Something I keep coming back to. When a scene is not working, the usual advice is to cut it. For years I deleted those scenes and lost them completely. Now I keep the alternate sitting next to the main version instead of deleting it, so I can see both at once and feel which one actually serves the story. Half the time the cut version has one line or one beat the keeper needs, and I only notice because they are side by side. Curious how the writers here handle the versions you do not pick. Do you delete them, keep a graveyard file, or something else? This is actually the idea behind a free Mac app I built called Beat, where a beat can split into alternate versions side by side so you never lose the take you did not pick. It is at beatforfree.com if you want a look, free and no account.

I have always written out of order. I usually know the last scene before I know the first, and I tend to carry two or three versions of the same moment in my head at once. For years that made me feel like I was doing it wrong, because outlines are these neat straight lines and my head is just not a straight line. What finally helped was to stop forcing the line and let the story be a map instead. I lay every beat out where I can actually see it, let scenes branch into alternate versions so I do not lose the one I did not pick, and I keep the references and the characters and the places right next to the words. Seeing the whole thing at once is the only way my brain holds a story. I ended up building a little free thing for myself to do this, and I give it away, but honestly the tool matters less than the permission. If you also think in pictures and out of order, you are not doing it wrong. Curious how the rest of you hold a whole story in your head. Do you outline in a clean line, or is yours a beautiful mess like mine?

I just got my manuscript review from a developmental eiditor and he told me that I need to fix the structure. I pretty much sent him an eight chapter manuscript I got back a 23 chapter outline. Also I have chapter one done and I am currently working on chapter 2. My question what is the best way to fix your structure? Cause right now I am having to write some of chapter 2. So I am very overwhelmed.