Episode 546: Seth Wickersham is On That Hill

"Writing is such a lonely job, and I feel bad for people who don't have a crew. I think you really have to have a crew. I had a college crew my first couple years at ESPN. There was a bunch of us who were young writers and very ambitious. That was a crew. And then we have our group now of people who are on various text threads, you need a band to always know where your head is at any given time, so they can help you tap into those things when you're doing your work," says Seth Wickersham, author of three books, including his anthology of his best ESPN work Be On That Hill. Today we welcome back Seth Wickersham, his third trip to the podcast. He has achieved anthology status. His best work over 26 years at ESPN is in 480 tidy pages titled Be On That Hill: Stories from the Summits of Sport, with a forward by his buddy and colleague and master in his own right, Wright Thompson. It’s published by Hyperion Avenue. I should add right off the top that I should have in the coming week or two a Nieman Storyboard annotation of Seth’s mammoth profile on Sean Payton. It’s a 15,000-word feature that is a stunning piece of work. In any case, pay attention to this space for news on that. But, yes, Seth is the author It’s Better to Be Feared and American Kings and let me be the one to tell you that he is one of the good ones, just a great person on top of being a tremendous writer and reporter. I think that comes across in how he speaks, his generosity of spirit and willingness to share his vast experience with you. I mean, take these blurbs for instance: from Jonthan Eig: "Wickersham stands with Plimpton and Halberstam among the finest sports chroniclers." And Peter King: "Wickersham’s terrific prose and storytelling are buttressed by his tireless and insightful reporting.” Damn. What a treat, what a ride you’re in for. Seth’s work can be found at espn.com and you can visit his website sethwickersham.com and follow him on IG @seth.wickersham. In this episode, we talk about: Getting beyond access porn for his Payton profile Having an idea of where you want to end a story The messy creative process Each time you’re starting over Shades of grayness Not being dissuaded by lack of access Lucky that people were invested in his success Breaking through creative plateaus The benefit of being a young writer Everything in a story is a reflection of you Needing a crew How your writing voice can adapt And the notes he has taped to his computer You might want to pair this episode with Pamela Colloff, Tony Rehagen and Justin Heckert.