William Germano - On Revision : The Only Writing That Counts

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WILLIAM GERMANO

The University of Chicago Press

Chicago and London

The University of Chicago Press, Chicago 60637

The University of Chicago Press, Ltd., London

2021 by William Germano

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations in critical articles and reviews. For more information, contact the University of Chicago Press, 1427 East 60th Street, Chicago, IL 60637.

Published 2021

Printed in the United States of America

30 29 28 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 1 2 3 4 5

ISBN-13: 978-0-226-41051-7 (cloth)

ISBN-13: 978-0-226-41065-4 (paper)

ISBN-13: 978-0-226-41079-1 (e-book)

DOI: https://doi.org/10.7208/chicago/9780226410791.001.0001

Page vii: the Perkins epigraph is quoted in Editor to Author: Letters of Maxwell E. Perkins, ed. John Hall Wheelock (New York: Scribners, 1950), 178.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Germano, William P., 1950, author.

Title: On revision : the only writing that counts / William Germano.

Other titles: Chicago guides to writing, editing, and publishing.

Description: Chicago : University of Chicago Press, 2021. | Series: Chicago guides to writing, editing, and publishing | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2021010998 | ISBN 9780226410517 (cloth) | ISBN 9780226410654 (paperback) | ISBN 9780226410791 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: ManuscriptsEditing. | Authorship. | Academic writing.

Classification: LCC PN145 .G44 2021 | DDC 808.02dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021010998

This paper meets the requirements of ANSI / NISO Z39.48-1992 (Permanence of Paper).

for our better versions

Teaching is about taking things apart; writing is about putting things together.

TONI MORRISON, INTERVIEWED BY HILTON ALS IN THE NEW YORKER (2003)

Whats the story, morning glory?

THE TELEPHONE HOUR, FROM THE MUSICAL BYE BYE BIRDIE (1960) (ALSO THE TITLE OF A 1995 ALBUM BY OASIS)

You must not take what I say as definite at all ever, but all as by way of example only. The whole thing might perhaps be done in some quite different way, and what I say are only suggestions toward the final effect. The ways and means to it may be different from what I have used to illustrate.

EDITOR MAX PERKINS, OFFERING WRITING ADVICE TO MARJORIE KINNAN RAWLINGS (WINNER OF THE 1939 PULITZER PRIZE IN LITERATURE FOR HER NOVEL THE YEARLING)

O rocks! Tell us in plain words.

MOLLY BLOOM, WANTING CLARIFICATION, IN ULYSSES (1922)

Im a terrible birder. Not just inattentive but inept. Binoculars are a birders tool, but first you need to know what youre looking for.

Sure, egrets and red-tailed hawks are easy to spot, and from an Amtrak car I once saw a bald eagle at the edge of the Hudson. Birds move fast, hide from us, resemble other birds, are residents or visitors. In good weather, and if the whoosh of Manhattan traffic isnt too intrusive, my urban window pipes in morning birdsong from invisible birds. I know theyre only sparrows and such, but I enjoy the stupid wonder of knowing theyre out there, safe from my prying eyes.

Bird calls are distinctive, so birders assure me, but I havent put in the time to learn them. In Central Park I can come across real birders, as silent as statues, pointing sturdy field glasses at somethingwhat? somewhere? where?when all I see above me is blue and green and shadow. I have to be content with the very secondhand thrill of being that close to a rare migratory species (there it is, somebody whispers), a brushstroke making a brief stop in urban greenery as it heads south or north. At least Ive learned that Ill hear a bird before I see ita call or just a few leaves rustling wherewhat? over there?disturb the underbrush.

I must have had Anne Lamotts Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life in mind when I wrote those paragraphs. Lamotts bestseller takes its title from a family anecdote, her ten-year-old brother freezing up at the prospect of writing a report on birds. Lamott writes that when the boy is immobilized by the hugeness of the task ahead his wise parent advises him to take it bird by bird.

Lamotts book is no more about birds than this one is, and shes writing about fiction, not academic prose, but theres a kinship in metaphor. A day at a time, a step at a time, a detail at a time. For academic writers, that might mean another research monograph or article, an archive box, a theory, another endless Google search. Our birds are bigger, more complicated now. And though we might have trained professionally for exactly the kind of writing weve taken on, we can all feel immobilized by the hugeness of the task ahead, at least sometimes.

The world of birds, the world of words. Listen. Theres so much to read with your ears. And to reread and re-hear. Thats what both writing and revising need, and thats what On Revision is really about. One version at a time. One revision, then another.

Pick up anything well written and you can learn something about how writing works. Look for and listen to good writing the way you might look for birds, paying attention not just to bright colors and big forms (cardinals, hawks, eagles) but also to sounds, both the calls and the rustling high in the canopy or right there at your feet.

Good writing has a convincing shape. But it doesnt just look good on the page. It sounds good. You already know that. Its not a secret that successful writers have somehow kept to themselves. You can often hear what makes the writing good even before youre fully conscious of the meaning of a sentence or the import of an argument. Thats not a trivial response to writing, either.

So the best rule for revising your writing is the simplest: listen to it. Its the best way to write, too. That took me a long time to figure out. Read it out loud.

But of course when you hear people (including me) say, Read it out loud, they mean all sorts of things.

Read it out loud, and youll hear how confusing it is.