Dave’s Comments (group member since Jun 01, 2009)

Dave’s comments from the Q&A with Dave Cullen group.

GROUND RULES:

My main rule is no stringent rules. Anyone is free to comment/respond/clarify on anything posted by me or a reader. This is a wide open discussion.

When I respond, I will try to call out the name of the one who asked personally, but the answer is to everyone interested, and feel free to jump in.

A quickie for Jack,

The Basement Tapes are one of the few things known and NOT released. I saw the rest, and have been through the good stuff endless times.

I have an Eric filing shelf to my left (one of those mailbox-slot things with two columns of eight slots each) and Dylan's is to my right). But the killers' journals rarely leave my desk. They're sitting right here beside me. I have so many margin notes and highlights on them that I had to start color-coding, and then color-coding the post-its marking the best ones into different categories. I also created spreadsheets breaking down the evolution of each journal in all sorts of different ways.

Tbe cops released nearly 1,000 pages of writings the boys left, and I read it all. The hard part was finding stuff again. I had a researcher index every item, which I added to, and I use that all the time to find things, especially when I can't find a hardcopy. But most of the good stuff I have printed, marked up like crazy and sorted by killer. (Eg, for Eric I have a slot for web writings, yearbook, Diversion file, Wayne, dattimer, school stories early, school stories late, etc.)

All the videos that were released I have each scene logged, so I can find them, and I have watched endlessly. (And on the Basement Tapes, the cops released a lengthy description--about ten pages--and I have all the news stories, and have spreadsheets cataloging all the things they said on each subject on each tape.

I keep all the killers' friends police files close, too. The sheriff's report I find easiest to just click online.

And I have shelves and shelves of material around the room.

OK, I've got some catching up to do.

Steve,
Pictures:

Columbine was so heavily covered that I knew readers would already have a visual sense of the event: the school, the shooters, and images of the survivors, like the kids running from the school with their hands on their heads.

We all had this newsy conception of Columbine, and I knew that would be where I would meet most readers, but I wanted the newsy aspect to end there. Films influence my work a great deal, and songwriters do, too. I try to create my scenes visually the way films, songs and novels do. I like books that transport you to another world and allow you to create it in your own mind. So I knew from the start I didn't want any photos. I was relieved to hear my editor and agent both agreed. If photos are necessary, then I haven’t done my job yet.

Now if the reader feels satisfied with the image but still feels curious about the actual people, or the expressions on their faces April 20 or during the recovery, that’s understandable, and that stuff is all over the web. In fact, I’ve got all sorts of pictures and links on my site, so they can get to it very easily if it will enhance the experience for them either after or during the reading. But I wanted the story to stand on its own.

Paula,

The main thing I would like to see with my own eyes is The Basement Tapes. (Jeffco was angry with me at the time they were shown, because of my expose in Salon a few months earlier, where I published the first leaks from Eric's journal, etc.) I was excluded from that showing. I still rue that.

I'd love to see them.

I'd also love to hear/read the parents' depositions. I'll have to wait until 2027.

Those are the biggies.

I'm curious to hear the "Nixon" tape. Kate Battan assures me there's nothing more significant on it, which is probably true, but I'd like to hear. (Jeffco published a few chilling lines from it, but I'd also like to hear them in Eric's voice.)

Beyond that, I'd like to see the missing parts of the Guerra file that were never recovered. And who knows what might still be out there.

All in all, though, we have an amazing data pool to draw from. Agent Fuselier said he'd never seen deceased killers leave this much behind. So we probably know most of what we will ever know, and new data will probably tweak our understanding for the most part. But you never know.

Shandon,

I'll jump in with another quickie on who I would hace loved to talk to: The four parents, definitely, and then Dr. Albert, Eric's psychiatrist. (And the brothers.) And several of the killers' friends, who wouldn't talk, especially Nate, Chris and Zack.

Luckily, they all talked to the cops, who released detailed reports, and some did interviews early on, and all the friends talked about each other to the cops, and some appeared in the videos, etc., and I spoke to other friends and classmates and teachers. So I was able to stitch a lot together. But sure, there are people I'd love to talk to.

Wild & Marti (I hope it's OK to abbreviate names):

The Harpo producers eventually told us they don't expect to ever air the show. That was disappointing, but life goes on. (I'm going to write a blog post about some of the experience soon, and I'll link or post here.)

I just recently learned that the book will be featured in O Magazine, and Oprah.com, and in a freak coincidence, they posted it on their site just this morning. (MAJOR coincidence. I got up to check out this thread, and saw an email from my publicist about the site. I had no idea it was going up today. I just whipped out an email to my family. I hadn't even told them about it coming, because I didn't want to get my/their hopes up until I saw it print this time. Most of them came to the Oprah taping with me, which was priceless. They were pretty bummed when it got canceled, too.)

I'll come back with links, but I want to answer more questions first. And I need BREAKFAST! (I often work till 1 or 2 a.m. and then sleep till 9ish. I'm not a morning person.)

---

Marti, so nice to have you from Tattered Cover, my favorite bookstore on earth. I live a short walk from the Colfax store and drop in all the time. I wrote a bit of this book in that store, in the old opera boxes, or whatever they are. What a wonderful place.

Joanne: Do you know if one of the boys did most of the shootings that resulted in injuries or deaths or was it basically 50-50?

In the early minutes, it was mostly Eric. Only five rounds were recovered from Dylan outside. Eric shot grossly higher out there.

Once they got into the library, it was much closer. They both shot heavily. Eric killed more people, but Dylan shot quite a few.

I'll see if I can dig up the exact numbers. There are a zillion stats and I don't like to quote numbers from memory without checking them.

Hey, thanks to everyone for stopping by. I've got a free sec, so I'll do a few quickies and then head back in about an hour.

I'm so glad you asked about structure, Michelle, but that's a biggie. I'll come back to it.

I've found it's easier for you guys to find answers if I start a separate post to address each topic, so I'll proceed that way. (Though I tend to blab, so sometimes I have to come back a couple times to get everything across. And of course followups are welcome.)

Dee and other lurkers: Lurking is most welcome. I have a web forum, and learned early on that for every poster there are 10-20 lurkers (at least on that site. I don't know if the ratios hold steady throughout the web.) At first I was frustrated and begged them to chat with us, but pretty soon I got it: Some people want to ask talk, some want to listen. Both are fine. I learned a lot about lurkers over time through PMs where many explained their reticence. You lurkers have a special place in my heart. Delurk any time, or don't.

Thanks for the early interest.

In deference to the people who were told it's starting tomorrow, I'll hold off answering until then, so no one feels we started without them. But I can't wait to dive in. How nice to have questions queued up. I'll see you tomorrow.

Hi Goodreaders,

I will be here to discuss Columbine from June 10-24. [image error]

We can talk about the content, structure, writing process, researching, influences on my writing, problems I faced, etc. Whatever you like.

I will come by daily to respond. (I'm on mountain time in Denver, and not an early riser, but often working well into the night.)

I'm eager to answer your questions, and learn from you as well. Chatting with readers is one of my favorite activities. I've got some questions for you guys, too, but I'll wait a bit on those.

Feel free to post questions in advance.

Thanks for participating.

Dave Cullen