Why the Best Drafts Start with Uncertainty

If you’ve been working on a book chapter, journal article, or another major writing project, you may know the feeling: you’re deep into the draft, pages are piling up, but you can’t quite see where it’s going. You have good ideas, but they feel scattered. The argument isn’t fully formed. Confidence is slowly fading, and you’re starting to feel stuck.

This is the uncertainty phase. It’s stressful and frustrating, yes—but it’s also one of the most fertile phases of the writing process.

Why Uncertainty Is Your Friend (Even When It Doesn’t Feel Like It)

Uncertainty plays a key role in creativity, innovation, and new knowledge. John Keats famously called it “negative capability”—the ability to be comfortable with mysteries, doubts, and ambiguities without rushing to premature conclusions.

When we’re stressed, fatigued, or pressed for time, we tend to resist uncertainty. We grab on to the first plausible interpretation or argument just to feel anchored. But that impulse can rob us of our best insights.

And yet, in the right conditions, people seek out ambiguity: puzzles, detective stories, travel, art. We willingly linger in not knowing because we trust the payoff is worth it. If you can tap into that same feeling while writing, not only does the process become more enjoyable; you also get better results. Resisting the urge to lock down your thesis too early, you leave yourself open to discovering more complex and compelling connections.

Achieving Coherence and Complexity

The best nonfiction, whether academic or trade, doesn’t just report what the writer already knew. It captures the process of thinking, the unfolding of an idea in real time.

Working productively with uncertainty in this way requires a process that both keeps you open to new insights and moves you toward a clear, engaging final draft. That means slowing down the rush to conclusions, sitting with evidence that doesn’t quite fit your initial interpretation and letting it reshape your thinking.

Such an approach doesn’t produce a meandering or indecisive piece. On the contrary, it produces writing that feels alive, dynamic, and convincing because the reader can see the writer’s mind at work.

How to Navigate and Use Uncertainty

If you’re in the uncertainty stage now—unsure where your work is headed but unwilling to settle for a superficial conclusion—it can be unnerving. Sometimes we can just wait for inspiration strike and ideas to click. But when you’re stressed or tired, I’ve found that having concrete steps to follow, a guide for how to work with uncertainty instead of against it, can keep spirits up and momentum going through what is often the most challenging stage of writing.

My free guide, 7 Steps to Your Breakthrough Draft, walks you through a simple process for staying open to evolving your main argument while still working toward a polished, cohesive piece. It’s designed to help you hold onto the best parts of your uncertainty, channel them into discovery, and come out with a manuscript that’s stronger, more nuanced, and more compelling than you imagined at the start.