Sorting Out the Mess of a Chaotic Book Draft
This is part of the Claim Your AUTHORity series.
At one point while writing Chasing Sylvia Beach, I deleted 15,000 words of interior monologue. The book was a mess, and cutting this much was just the beginning of making order from chaos.
It was like I'd been driving with a mud-caked windshield and now it had been wiped clean. I could see the book's plot and had clarity on how to drive forward.
Now, I advocate the freewheeling free writing method, where you riff on the story or the material in your non-fiction book. This is a good way to write past your inner critic and to just get your ideas down on paper.
But it can also lead to a mess that has you questioning your sanity.
Even outlining can make your material seem unwieldy and chaotic. You start writing about one thing and then realize you could also add this, and that and the other thing. Soon your book is a multi-tentacled monster that you have no control over.
How to sort through the chaos
First, it helps to know that at some point with every project your material will be a mess. Messiness is part of the creative process, not a sign that you're inept and hopeless.
Organizing your work is essential. You'll know what's right for you when you find it. Here are some practices to try. These apply to both non-fiction (how-to, memoir) and fiction (novels or short story collections).
Break into pieces
If you're writing on the computer, consider a series of documents (individual chapters or sections) instead of one long document. It can be very difficult to scroll through a whole book in one document while writing and editing.
When I look at the first draft of my novel from 1999, I see a handful of documents. I was hacking away at scenes as I built my way to a cohesive narrative.
See it
Tactile, visual approaches can help sort material. Seeing your work in form can help:
Scenes or concepts on index cards
Story outlined in a linear timeline
Mindmap of content or characters
There are many other ways to see your material. Check out this article about using index cards to manage your book's material.
Stay calm
Here's the scoop: your book will change and morph and grow. It will end up different than what you thought it would look like. But if you know your original impulse for the book and are aligned with your ultimate purpose for the book, you'll sort it out.
Be sure to check out an earlier article about how to structure your book for more tips on sorting out your material.
What questions do you have about how to manage the mess that is a manuscript in process? What helps you sort out the mess of a draft?
