known in advance, and allow you to weigh, test and sift the
varying levels of commitment you have to different proposi-
tions. Someone quoted the maxim, ‘Never begin a sentence
until you know how to end it’ to the novelist E. M. Forster. He
replied: ‘How can I know what I think till I see what I say?’^7
A second essential philosophical change of view with this
approach is to recognize that there is no ‘one best way’ of
saying something. There is no Platonic perfect form sitting out
there waiting to be searchlit by a peculiarly perceptive advance
plan, or, once identified, capable of being written up intact by
a more self-consistent or more talented author. Instead all that
you can say is constructed, created, not found or discovered
ready-made. Difficulties arise because very often we confront
authoring dilemmas, choice points in the creative process where
two or more options lead further on but you can only maximize
one of your valued goals or purposes at the expense of another.
There may be no ‘right’ choice in such dilemma situations.
There often is no common currency in which to measure the
different kinds of costs attaching to each of the options leading
forward. So you can only make conditional choices to follow
one route rather than another and to see what happens. But
later on it will be helpful to recall those prior decision points in
re-evaluating what you have done. Perhaps an alternative
choice might be better after all.
Going from a poor version of your ideas to a radically
improved and viable text takes time, distance, alternative
perspectives and a concerted effort at remodelling. Writing is an
act of commitment. So no one can constructively renounce text
that they have just produced – that is, see what is wrong with
it or what might be changed to remedy defects. With a
newborn text you can only renew and reiterate your commit-
ment (perhaps tinkering around with perfectionist embellish-
ments) or reject it non-constructively (‘It’s all rubbish – I’m
wasting my time!’). You need at least some days to pass, other
things and other thoughts to intervene, and other people to
read what you have written in order to begin to see things
differently. And when you start to revise and replan it can be
helpful to have built that stage into your thinking and your
timetable in advance, and to have some appropriate expecta-
tions about it.
DEVELOPING YOUR TEXT◆ 137