Duke professor Michael Malone is the author of novels and short stories filled with romance, mystery and sometimes murder. He was also an Emmy-winning lead writer for the long-running soap opera "One Life to Live." In a live "Office Hours" conversation April 26, Malone answers viewer questions about the art of storytelling.
"I have never known a fiction that didn't have facts in it. But the fundamental point about telling stories is those facts are no excuse for fiction," Malone told the Duke Chronicle. "Just because it's a real story doesn't make it a good story. I worry we sometimes lose that distinction."
Watch the conversation live Thursday at noon on the Duke Ustream channel. Submit a question for Malone via email to live@duke.edu, on Twitter with the hashtag #dukelive or by posting to the Duke University Facebook page.
Malone teaches courses on American movies and musicals in which students put into practice the subjects they are taught.
Students in his "American Dreams, American Movies" course present their film projects in a gala that includes awards and acceptance speeches (watch last year's ceremony). This year, his class "The Great American Musical" will put on a musical April 30, which includes the Durham Housing Authority's Hip-Hop Chorus, about a group of students who band together to save a struggling music academy.
Malone is a prolific author, publishing more than a dozen novels, in addition to plays and screenplays. His most recent novel is "The Four Corners of the Sky," about a young woman pilot's adventure chasing her elusive father.
