Lesson 2: What belongs?

    ​Yesterday, you defined the reactor of your book or chapter.
    Today, you will use this reactor to create your first selection structure. For this book, the selection structure will help you understand what belongs, where the material may gather, what needs to remain outside, and what kind of choreography is beginning to appear.
    Yesterday, the question was: What connects the material I did not know was connected?
    Today, the question is: What belongs to this reactor, and through which structure?

    From reactor to structure
    The reactor is not only a word. It is a force that can begin to organize decisions. It can help you choose what stays, what leaves, what repeats, what interrupts, what opens, what closes, what creates a transition, and what remains as residue.
    A book is a composition.
    In Module 1, we worked with movement as writing. We asked where a text goes. We worked with fragments that do not need to become whole. We studied transitions: how one thing becomes another. We explored endings: disappearance, return, interruption, residue.
    Today, you bring these questions to the book.
    A text can be an entrance.
    A fragment can be a detour.
    A note can become a transition.
    A failed text can become a threshold.
    A repeated sentence can become a return.
    A very small fragment can become the residue of the whole book.
    Selection is not only choosing the strongest texts.
    Selection is understanding what each material does.​

    Part 1 — Return to the reactor

    Write your reactor at the top of the page.
    Then read your reactor statement from yesterday again.

    Part 2 — Create your selection groups

    Now create 4–6 groups around your reactor. These groups will function as your selection criteria. They are not universal categories. They come from your reactor and from the way your material wants to organize itself.
    We call it "group", but we could also call it:
    • stations
    • thresholds
    • sections
    • states
    • paths
    • or another word that fits your book

    Give each group a working name. A group title can be:
    • an image around the reactor
    • a gesture
    • an object
    • a movement
    • an association
    • an interpretation
    • a relation
    • a way the reactor appears in the material

    For example, a book where the reactor is resistance could create groups such as:
    • blocked
    • pushing
    • silent
    • breaking
    • outside for now

    A book where the reactor is chaos could create groups such as:
    • overflow
    • collision
    • hidden order
    • interruption
    • material to leave outside

    A book where the reactor is dead ends could create groups such as:
    • false beginnings
    • closed doors
    • turning back
    • unreachable place
    • trace left behind

    These are only examples.
    Do not copy them unless they are useful for your material.
    Create the groups your own reactor needs.
    Then, under each group, write one short sentence:
    This group gathers…
    For example:
    This group gathers texts where the movement is blocked.
    This group gathers fragments that almost disappear.
    This group gathers material where chaos begins to organize itself.
    Keep it simple.

    Part 3 — Gather the material

    Now gather all the material from the module.
    This can include:
    texts, fragments, notes, titles, exercise responses, sentences, performance texts, voice materials, maps, drawings, photos, sketches, process notes, objects, images, unfinished pieces, failed attempts, sentences you still remember, material that feels alive but unclear...
    Create a simple inventory.
    Write the title or first words of each possible material.
    For example:
    1. Text from Day 1 — unfinished
    2. Forest notes
    3. Voice score
    4. Fragment beginning with “I remember…”
    5. Map drawing
    6. Performance text
    7. Sentence from feedback
    8. Short note after rehearsal
    9. Object description
    10. Text I don’t like but cannot forget

    Part 4 — Fill the groups

    Now place your inventory next to the groups you created.
    Take each text, fragment, note, or material and ask:
    Where does this belong?
    Which group does it respond to?
    Which group does it complicate?
    Which group does it strengthen?
    Which group does it disturb?
    Does it belong to more than one group?
    Does it create a new group you did not expect?
    Does it need to stay outside for now?

    Fill the groups with your material. A text can appear in more than one group. That is fine for now. A group can remain almost empty. That is also information. Some material may not belong anywhere. Do not force it inside. The structure is not here to save everything. It is here to help you see what belongs.

    Part 5 — Select inside the groups

    Now use the groups you created. These groups are not only sorting categories. They are the first dramaturgical structure of your book or chapter. They show how your material wants to organize itself.
    For each group, choose what stays.
    Do not try to keep everything.
    Inside each group, make choices.
    Some groups may need many materials.
    Some groups may need only one.
    Some groups may stay almost empty.
    Some groups may disappear.
    That is also a decision.
    At the end, you should have:
    • your own groups
    • the materials selected inside each group
    • the materials removed from each group
    • the groups you decide to keep
    • the groups you decide to remove or merge
    This is your first selection.

    Part 6 — Selection note

    Write 5–7 lines beginning with:
    Do not justify everything.
    Just explain the decision.
    What did the reactor help you see?
    Which groups feel necessary?
    What did you keep?
    What did you leave outside?
    What kind of book or chapter is starting to appear?