Lost in DissertationTranslation

I am entering problems with writing. I think like I paint and therefore layer meanings upon meanings that obsure the text. In hoping to design an arts-based dissertation, I have found that the "oeanic" way of mapping information can not be applied to the Intro, lit review, the methods chapter.. these all need to have a strong linear format. This past year I have tried to complete this work using a narrative format. That did not work at all because I was also not completely clear on the theories upon which I am was trying to buil a philosphical case for an emancipatory arts-based project. So, in many ways I need to go back and do more scholarly research to support my ideas.. This process of research, of examining ways of knowing.. conforming to structures of other's ways of knowing, and synthesizing these views into something new new.. has lost me in translation.