The writing process of Alan Citron
All of my book titles have come to me in dreams. That’s often where the stories begin to take shape, as well. In the case of New Orleansland, the title and plotline popped into my mind simultaneously, like a rough draft. The final product went through many revisions, but the basic story of a corporate scheme to turn New Orleans into a post-Katrina theme park remained.
Years later, I woke up in the middle of the night with the title, The Last Best Saturday Night stuck in my head. The title was so interesting to me that I jotted it down on a bedside notebook, because I was afraid I would forget it. In that case, there was no story, just a curious title that was like a portal leading me into a space where I could explore a major transition period in my young life. The fictionalized account of that period took years to assemble.
When Every Day Was Every Day reflected the emotional exhaustion that I and many others experienced during the first year of the COVID-19 epidemic. The title came to me just before dawn, and again I made sure to write it down because the words sounded so vivid and true to the experience. I subsequently decided to write a month by month account of COVID’s impact on me and the world, partly as a personal journal and partly as an historical record.
In each case, the titles have driven the rest of the process. I feel like I’m filling in the blanks as I go, and the stories often take turns that I didn’t anticipate, as I get to know the characters or think of ways to layer in more elements. I’m currently struggling with a novel set in the future, featuring famous names from the present. It doesn’t have a title, which may not bode well.
Alan Citron
is former journalist who became an unlikely Internet executive.
Citron began his career at The Times-Picayune in New Orleans, where he covered a variety of beats. He subsequently spent 13 years at The Los Angeles Times. His last position there was assistant business editor for entertainment. Citron also authored a twice-weekly entertainment column called Company Town.
Citron left journalism in 1995, when the Internet boom was starting. He was the founding president of Ticketmaster Online. When Barry Diller bought Ticketmaster, Citron became president of Diller’s USA Networks Interactive.
Real Networks next hired Citron to start its music service, MusicNet. He later ran marketing for Movielink, an early download service owned by five of the major studios, until Warner Bros. and AOL recruited him to help launch TMZ, where Citron was instrumental in charting the success of the web site and the TV show.
More recently, Citron was business lead for entertainment at Yahoo and general manager of The Wrap. He also served as executive vice president of Red Carpet Home Cinema, which licensed first-run movies for rental in customer’s homes.
Throughout his business career, Citron continued to pursue his love of writing. He wrote op-ed pieces for The Wall Street Journal and Daily Variety. Citron also authored a novel, New Orleansland, about an entertainment conglomerate’s scheme to turn New Orleans into a theme park in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
Follow him on social media!
- Facebook: @thelastbestsaturdaynight
- Instagram: @alan.citron
- TouchPoint Press
Books
- New Orleansland – available from Apple and Amazon
- Fair’s Fair – unpublished
- The Beer Reveries – unpublished
- When Every Day was Every Day – scheduled for publication spring 2022
- The Last Best Saturday Night – scheduled for fall 2022