Draft No. 4: On the Writing Process

**The long-awaited guide to writing long-form nonfiction by the legendary author and teacher** *Draft No. 4* is a master class on the writer’s craft. In a series of playful, expertly wrought essays, John McPhee shares insights he has gathered over his career and has refined while teaching at Princeton University, where he has nurtured some of the most esteemed writers of recent decades. McPhee offers definitive guidance in the decisions regarding arrangement, diction, and tone that shape nonfiction pieces, and he presents extracts from his work, subjecting them to wry scrutiny. In one essay, he considers the delicate art of getting sources to tell you what they might not otherwise reveal. In another, he discusses how to use flashback to place a bear encounter in a travel narrative while observing that “readers are not supposed to notice the structure. It is meant to be about as visible as someone’s bones.” The result is a vivid depiction of the writing process, from reporting to drafting to revising—and revising, and revising. *Draft No. 4* is enriched by multiple diagrams and by personal anecdotes and charming reflections on the life of a writer. McPhee describes his enduring relationships with *The New Yorker* and Farrar, Straus and Giroux, and recalls his early years at *Time* magazine. Throughout, *Draft No. 4* is enlivened by his keen sense of writing as a way of being in the world.

About Author	John McPhee was born in Princeton, New Jersey, and was educated at Princeton University and Cambridge University. His writing career began at Time magazine and led to his long association with the New
Author	John McPhee
Format	Ebook
ISBN	9780374712396
Language	English
Pages	208
Publication Date	09-04-2017
Publisher	Farrar, Straus and Giroux

1 review for Draft No. 4: On the Writing Process

Rated 5 out of 5

billmarsano (verified owner) – 04/30/2025

By Bill Marsano. E.B. White, one of the “tiny giants” (with James Thurber and Robert Benchley) of “The New Yorker” magazine, had the greatest gift of the three for graceful prose, prose that was light, clear, witty and persuasive—a delight to read (except, to be fair, when his subject was world government, when he tended toward blather). A colleague who shared my admiration of White’s writing put it nicely when he said “it goes down like French pastry.” I was put in mind of this by “Draft No. 4,” which was written by another New Yorker writer, John McPhee. He too is a tiny giant: physically he’s on the short side but his talent towers, and his prose goes down like Omaha steak. Since 1965 he has written non-fiction books that range widely–over athletes, oranges, birchbark canoes, conservation, the settling of Alaska. the merchant marine, smuggled Russian art, the doomed efforts of a handful of ex-Navy chaplains and a clutch of retired blimp pilots to build a modern version of the zeppelin. McPhee’s books are what? Flavorful, nourishing, rewarding? Suffice to say they go down like Omaha steak. Here he tells you how he does it, and the first clue is in the title: Draft No. 4 means learning from McPhee requires sacrificing yourself to the lost discipline of self-editing: An unexamined sentence is not worth writing, as Plato wisely said (didn’t he?). McPhee teaches by precept but mostly by examples, by anecdote, by discourse, so you have to pay attention. Otherwise you’ll miss the perfect example of constructing a series (p. 151) or this sentence of poetry (p. 164): ”I grew up on northern lakes and forest rivers.” Buy the book and read the book end to end, and when you are finished the best thing to do is turn it over and read it again.—Bill Marsano is a writer and editor of too many years’ experience.

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