Notes to draft

Most people who cannot start writing are not short of material. They have a folder of fragments and no idea which one comes first, because they have not yet decided what the fragments add up to. This skill does that deciding: it finds the point the notes are circling, chooses an order that serves it, and writes the connective tissue (the "because", "but", and "which means") that notes leave out.

A first draft from notes should be honest about its notes. Where the material is thin, the draft says so in a bracket instead of covering the gap with confident invention. A visible hole is useful; a smooth paragraph of made-up support is a trap the writer may not notice until a reader does.

When to use it