Roger Simon is a good film writer. My range is probably limited to essays. Writing fiction is a whole lot harder than essays. At least it is different. First, fiction requires the construction of a backdrop; a fictional universe in which to set your tale. Tolkien spent decades creating Middle Earth before he set the told the first story set inside of it.

Then there is the tale itself. A story is a special construct, one in which all the virtues of the essay — clarity, directness, brevity — become vices. In a story the characters move through a universe without knowing what’s going to happen next. They hear sounds, smell things; see frightening and marvelous things. They change their minds.

In the essay you maintain a distance from the subject. But in a story your in the subject itself. Take the Third Man. We are repelled and fascinated by the immediate Post-War Europe; with its blackmarketers, freelancing spies, and occupation troops. It’s not only a world but it’s another world. Who would you be? Holly or Harry Lime?