While the idea of an author sitting down and writing out a story, line by line, is nice, that’s rarely how writing works.

Writing is a messy and chaotic process. Sure, in my classes I teach the writing process, but that always comes with the caveat, “writing is a recursive process.” AKA: writing is messy.

Part of that is because writing is the intersection where thought and language crash together.

Chaos is the source of writing. Everything that will go into writing is mixed in that chaos, somewhere. And you don’t have to know what you’re going to write before you write it. 

[Proceed] without a concern for ‘thesis statements’ and all the claptrap that goes with the irrational maxim, ‘Don’t write until you know what you want to say!’ Knowing that chaos is the source is the condition of knowing how to use it .

Ann Berthoff, a big name in writing theory

How to write with the chaos

Once you accept that chaos is part of the writing process, you won’t feel so attacked when your writing is chaotic.

Let it be.

Accept the chaos, and keep working. It may feel more and more chaotic as you write, but then, right as you are ready to give up, your writing will coalesce, come together as a nonchaotic piece of writing that just clicks.