A while ago one of the members recommended a book here by a writer who was describing his nonfiction writing process. (It wasn't Robert Caro.)

I accidentally deleted my link it and now I'm unable to find it. Would anyone remember what this was?

There may have been an Amazon link to it. I have searched the forum for various keywords but couldn't find it.

And wasn't David Hewson either.

shot in the dark:

John McPhee - _Draft No. 4_

https://www.amazon.com/Draft-No-4-Writing-Process/dp/0374142742

His book and his use of KEdit software were mentioned here:

https://www.outlinersoftware.com/topics/viewt/7783/20

Argonsnorts wrote:

shot in the dark:

John McPhee - _Draft No. 4_

https://www.amazon.com/Draft-No-4-Writing-Process/dp/0374142742

That's the one! Many thanks for this :)

It's behind a soft paywall, but a key chapter of his book, in which he describes his process and his use of Kedit, was first published in the New Yorker:

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2013/01/14/structure

I wonder if anyone here has given any thought to his system, as he describes it.

Argonsnorts wrote:

It's behind a soft paywall, but a key chapter of his book, in which he
describes his process and his use of Kedit, was first published in the
New Yorker:

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2013/01/14/structure

Brilliant! I saved it. All 27 pages ;-)

Thank you again.

Yes, many thanks. I wasn't so much interested in K-edit, but more in McPhee's ideas about long-form structure itself. And in particular ideas about when the writer can step out of the framework provided by chronology (which, broadly speaking, is I think even harder* to do when writing a script for sound or moving pictures - because the audience can't easily refer back - than it is when writing for the printed or electronic page.)

*Hard, but not, of course, impossible - see, the "in media res" hooks of many TV thrillers, or, for an extreme example, the movie Memento.