A complex story should not be challenging to the reader, however challenging it is for the writer. Careful work in organization will help readers make sense of stories that deal with cumbersome economic or technical issues, or with soap-opera tales that present multiple characters and confusing turns. These techniques will help keep the complex story clear.

Write as you report.
Many writers see their work as a linear task: First you gather the facts, then you write. It's always a good idea to start writing as you gather information, but it's essential when you're writing a complex story that may take weeks or months. Sure, you may not get your lede until late in the process. But you can write passages, telling important parts of the story while they are fresh and clear in your mind. As you gather information on a complex story, you can get confused yourself, and writing as you go improves your clarity. At some point, the final story will start taking shape in your mind. Make sure it takes shape on the screen, or you will forget some of the ideas that will give it clarity and perspective. As you go along, the writing will help focus your reporting work by showing you what you still need and where you have enough.

"Outline" your notes.
Some writers use outlines religiously; others can't be bothered with them. Whether you write a formal outline or not, it's helpful in a complex story to organize your notes in a loose outline. Go through your notes, documents and other materials and highlight information and quotes that are important, labeling them by source or topic. Let's say you are writing a story about the difficulty of prosecuting rape. You might label information from police with a "C" for cops, from prosecutors with a "P," from defense attorneys with a "D," victims with a "V" and so on. Or you might label by topic: material relating to evidence gets an "E," juries get a "J" and so on. Some material may relate to a couple topics, so you would note the relationship with "E-J." Whether or not you follow the outline closely in your story, the mental exercise of evaluating your notes will help organize the story.

Write without your notes.
Now that you've organized your notes, set them aside. If you've done your research well, and if you've been thinking about the story, you have most of the story in your head. You know what the most important points are. You remember the embarrassing contradictions, the clever quotes, the damning evidence. So tell the story, without the distractions of that mess of notebooks and faxes and photocopies. You won't remember a quote exactly, but quote it as you remember (with a note to get the exact quote later from your notebook). You may not remember the precise number, so put in $XXX,XXX, and fill it in later. Especially if you've outlined your notes effectively, you will remember what's most important and most interesting. And you'll write better without the interruptions of flipping through notebooks and digging through transcripts. Of course, when you're done, you need to return to your notebooks. You may have left out something important. But if you forgot about it, ask yourself whether it really is important. You will want to check and double check every fact and quote and name you wrote from memory. This technique improves the quality and organization of your writing. But if you sacrifice accuracy, you haven't made an acceptable trade.

Don't forget the basics.
Organizing a story can send you back to the very basics of journalism. Ask yourself which of the 5 W's and How is most important or most interesting in this story. That probably should be the lede. In fact, the first few words of your lede should probably point the reader toward the answer to that question. It's also helpful to think in terms of story elements (setting, plot, character, conflict). Which of these is the most important or most interesting? You might organize your notes or your outline along the lines of these questions or story elements.

Be demanding.
With each quote or fact, ask if it's unique. Ask if it advances the story. Ask if it repeats something you've already said. Can it be said better in a paraphrase? Be demanding of your quotes. Use them as dialogue or to convey powerful images, opinions or emotions. If they don't, see if you can give the same information more directly in your own words.

Reduce attribution.
Attribution is necessary, but it complicates. If the story itself is complex, consider ways to reduce or consolidate attribution. If you're telling a narrative that's based on several sources, with general agreement, consider writing in an authoritative voice with little or no attribution in the text. You might want to use an accompanying box that cites all the sources interviewed, but you don't bog the narrative down with lots of he-saids. That won't work in some stories, particularly if sources disagree. Consider blanket attribution for each side, such as "Doctors say HMO's tie their hands several ways:" followed by a listing of the points, with no further attribution. Then you give the HMO bureaucrats their say with similar blanket attribution.

Think of the reader.
When you write and rewrite, ask yourself "reader" questions. Why should I care about this? How is this going to affect me? Make sure you're answering the reader's questions. If not, you need to answer them, or consider removing the sections that raise the questions, or explaining why they can't be answered.

Identify and avoid detours.
Invariably, a complex story will involve detours. You will spend an inordinate amount of time checking out a tip or trying to answer a question. As the reporter, you may need to follow these detours. But as the writer, you don't want to take the reader on any detours. Make your story the straightest, smoothest possible road between the beginning and the end. Don't include any turns that aren't part of the route itself. Don't just empty your notebook. Just because you collected a fact doesn't mean you have to share it with your readers. Use the facts that help tell the story, and only those facts. Perhaps you knocked yourself out to find a fact that turned out to be unimportant. Too bad. Leave it out. Maybe your effort deceived you into thinking the reader needs to know how you found the fact. Probably not. Just the facts, please. Sometimes you come across a funny or intriguing anecdote that doesn't really relate to the main story, but you just fall in love with it. Maybe it's worth a sidebar. Or maybe you just have to be satisfied with telling it to an editor or colleague. If it's a detour, keep it out of your story.

Read your story aloud.
Again, this is a practice that is wise on any story but essential on a complex one. Complicated issues seduce writers into long, cumbersome sentences that you will spot quickly as you read aloud. If you start to feel like you're droning on, you probably are. Take a hard look at that section and see whether you can tighten it, make it more lively or alter the pace. You can't change the fact that your story is complex. Your mission is not to obscure or ignore the economical or technical facts that sometimes can baffle. And if you're telling a convoluted tale of conflict and intrigue, you can't leave out twists and turns that are the heart of the story. You need to be sure it's only the facts, not your writing, that are complex. Listen to the tone and pace as you read it aloud. If it's inviting, the reader will follow the tale with interest and relate it later to family and co-workers.

Preview the story with a trusted reader.
Once you understand the complicated story well enough to tell it, you understand it too well to judge how well you've told it. You need help. Take the story to a friend with whom you haven't discussed it. Try to choose someone who reflects the level of interest of your potential readers. Choose someone who will give you an honest reaction. Don't just ask the reader whether she liked it. Ask specific questions that will show how well she understood it. Ask, "How do the farm chemicals reach the ground water?" or "What happens when the hazardous waste is burned along with raw materials to make cement?" If the reader doesn't understand important points, you need to make them clear.

Take a break.
If your deadline allows, set the story aside for a while after you think you're done. Come back with a fresh view and you may be embarrassed at the cumbersome passages that seemed clear when your mind was cluttered. And you'll be glad you fixed or eliminated them before your story was published.