Men Running on Tanks and the Truth about Book Editors

2011-06-06 · letter vlog · John · 3:47 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Books & writing (also: Pop culture) · mode: Personal essay · tags: timely hook, self promotion

After reporting on the Indianapolis Museum of Art's US Pavilion at the Venice Biennale, John argues that editors exist neither to fix grammar nor to censor: the real work is the editorial letter, and writers may not be more important than editors.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — Repeated 'Good morning, Hank' greeting

00:00:06 — Venice Biennale: the IMA's US Pavilion by Allora & Calzadilla, a party with Michael Stipe, Indianapolis pride

★★ John was in Venice because the Indianapolis Museum of Art, where the Yeti is a curator, commissioned the 2011 American Pavilion of the Venice Biennale. — 00:00:06 · Sarah Urist Green, Indianapolis
★ John hopes Hank enjoyed Venice, Florida, as much as John enjoyed Venice, Italy. — 00:00:06
★ John went to a party with R.E.M.'s Michael Stipe, writer of 'Stand', to which John and Hank choreographed a dance in 1989 that their dad videotaped and lost. (playful) — 00:00:19 · Mike Green
★★ John calls Allora & Calzadilla's pavilion (overturned tanks, Olympic athletes, an ATM that is also a pipe organ) a total success and is proud of everyone at the IMA. — 00:00:31 · Indianapolis
★★ John says this is the first time the Venice Biennale commission went to a museum not on either coast or the Art Institute of Chicago. — 00:00:46

00:01:09 — The edited manuscript of his new book arrives: stormtrooper spellings and every day being Friday

★★ The manuscript of John's new book arrived from New York with his editor and publisher Julie Strauss-Gabel's comments on the pages. — 00:01:09 · John's untitled novel (2011), Julie Strauss-Gabel
★★ After more than a year of revising the book together, John and Julie have reached the fun stage of notes on the manuscript, like how to spell 'stormtrooper'. — 00:01:18 · John's untitled novel (2011), Julie Strauss-Gabel
★ John admits a weakness: in his drafts every day is Friday, and Julie's notes tease him for not tracking which day it should be. (playful) — 00:01:28 · Augustus Waters, Julie Strauss-Gabel

00:01:47 — The truth about editors: the editorial letter, not grammar or censorship; examples from his books; writers may not matter more than editors

★★★ John says the public sees editors as fixing details, but the heart of editing comes earlier: he sends Julie a draft and she sends an editorial letter. — 00:01:47 · Julie Strauss-Gabel
★★ John reads from Julie's editorial letter on his new book, which raises Augustus's philosophy against Hazel's, the nobility of sacrifice versus illness, and what constitutes martyrdom. — 00:02:04 · Julie Strauss-Gabel, Augustus Waters, Hazel Grace Lancaster, John's untitled novel (2011)
★ John tells Julie he won't change his spelling of stormtroopers unless George Lucas tells him it's two words, but concedes she is right about everything else. (playful) — 00:02:21 · Julie Strauss-Gabel
★★★ John says the assumption that editors exist mainly to fix grammar is wrong; he could just read the Chicago style manual for that. — 00:02:37
★★★ John says it is also wrong to think editors exist mainly to censor your work or make it worse. — 00:02:44
★★ Without Julie, John says, Paper Towns would be largely a boring history of the US Postal Service instead of being about Whitman's Song of Myself. — 00:02:54 · Paper Towns
★★ Without Julie, An Abundance of Katherines would have had a 75-page guide to tanning a roadkill raccoon's hide instead of Colin and Hassan hunting feral hogs; in 2005 he was into hide tanning. — 00:03:02 · An Abundance of Katherines
★★ John says that without Julie and, before her, his mentor and first editor Ilene Cooper, nothing anyone likes about Looking for Alaska would be in it. — 00:03:19 · Julie Strauss-Gabel, Looking for Alaska (novel)
★★★ John concludes that, much as he'd like to think writers matter more than editors, they may not. (hedged) — 00:03:27
★★ John notes that The Great Gatsby and The Sun Also Rises were edited by the same man. — 00:03:29

00:03:37 — Sign-off: 'see you on Friday' and calendrically specific dementia

In the description and comments

★ John calls Gloria an amazing show and urges anyone in Venice to go and see it. — video description

Humor (significant)

John tries demonyms for Indianapolis and stages a mini dialogue to try out the best one. — 00:01:06

“Hey, where are you from? Oh me? I'm Indianapolicious.”
Julie asks whether John even tries to figure out which day it should be in his book. — 00:01:45

“No! I’m not trying! That’s your job.”
Conceding Julie's edits, John nods to the 'Friday' song. — 00:02:33

“no matter how happy it would make Rebecca Black, I agree with you that every day should not be Friday”
Right after the bit about every day being Friday, John signs off with 'I'll see you on Friday' without meaning to. — 00:03:43

“it’s like I have calendrically specific dementia”

Threads in this video

told · John in Venice for the Indianapolis Museum of Art's US Pavilion at the Venice Biennale (2011) — John reports on his Venice trip for the IMA's US Pavilion at the Venice Biennale: a party with Michael Stipe and a pavilion he calls a total success. (00:00:06)
retold · The brothers' childhood choreographed dances to Ice Ice Baby and Stand — John recalls that he and Hank choreographed a dance to R.E.M.'s 'Stand' in 1989, which their dad videotaped and then lost. (00:00:23)
milestone · The Fault in Our Stars: writing, title and publication (2011) — After more than a year of revision, the manuscript of John's new book arrives with his editor's notes on the pages: the book has reached line edits. (00:01:09)
restate · What do editors do, and is a book one person's work? — John argues editors exist neither mainly to fix grammar nor to censor; the editorial letter is the real work, and writers may not be more important than editors. (00:02:37)
retold · John: how Looking for Alaska was written, revised and won the Printz Award (2006) — John says that without Julie and, before her, his mentor and first editor Ilene Cooper, nothing anyone likes about Looking for Alaska would be in it. (00:03:19)
mentioned · Hank's trip to Florida to visit his in-laws and his high-school friends in Orlando (2011) — John hopes Hank enjoyed his stay in Venice, Florida. (00:00:06)

Where the stories that moved here went next

The Fault in Our Stars: writing, title and publication (2011) — completed; last: looked back, 2026-09-22
John in Venice for the Indianapolis Museum of Art's US Pavilion at the Venice Biennale (2011) — told 2×; last: retold, 2017-08-08

Mentioned

Central: Indianapolis Museum of Art · John's untitled novel (2011) · Julie Strauss-Gabel

Also: People: George Lucas · Michael Stipe · Mike Green · Rebecca Black · Sarah Urist Green · Walt Whitman

Works: An Abundance of Katherines · Gloria · Looking for Alaska (novel) · Paper Towns · Song of Myself · Stand · The Chicago Manual of Style · The Great Gatsby · The Sun Also Rises

Organizations: Art Institute of Chicago · United States Postal Service

Groups: R.E.M.

Rituals: Good morning greeting · See you tomorrow

Places: Indianapolis (“Indianapolicious”) · Venice · Venice, Florida

Events: Venice Biennale

Characters: Augustus Waters · Colin Singleton · Hassan Harbish · Hazel Grace Lancaster · Stormtrooper

Only in the description or credits: Allora & Calzadilla · Ilene Cooper

Also centred on Indianapolis Museum of Art: Poetry Makes Nothing Happen: Thoughts on Ai Weiwei from the Indianapolis Museum of Art

← Previous: I AM A BAD PERSON! · Next → Punishments, Floods, and Pink Hitler Babies