✍️ The Advantages of Non-linear Writing

or, How to Turn Some Happy Little Clouds into a Full-blown Story

Promotional image from The English Patient, Tiger Moth Productions

I have a bone to pick with Sara Miller. When I start my new Substack (if I start my new Substack...), lovingly titled either “And Another Thing...” or “Get Off My Lawn!”, I’ll tell you all about it.

The short version, for this post, is that (a) she doesn’t like The English Patient (movie or book) and (b) she thinks that people who do like the movie are idiots. I guess, since it’s one of my favourite movies, I’m the ultimate idiot. Miller doubles down on her criticism 20 years later – and some of her reasons for disliking the movie make me wonder if she missed the point entirely.

Hey, if you don’t like phrases like, “The heart is an organ of fire”, that’s totally cool beans. A lot of people I admire and respect hated the movie. But to hold on to the notion that people who do like it are either lying or continue to be duped by a publicity machine two decades previous...

Get off my lawn, indeed.

I stumbled on Miller’s article because I had recently finished listening to the audiobook version of the book. (It’s brilliant, by the way – I read the novel when it first came out, but have a much better appreciation for it now.) I remembered hearing an interview way back when with Michael Ondaatje, the author of the book, and Anthony Minghella, the director of the movie, talking about translating the story from print to screen, and wanted to find it.

That led me down a delightful rabbit hole research jag. In an interview with Charlie Rose, the question about, essentially, where the idea for the book came from popped up fairly quickly. I think Ondaatje surprised Rose when he said that he started with nothing but a couple of wispy ideas about a plane crash and a nurse caring for a burn victim in an Italian villa.

“(The story) came to my head as I started to write it,” Ondaatje said.

Now there’s a pantser I can get behind!

Coincidentally, I had also stumbled across Dr. Kathleen Waller’s Substack,

The Matterhorn: truth in fiction

, not long before. She mentioned something about writing sketches, much like an artist might sketch a scene first before painting it. I dug deeper, and found this wonderful post about how she writes novels. I wouldn’t say Waller’s and Ondaatje’s writing approaches are exactly the same, but there’s definite overlap.

I also recognized my own non-linear approach reflected in their descriptions...

I’ve Looked at Clouds from Both Sides Now

I used to write fairly linearly. In my day job, for example, I’d start an article at the start and end the article at the end. Very Yellow-Brick-Road-ish. Rewrites would involve adding, subtracting, and rearranging, but the basic structure was there.

At some point, maybe 15 years ago, my approach evolved. Totally organically, I should add – I didn’t try to evolve it. Maybe I’d jot down a quote that I knew would come later in the article. Then, I started to write sections that revolved around that quote, and put them aside. Eventually, I got to the point where I would write the article in chunks here, there, and everywhere, and then pull them together at the end. Not all the time, but it became more common. I did that last week with an article I’m working on, writing four separate sections totally out of order. I have written so many articles that my subconscious brain has a good idea of where everything will end up falling into place. (I imagine you can find parallels in whatever vocation you’ve put your 10,000 hours into...)

It started happening in my fiction writing, too. As many of you know already, I’m a pantser. I make it up as I go along. For my first novel (completed, unpublished), I wrote linearly. At some point, I envisioned the end and wrote that. But otherwise, it was pretty much a straight line from beginning to end. Novel 2 strayed from that formula a little bit. Novel 3 was abandoned too early to tell, but Novel 4 definitely had some bouncing around.

Now this one, Novel 5, is literally all over the place. I’ve written the beginning. I’ve written something near the end (but maybe not the end?). I’ve written all these... scenes and vignettes that I hope capture moments in the middle. They are floating bits of word clouds, all in the same sky, but otherwise disconnected.

For Ondaatje, The English Patient began with images. “Those fragments of mosaics... The images build up very, very slowly, and those images meet up with other images.”

I suspect I don’t do it the same way he does, but I recognized myself instantly when I heard these words.

Dr. Kathleen Waller’s approach seems similar. “Essentially, I think of my novel writing process as an oil painting,” she wrote. “My non-linear approach would probably freak some people out, and perhaps it’s not the most efficient.”

It’s been my experience that when I tell others of my own non-linear approach, they don’t necessary get freaked out. I’m not sure what they get, to tell you the truth. I usually get somewhat blank stares, but I don’t know if that means they’re intrigued, in disbelief, in real belief I’m crazy, or are simply bored and have no further questions. I’m guessing it’s some combination of B, C, and especially D.

I’ve always said it’s not a technique I’d recommend to the beginning writer. I think that’s mostly because it happened, as I say, organically for me. Perhaps I had this subconscious belief that it has to happen that way. I was also hesitant of recommending non-traditional (i.e., non-linear) writing methods to anyone.

But, given that (a) we aren’t walking a tightrope here, (b) writing should be about experimentation, and (c) this non-linear approach seems to work for other writers too, I’m changing my tune on this one.

The Why and How of Non-linear Writing

The “How” is easy. The “Why” might take some convincing.

It’s well documented that part of the reason we can get stuck in our writing is that we don’t know what comes next. This gets lumped in with that mythical catch-all, Writer’s Block. It can be a real problem if we’re writing linearly. We literally cannot move forward until we work this problem out.

But what if we could write a different scene instead? Especially if it’s right there, in our heads, waiting to be written?

There are several advantages to this:

• We keep writing

• We get less stressed about the thing that isn’t coming to us

• We keep it fun because we have less stress and because we keep writing

• Sometimes, the thing that isn’t coming to us will come after we’ve written a different scene

Most people, I would think, imagine that the non-linear writer stitches together the disparate scenes at the end, like a quilt. But here’s where the magic happens. You may just find that the scenes stitch themselves together. For me, I already know roughly where this scene is in relation to that scene. For Kathleen, it’s a process of organizing and mapping her sketches. But, as she says, “As I place sketches into files, potential chapters also start to take shape.” For Ondaatje, the images meet up with other images.

As I say, the “How” is very easy: just start writing. If you have an idea for something that happens to your main characters somewheres down the road, write it. If you have an idea for a little insight by a minor character near the end, write it. If you know the ending, write it – especially if encapsulating that ending will help you write all the other scenes leading up to it.

Because here’s the thing. Sometimes solidifying those ideas in your head by putting them down on paper does help you write the scene that’s not working. Novels (for example) have to have a narrative logic, for sure. But if you’re stuck on, say, what implications this earlier scene might have on later scenes, writing the later scene first might provide some insights.

Will this approach work for you? I can’t tell you that for sure. As I say, until this moment, I wouldn’t have recommended it. But I’ve seen the clouds from both sides, and now I think it’s worth trying.

Key Takeaways: Non-linear writing can help you in many ways, especially if you get stuck in your writing. The internal story logic needs to be linear at the end, but you can work on the parts in any order you like. And another thing... Avoid calling people idiots in your writing. It’s not nice.

Over to You: What Have Been Your Adventures in Non-linear Writing?

Have you tried non-linear writing? Have you resisted it, when the urge hits? Why or why not? Let us know in the comments below! As I say, I was blown away when I heard about two other writers doing the same thing, and heard about them very close to each other. I’m curious who else out there has experimented with non-linear writing.

Today’s video is that interview with Ondaatje, Minghella, and Charlie Rose. Scroll down to view.

Until next time... keep writing with wild abandon!

~Graham

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email me if you get lost.