9 Tactics Writers Can Learn From Author John McPhee
“Hunt through your mind for a good beginning, then write it.”
During his extensive 58-year career as a staff writer at The New Yorker, John McPhee has written hundreds of articles.
These narratives delve into the lives of various individuals — geologists, truckers, soldiers, outdoorsmen, merchant marines, architects, environmentalists, athletes — and even an iconic fruit.
Many of his initial articles have matured into full-fledged books, totaling 32 publications. One endeavor, the “Annals of the Former World” earned McPhee the prestigious Pulitzer Prize.
What can you learn from McPhee? Probably more than you’ll ever need to know, but here are a few things that stood out to me…
1.
John McPhee draws a box around words that present an opportunity for better words. This helps with his overall flow. “First drafts are slow and develop clumsily because every sentence affects not only those before it, but also those that follow.”
2.
If you believe in it, writer’s block is real. “Block. It puts some writers down for months. It puts some writers down for life,” writes McPhee.
3.
Only write that which interests you. “You have only one criterion: if something interests you, it goes in — if not, it stays out. That’s a crude way to assess things, but it’s all you’ve got. Forget market research. Never market research your writing. Write on subjects in which you have enough interest to see you through all the stops, starts, hesitations, and other impediments along the way.”
4.
The lead is everything. “Often, after you have reviewed your notes many times and thought through your material, it is difficult to frame much of a structure until you write a lead,” writes John McPhee. “You wade around your house, getting nowhere. You don’t see a pattern. You don’t know what to do. So stop everything. Stop looking at the notes. Hunt through your mind for a good beginning, then write it. Write a lead.”
5.
Interviews are just conversations. “I have no technique in asking questions,” shares John McPhee. “I just stay there and fade away as I watch people do what they do.” He adds, “I’d much rather watch people do what they do than talk to them across a desk.”
Many of these quotes and ideas come from John McPhee’s remarkable book, Draft №4. Buy your copy right here.
6.
Getting hung up on the “rules of writing” will limit your capabilities. The reader isn’t meant to notice the structure. If the reader notices the structure, the work is lacking. “[Structure] is meant to be about as visible as someone’s bones,” writes McPhee.
7.
Through the oddities of rest and reserve, you can find something unique. “Art is where you find it,” says John McPhee. “Fiction, in my view, is much harder to do than fact, because the fiction writer moves forward by trial and error, while the fact writer is working with a certain body of collected material, and can set up structure beforehand.”
8.
Get help before you need it. “Editors and counselors can do a good deal more for writers in the first-draft stage than at the end of the publishing process,” writes McPhee. “Writers come in two principal categories — those who are overtly insecure and those who are covertly insecure — and they can all use help.”
9.
Know who you are writing the work for. “Readers are not shy with suggestions, and suggestions are often good but also closer to the passions of the reader than to this writer’s,” argues McPhee.
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Want more? All of these quotes help make up my first book about the craft of writing, Ink by the Barrel — Secrets From Prolific Writers. Get your copy for free, right here.
