and you will write it again. I am grateful for the fact that my editor at Doubleday and my friends and my family have all been great critics. Nothing come off the screen even close to ready the first time. you need this kind of help. At least, I do.
Mike Coutermarsh
@mscccc · Code @ Product Hunt
@thedeadhandbook I love the cover art for the Billion Dollar Spy. How involved are you in the artwork? Is that something your publisher usually controls? Any advice on what makes a great book cover?
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David E. Hoffman
@thedeadhandbook · author, The Billion Dollar Spy
@mscccc Agree with you the cover is pretty cool. But this is the result of good work by a designer at the publisher, not me. I was asked to comment on it when it was finished -- and I made a few suggestions. I think it was bold, and aimed at grabbing people. Which is pretty much what you have to do these days to get anyone's attention. The world is swamped, just swamped, with info.