The Barn

Thompson drafted The Barn fast and long, then cut hard. The first draft ran 280,000 words, and he cut 173,000 of them to leave a book of about 107,000.

He writes fast to get down whatever is currently on fire, then edits slowly. He has tried to slow down and says it does not suit him. "I also write really fast and then edit slow."

How I Write▶ 20:35

A loose outline cost him a draft full of non-essential material. He outlined The Barn only broadly and felt his way section by section, writing everything because he did not know what was load-bearing. He calls the 280,000-word draft a rookie inefficiency he does not want to repeat.

His next book has six arcs that seem unrelated, so he plans to storyboard far more, with note cards pinned on his office wall for each book. His editor Scott Moyers told him a book cannot break the spell the way a magazine piece can: "you can't depressurize the cabin."

How I Write▶ 31:00

He wrote 1,000 words every day, even on vacation. While writing The Barn he kept to 1,000 words a day wherever he was, in the mountains or at the beach. He cut much of it, but the daily rhythm mattered.

He did it partly so his kids could see him get up and do the work, and says there is no mystery beyond that. He also says he could not have written the book five years earlier and that it made his 300 magazine stories feel like practice for facing the Mississippi Delta.

How I Write▶ 11:06