To Write:  From Piles, to Themes

K. Wordbird Bate  The Writer’s Coach

     So there you sit, forlornly plopped in front of an overly long trail of words, bunch of files or stack of papers. “Too much! How do I trim this down?” I know you are sitting there because all of us do. We start with the fabulous free-writing, journaling, research, or as one writer puts it his “vomit pile,” and now our boss, editor, dissertation council, publisher or inner left-brain organizer says (correctly) that this wordy, rambling, creative on-and-on is not what the reader wants. 

     We must switch from right brain creating, to left-brain linear organizing. It can feel like there I was, a train soaring through the mountains, past lakes and falls, commanding my way into all manner of spectacular terrain! Now I approach the city and flip to new tracks, slow down, stop at little stations, collect tickets, fill the seats, never mind the inevitable ticket punches by the Train Master. Details! What others want! Precision!

     Some of us are less enamored with this portion of the journey. 

     Yet, unless you are Hemingway (and you cannot be as that fellow has passed along), it is a near guarantee you use too many words.  You need to trim, and you need a skill for making-more-into-less. Once you get it, the process is fun.

     Here’s the first of three methods I use and teach, to move from the awkward, wayward and seriously exciting mishmash, to a first draft. It works with any writing, except poetry.

More-to-less Method One: Identify Themes

1. Big pile of rough draft papers or files:  First, skim and review. As you do, label each page or file with a main topic. Next, put similar topics together. Your overall themes begin to pattern. If one page covers more than one distinct topic, break it apart and move that text into the correct theme file or stack. Ignore small references, unless they are significant.

Now each page has a topic. Each page is in a group. Label each group with an umbrella theme.  Let’s say one pile has to do with elephant flower giving (yes, elephants pick flowers and hand them to their beloved). Another group is about elephant footprints. You have some pages on elephant ears. A little on Rhinoceros, and a long rant about how upset you are you never got to India.

From there, use your left-brain. Rhinoceros and travel rant does not fit, so out they go. Important: no matter how taken you are with your travel rant, out. It never works to choose based on emotional attachment to your writing.  Okay! You have themes of elephant footprints, ears, and flower giving. What is your goal? You can do so many things at this important point in the process. Are you writing a book, newsletter, essay, application, medical journal, letter, memoir, or dissertation?

     Often, we make a mistake, here. Be sure to narrow your theme enough. To write a newspaper piece, for instance, it is too much to talk about ears, footprints, and flower giving. Likewise, your theme of “flower giving” has too much content. Either break flower giving down into more topics (first date flowers, bad flower choices), and write on one of those. Or, choose a smaller topic. The shorter and faster you have to write, the more important it is to choose a narrow topic. So let’s go with elephant ears. You have “just a bit” on that. Perfect. Start your first draft.

     “But what about all that other writing?” you say. It’s wonderful! Keep it for your future. It now has a name, you can find it, and it is part of you. That rejected writing adds depth and credibility to your final piece, even if you never mention it directly. Moreover, the minute you need content on Rhinoceros, or elephant footprints, there it is.

Let Yourself Bloom,

© Kimberly Bate

photo by  Iannasearch