Katie's Writing Notes

WHAT ARE NIGGLING DOUBTS?

I use “niggling doubt” (my term) to refer to that quiet whisper I occasionally hear that says something is really wrong with a piece of writing I’m working on, something fairly big.  It’s not that I don’t hear the little voice saying, “No, this is not right.  You need to take care of this problem.”  I just tend to ignore it because I know that if I actually confront the niggling doubt, I will be in for a lot more work, usually throwing away huge quantities of “finished” writing.

I’m not talking about the “Critic-on-Your-Shoulder” voice that edits every word written, especially during drafting.  That voice is distinctive, and I’ve learned to ignore it during drafting and pay attention during revision and editing.

And I’m not talking about those little issues that pop up all the time, such as, “Maybe you should add a definition to that word,” or “Think of a visual to illustrate that point.”

No, my niggling doubts are about larger issues of the writing, specifically, the ways in which the ideas are developed or organized.  In my case — and this has happened at least twice in my writing career — the niggling doubts concern major structural issues of a book I’m working on.  The doubt usually whispers that the material should be organized in a much better way.  And I ignore the whisper for as long as possible, until it is loud enough that I can no longer ignore it.

Luckily, when I realize the niggling doubt is right, I also am presented with a different, and much better, way of organizing the material.  I then stop my forward progress (usually I think I’m about finished with the book), go back, and completely revamp the organization of the materials.

I start by jotting down the vision of the new organization, then tackle a redo of the Table of Contents.  Once I’m happy with that, I implement the changes by moving the materials around.  If the reorganization is actually only moderately horrendous, I move chunks of text around in a new version of the existing text, Version 2 (or whatever version I’m on at the time).  If the reorganization is major, moving large and small chunks of text, I’ll actually create a new computer file, create a new version of the old file (with the “save as” command), and cut and paste chunks from the old version into the new file, according to the new Table of Contents.  When I have stuff left over, I evaluate whether it should remain in the book or not.  That’s why cutting is so much better than copying.

When that is done, I give myself a breather — I simmer the project — returning to read through the new version and starting revisions again, since references to previous information are out of sequence, along with other content that needs to be changed.  I continue forward until the book is done.  Usually, I have no more niggling doubts about the project.

A CASE HISTORY

I am currently working on Time Travel Workbook for Fiction Writers, which I thought was nearly done last week.  Then the volume of those niggling doubts increased enough that I had to pay attention.  And what do you know?  I had to completely reorganize the workbook, mainly to eliminate duplicated content and to bring related ideas together.

Let me start at the beginning:

Back in 1991, I published a small booklet called Fictional Devices: Time Travel Methods. It was an 8 to 10 page, single spaced, tightly packed (read: poorly designed) booklet, 5.5 x 8.5, saddle stitched, which I printed and mailed out to customers who responded to my personal classified ad.  That was pre-Internet, folks, and that’s all I could afford.  I sold a bunch of these through the bookstore at Romantic Times Magazine among other places, but eventually sales dried up, and the little booklet went out of print.  I put the booklet and my dreams of fame and fortune away and went on to other projects for writers.

In 2006 (15 years later), I decided to resurrect the little booklet and see if the material was still relevant for fiction writers.  It was, so I rewrote and greatly expanded the content, making it a book: Time Travel for Fiction Writers. I tried to sell it on e-Bay (on advice of some ‘guru’ who had no idea what he was talking about), sold zero copies, gave up, and put the book away.

On January 1, 2010, I decided to get serious about my writing and self-publishing, after 30 years of on and off effort but very little success or money.  I unparked my domain name of my publishing company, Quilliful Publications, (parked for more than two years) and started building my website, developing lists of materials I wanted to write and publish, and all the other activities necessary to start a business.  To my list of “Publications to Revise and Publish” I added my time travel book, to be written eventually.

In May 2010, I had just finished writing an editing workbook (I like writing instructional materials), and so workbooks were on the brain when I picked up the time travel stuff..  It was next on the list.  I reviewed the old copies and the computer files and saw that they could definitely be expanded, but I liked the organization: guidelines, questions to prompt ideas, and possibilities/ideas to use in story development.  With this organization, the guidelines and questions discussed the same topics, for the most part, so almost immediately those niggling doubts started whispering (“You already said that, but where?”).  Naturally, I ignored the whispers and decided I could make the materials much more useful to my readers if I added exercises and worksheets, thus making it a workbook.

So I started revising and adding and changing but kept the same organizational structure because that was the way it had always been organized, since that first version back 1991.

I was literally doing the final read-through of the manuscript, making sure the content was consistent and complete when those niggling doubts shouted in my ear, “STOP! YOU HAVE TO REORGANIZE THIS MESS.  AND THERE IS TOO MUCH DUPLICATION.”

My weak, pathetic reply was, “But I’m almost done” (suppressed sniffle).

So I took a deep breath, went back to the Table of Contents and started over again.

Once I had the new Table of Contents done, I realized my niggling doubts were right.  I love the new organization, and although the reorganization took an additional week or more to implement, the workbook is much better for the change.  I actually found topics that had no questions associated with them, so I added them, completing the manuscript.

Time Travel Workbook for Fiction Writers would have been okay — only just okay — if I had ignored the niggling doubts, but now, with the new reorganization, it is much better and less confusing.  I am happy I finally listened to my niggling doubts for this workbook.

ADVICE ABOUT DEALING WITH YOUR NIGGLING DOUBTS

Listen to those whispers and as soon as the complaints become associated with an action impulse, heed their call and take action.  Make those changes to your manuscript.

Let me explain: sometimes I get a headache.  It’s not horrible, just annoying.  The thought that I have a headache, however, doesn’t jump that chasm to the next point, that of action.  Eventually, when the headache passes annoying and into painful, then the thought is, “Get up and take some Tylenol.”  As I’m taking the Tylenol, I ask myself why I didn’t do this hours ago, but the impulse hadn’t moved from thought to action.

The same happens with these niggling doubts.  You usually hear the whispers but don’t take action because the “pain” is only annoying and not yet really painful.

Do so before you put in so much work that heeding the doubt means a huge effort to rectify the problem.

If you are working with a tight deadline, such as publisher’s contract due date, and you simply don’t have time to make the changes, you can decide not to change the manuscript.  But at least you have listened to the niggling doubts, and you know that if you had time, you could make it better.

Of course, if you are self-publishing, chances are you do have the time, so you should make those changes.

Remember, your goal is to make your book the best possible for your readers.  If making those changes will make the book better, than it is your duty to make those changes.

Originally published online at Wordpreneur.com