Revisionaries: What We Can Learn from the Lost, Unfinished, and Just Plain Bad Work of Great Writers

by Kristopher Jansma

Find creative inspiration in this fascinating rummage through the wastebaskets, secret diaries, and abandoned files of 20 literary superstars.

If you like to write—whether it’s a pastime, a passion, or a profession—you’ve probably found yourself reading something brilliant and thinking, “I could never do this! I might as well give up.” But if there’s one thing every great author has in common, it’s they’ve all written some hot garbage. 

Revisionaries takes you on an engrossing tour through the discarded drafts, false starts, and abandoned projects of influential writers. In the process, it dismantles some of our most deeply held—and most suffocating—ideas about what it takes to produce great creative work. You’ll learn

Franz Kafka lacked confidenceOctavia Butler had writer's block blockedF. Scott Fitzgerald wrote bad draftsRalph Ellison got overwhelmedLouisa May Alcott got off to a bad startAnd more deep, dark secrets about the authors you most admire
Written by an award-winning novelist and creative-writing professor, Revisionaries is a compelling peek behind the scenes of genius for writers and readers alike.

Genres: Writing, Nonfiction, Books About Books, Literature, History

320 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 15, 2024

About the author

Kristopher Jansma is the author of the forthcoming novel Our Narrow Hiding Places (Ecco, 8/13) as well as the book Revisionaries: What We Can Learn from the Lost, Unfinished, and Just Plain Bad Work of Great Writers (Quirk, 10/15).

His previous novels are Why We Came to the City and The Unchangeable Spots of Leopards. He is the winner of the Sherwood Anderson Foundation Fiction Award and a Pushcart Prize, as well as the recipient of an honorable mention for the PEN/Hemingway Award. Kristopher is an associate professor of English and the director of the creative writing program at SUNY New Paltz.

More at http://www.kristopherjansma.com/

Reviews

[Peter Tillman]

WSJ review: https://www.wsj.com/arts-culture/book...
(Paywalled. As always, I'm happy to email a copy to non-subscribers)
Excerpt "There can be no shortage of anguish in a book that includes tormented writers such as Franz Kafka, who suffered, in John Updike’s memorable phrase, “a sensitivity acute beyond usefulness.” Yet “Revisionaries” is neither an elegy nor a cautionary tale but rather a manual of sorts for anyone confronting a blank page."

[D · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a wonderful book - a delight to read. The author humanises “genius writers” by showing all we share with them, while teaching us about their life and work. As opposed to most other books on geniuses, this one has variety in gender, ethnicity, and nationality. The writing is pleasant and one can spend hours living those many lives described in the book. Simply a joy.

[Sophia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Smart, encouraging look at the unfinished works of genius writers.

[Sheila McCombs · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this! There were a lot of cool things I felt like I had never learned before and I loved how many authors were featured.

[John Cooper · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is, at its core, a book of interesting stories about famous writers, with a particular view toward their roadblocks, failures, and unfinished projects. Unfortunately for readers such as me who are particularly sensitive to feeling talked down to, it's bathed throughout in a gentle, warmly supportive tone that assumes that you yourself are a struggling writer who is cowed by the example of GENIUSES. And this word is everywhere. Louisa May Alcott was a GENIUS, yet she struggled. Shirley Jackson was a GENIUS, yet she struggled. Truman Capote was a GENIUS, yet he struggled...you get the picture.

If you picked up this book specifically because you wanted encouragement, this might well work for you. There is a book-group type "Fail Like a Genius" page after each chapter that tells you what encouraging lesson you should learn from the life of the writer just discussed. Many of these include excellent tips, such as keeping a file of your abandoned work from which you can salvage worthwhile phrases and paragraphs.

But as you can tell, the author's approach rubs me the wrong way. What he means to be encouraging, I find cloying. His gentle, nurturing tone dismisses those whose creative force is not particularly nice and doesn't respond well to being babied.

Here is some straight talk: You are not a GENIUS. You are not about to "write your masterpiece," much less the "Great American Novel." What you might be able to do is put out into the world a finished work that is, for all its flaws, a unique and unreproducible expression of you. To do that, you're going to have to fight. Fight your laziness, fight the naysaying voices (your own and those of others), maybe even fight your unexamined ideas of what's acceptable and in good taste.

Take the tips in the "Fail Like a Genius" sections and use them in the fight.

[Adriano · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's rare that I feel the need to write a review, and it's even more rare to find a book that satisfies my desires as an intermediate writer. Most writing books cater to beginners who may dream of their first novel and are still very early in their writing careers. Revisionaries, though appropriate for beginners, feels just as so as a book for those who have written and feel themselves stuck or not quite up to the task - even though they may have found some success.

By reviewing these unfinished works of these influential writers it gives you a good sense that we're not that far off from one another. They may have found success in their writing careers, but we all start at the same point with the blank page and the need to grind out something that meets the vision in our heads.

