Organizing, i.e. Getting Ready to Write

These few paragraphs are the beginning section of an article in The New York Times by David Brooks, a regular columnist.  It was interesting to me to read how two authors prepare to write something.  

What is your system for organizing your thoughts prior to actually writing?


December 30, 2013
The Sidney Awards, Part 2
By DAVID BROOKS

I tell college students that by the time they sit down at the keyboard to write their essays, they should be at least 80 percent done. That’s because “writing” is mostly gathering and structuring ideas.

For what it’s worth, I structure geographically. I organize my notes into different piles on the rug in my living room. Each pile represents a different paragraph in my column. The piles can stretch on for 10 feet to 16 feet, even for a mere 806-word newspaper piece. When “writing,” I just pick up a pile, synthesize the notes into a paragraph, set them aside and move on to the next pile. If the piece isn’t working, I don’t try to repair; I start from scratch with the same topic but an entirely new structure.

The longtime New Yorker writer John McPhee wonderfully described his process in an essay just called “Structure.” For one long article, McPhee organized his notecards on a 32-square-foot piece of plywood. He also describes the common tension between chronology and theme (my advice: go with chronology). His structures are brilliant, but they far too complex for most of us. The key thing is he lets you see how a really fine writer thinks about the core problem of writing, which takes place before the actual writing.

Here's the link to the entire article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/31/opinion/brooks-the-sidney-awards-part-2.html?ref=todayspaper

I have nothing but admiration for people who are as organized as these are. That's not how I work, however.

There's not a whole lot of "organization" ahead of time. Maybe I'll do some research. One story I'm working on, then resting, then working on, involves a character with advanced alcoholism. (No, it's not Curry or Heyes!) First, I wanted to know, what are the effects of chronic alcoholism on the body? How long before these physical changes occur? Are they irreversible? What does a chronic alcoholic look like and act like? What kind of treatment was available in the late 19th century? What were the attitudes towards alcoholics? I did a lot of web surfing. I watched a couple documentaries on YouTube about the effects of alcoholism, and saw how some alcoholics looked. I looked at so much material about alcoholism and treatment that ads for rehab facilities started showing up on my home page!   

I watched a documentary just last week that's going to make a change in a couple scenes. The process is ongoing.

A lot of times, though, my advance preparation consists of making sure the cat has food and water and that I've got a cup of hot tea by my side.

Most of the stories I write start with an image. For example, the current story I'm working on, "In Winter," began with a picture I saw of Ben Murphy as he is today. The image that came to mind was, an elderly Jed Curry waking up on a snowy night. That's all. Armed with only that image, I went to the computer and started typing that scene. Suddenly, two little girls showed up. I just let them talk. And so, a story was born.

Right now, I'm thinking about the challenge for this month, "Giving Up." Images are coming up. The Governor gives up on Heyes and Curry. Lom goes to the governor to tell him that Heyes and Curry are giving up. A waitress is super-busy at the lunch rush and it's too much for her and she says "I give up. I just give up." Where that story might go, I have no clue. As I write this paragraph, here and now, the waitress has more resonance than the other two ideas. But I may not go with that. Heck, it's only the 2nd. Check the challenge story section later this month to see if it happened that way!

My mother used to say, when she had a problem to solve, she sat back, let it percolate a bit, and let the answer show up. That's kind of how I get started write a story. Instead of an idea, though, it's an image.

Dang, that'd be a full-time job to do it the way those writer folks do it!  Then again, it IS their full-time job, most of the time.

Me?  I sit back, usually on the bus, and think of the challenge or that little bunny that hopped and ponder different scenarios of it.  One idea will take hold and grow into a story.  I write my best if I make an outline of the whole story - I don't have to stick to it, but it helps when I'm in a pinch.  I've been known to write a story and not have a way to get the boys out of a predicament.  Visualizing the different scenes, whether on the bus or before I fall asleep at night, and then writing them works best.

It is amazing how one idea morphs into a direction you never imagined, like RosieAnnie's two little girls, becomes a story!