(Dis)Organizing a Draft, Part 1
I am now writing a drafty (very drafty) version of what I think will become Chapter 4 of an upper middle grade (possibly YA) nonfiction book. I intend to present the intersections of two large topics. I intend to go back quite a way in time.
I know I need to organize my research, keep track of pictures and sources, maintain a running reading list and lists of physical sources as well as links. I need to set things up so I don’t lose all that good stuff I’ve found by delving into rabbit-holes of history and science.
But how do I keep this draft from setting into the mental equivalent of poured concrete?
How do I keep my own vision accessible?
How do I avoid a first draft that teeters on the brink? I fear my words will sound as tentative and unsure as I feel.
How do I keep the windows open for discovery as I read, while staying true to the spark that sent all this bubbling up for me in the first place?
My solution is to tidy up but not too much. Melissa Stewart calls it chunking. I use Scrivener folders but any kind of real or computer folders will do. I toss in all the books I read, all the links, articles, and research papers I come across, all the images that seem to fit what I’m talking about. I keep it all loose at this stage, though. No alphabetized bibliogaphy, no grouping resources by chapter title or even subject. Nothing that might box in my thinking too soon. I need to stay nimble at this stage, so I can pivot in whatever direction each successive chapter leads me.
It’s a balancing act. I’m trying to avoid both total chaos and the strait-jacketed feel of premature organization. I’m drafting the text in chapters but letting my reading speak through and across and between these chapters. It’s gardening over architecture, definitely.
In the end, Chapter 4 became chapter 5. Writing it led me to realize what I hadn’t known about when I wrote my proposal for this book—how far to run along one train of thought and when and how to turn to the next. At least, for now.
As long as there is still room for surprise, it’s all working.