This book is as well-written as it is well-researched. You really do fear feel yourself transported to the struggles of each author. Just as importantly, it's structured in such a way that not only can you read it beginning to end, but you can jump to your favorite author and feel fulfilled in reading each story.

Excellent book, I'll be revisiting it in the future.

[anarresa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jansma is a writing professor and at the end of each author’s chapter is a writing exercise. I am not a writer, but I liked the deep dive into the history and unfinished work of different authors. The authors are well known in Western Literature, but with a bit of variety: F. Scott Fitzgerald, Louisa May Alcott, Octavia Butler, Ralph Ellison, Sylvia Plath…

Most are 20th Century authors so there are interview excerpts as well as the papers from academic collections to describe their writing process and the problematic work(s) that is the focus of the essay. Jansma assumes the reader (or aspiring writer) is familiar with every author listed, though he does include some details to remind you. There were a couple authors I didn’t know, and several more I never read – this didn’t impact my enjoyment of the essay. Some authors had a more interesting story than others, but every chapter was short so the reader isn’t stuck with a boring author. The reader doesn’t get a deep dive into a favorite author either, each essay is about an unfinished work and the circumstances that prevented the author from finishing – that’s.

[Jac Filer · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a fine book with an interesting premise, but didn't quite do what I expected.
First, it's a reminder that just as no reader expects to outlive his or her TBR pile, no artist or writer should expect to finish every project. The reasons that projects go undone are as varied as the writers themselves, and this book puts that variety on full display. I appreciate the author's examination of the biographical and contextual factors that influence not only the works of each featured writer but also the stoppage of certain works.
What I felt was lacking was a closer look at the unfinished works. Perhaps some excerpts and samples (where possible). I appreciate the summaries and synopses, but they didn't go as far as a live look at work itself could have. I get that sometimes, copyrights and other legalities prevent including such samples. But I would think that at least a few could have been included.
Still, the author delivered an interesting and thoughtful analysis of his own examination of these artifacts, which makes this a worthwhile read.

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

To say that I savored this book would be a wild understatement. When I was reading this book I limited myself to no more than one essay in a day, and frequently paused for days on end so I could begin applying the writing strategies that Jansma recommends. As a scholar of literature and a writer myself, this book had everything I could have asked for to both inform and inspire me.

If you want a book that delves into the very human ways that famous writers have tried, failed, and tried again - this is a wonderful resource.

If you want a book that provides concrete strategies for getting out of your writing rut - this is a wonderful resource.

And if you're a big literary nerd who wants a book that delivers on fun facts about writers' lives - well, big surprise, this is a wonderful resource for you.

[Stan Skrabut · Rating 5 out of 5]

When Great Writers Struggle, and Why That’s Exactly the Point

I just wrapped up Revisionaries: What We Can Learn from the Lost, Unfinished, and Just Plain Bad Work of Great Writers by Kristopher Jansma, and I’ve gotta say, it’s one of those books that gets under your skin in all the right ways. If you’ve ever stared down a blank page wondering if you’re the only one fumbling through the writing process, you’re not. And this book proves it. Read more

[Adam Sarlan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jansma’s book takes us through the unfinished and unpublished work of some of the most influential authors across literature. These geniuses and pillars of literature, Jansma argues, started off where all writers do and are just like every aspiring author. They failed, their work got rejected, and they had to deal with personal and academic matters. Through flexibility and endurance, they became great writers. By following these blueprints, aspiring writers can have the confidence to see that the great writers started where we start and invite us to take part in their unfinished work and find our own voice and style.

[Perri · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars. I really wanted to like this book. I can't say I regret reading it because I learned a decent amount about writers with whom I am well familiar and those whose names I didn't even know, but the author was very redundant and seemed confused about what the premise of this book. Personal exploration? Academic essay? Breezy nonfiction? Each chapter seemed to start out with unrelated and babbly personal reflection or regurgitation of previous authors/chapters before launching into what felt like a classic analytic academic essay and then concluding with a lighthearted two-pager "try this at home" exercise. The book could be good, but is having an identity crisis.

[Kim McGee · Rating 4 out of 5]

3 1/2 stars
This book serves two purposes - the first looks at examples of famous author's failed attempts from an anecdotal viewpoint and the second helps to inspire the writing community to hang in there. There is a reason sometimes when a lost or unfinished manuscript from these revered authors it should remain lost - it is bad. Does it make us feel better to know that they slipped off the pedestal once or twice - Yes!
This would make a great gift for aspiring writers. My thanks to the publisher for the advance copy.

[Kimberly Brooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve said it before, I really do not enjoy writing. But reading about authors write? Fascinating. (The typos in this book—written by a writing professor—bugged me though. That’s why it got 4 stars instead of 5)

[Cambria · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting, insightful and encouraging.
Liked learning about the different authors and the nuggets we can take away to incorporate as we try different methods of writing