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I'm writing the chapters of my story, and I wanted to know if I can skip a chapter that I don’t yet know the details of, and move on to other chapters that are already developed Let’s say I’m on chapter 4, but I haven’t developed chapter 6 yet, so I don’t know what’s going to happen in it — could I skip it and write the ones I already know?

Sometimes one chapter isn’t a direct consequence of the previous one, since it might be a subplot, or the subject of one chapter ends there and doesn’t continue into the next. And the following chapter might be a situation I haven’t developed yet.

(I know some people would say it’s my story and I can write whatever I want, but this is a technical question — not about desire or “creative freedom.”)

I have the prologue done, but I haven’t developed chapters 1 and 2 yet, even though I know a bit about what’s going to happen. So I wanted to focus on writing only the chapters I already know and have more developed.

Oh, and if anyone here is a gardener-type writer, feel free to share how you handle this too.

stories of the world
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5 Answers5

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I do this all the time, as it's not uncommon for me to come up with ideas for things that might not happen for dozens of chapters - might as well right them down ASAP while they're still fresh in my head, right? It also helps with getting around writers' block: even if I can't write the next chapter, I can at least write something, and by the time I've done that, I might have come up with an idea for the chapter I was stuck on.

The obvious issue is that, once you go back and write those earlier chapters, they may not join up completely with the later chapters. As you mentioned, though, this may not always be a problem depending on how the story is structured, and even if it is a problem, that's where the revision process comes in: you can just go back and adjust the chapters as necessary to ensure that the story flows properly from one chapter to the next.

F1Krazy
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Yes you can. It may require editing later for consistency.

This can be applied at higher levels as Richard Wagner wrote the entire Ring Cycle in reverse order!

Against a Dark Background by Iain M Banks uses this as a plot device. Alternating chapters move forwards and backwards in time!

Chriseyre2000
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There's no rule against it. It's up to you to organise your writing process and do what works for you.

However, speaking from personal experience, I wouldn't recommend it. Pretty much every work of fiction I ever set to write ended up unfinished if I started to write out of order. I'm not entirely sure of the mechanism (for one thing, it seems I need to write in order of the text, not necessarily in order of the events), but it just doesn't work for me.

Then again, you're not me. It might work for you just fine, and I guess there's no way to tell for sure other than to try.

Divizna
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If it's appropriate to answer a question with another question, I think you need to ask:

How would anyone know whether you'd written the chapters out of order?

If the result would be just the same, then why wouldn't it be OK?!

Or if not, then it would depend on the nature of the difference.  Would the story suffer?  Would it be better?  Or would it be different but just as good?  Some writers might find that freedom from the restriction of writing in order spurs their creativity; others might have trouble getting the parts to dovetail in both plot and style.  (Or both.)  But we can't tell which you are.

And maybe you can't either, yet!  So if you're having trouble writing in order, why not try skipping ahead and see how it works for you?

(And of course, even if you write the first draft entirely in order, you'll have to go back and proofread/edit/revise/rewrite anyway, so some of the process is bound to be out-of-order.)

gidds
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It can be helpful to jump around a bit, particularly in early development, to workshop scene ideas and for tone and character study. I do this until I start to feel a bit lost, then pivot to creating a 'beat map' or synopsis.

One thought, depending on what platform/method of writing you're using, is to go ahead and make a place-holding chapter with at least a line about what you imagine its purpose will be within the story structure. Then you can skip ahead with a sense of having marked your future work, even if it changes later.

Joyful writing.

Paul Miller
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