In this blog I’ll show you a technique to get the first draft of your novel written as quickly as possible, and how to make the most efficient use of your writing time.
Common writing problems
You’re in despair because you’re totally out of ideas for your novel.
You can’t hit on any ideas for a plot, characters, setting or plot that you actually like, and it feels like you’re totally blocked.
You’ve started something that seems promising, only for it to lead nowhere because you’ve got no ideas for how it can be finished. So you throw it away and become more and more frustrated. Maybe take up bowling instead…
While we are postponing, life speeds by.
– Lucius Annaeus Seneca
You’ve managed to start your writing project, only to find that it’s going along at an unbearably slow pace.
You’re editing it as you go along, as the writing is disgusting and sloppy and needs fixing up. It’s really eating into your time.
You fit in writing when you can, but it’s so hard to find the time! Life is so busy…
The brain dump
In previous blogs I’ve mentioned the brain dump, and how it can benefit your writing.
The brain dump can really help you when you’re suffering from general writer’s block, but it can also help you quickly generate ideas for effective plot, setting, and characters.
And it can be used to write the first draft of your novel.
What’s the brain dump?
It’s basically where you set a timer for five, ten, or fifteen minutes and type (or write) as fast as you physically can whilst focusing on the subject of your choice, with no pausing or back-editing.
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It’s effective because it bypasses the conscious mind and accesses the subconscious, where all the creativity and ideas lie.
Keep in mind
Just remember, in the baby stages of constructing a story, keep the following important points in mind.
Basically, a great story needs 2 things:
(1) Conflict; and
(2) Stakes.
Without conflict, you have no story, as everything is going just fine. There’s nothing for the characters to strive for, as nothing gets in the way of what anyone wants.
Bor-ring!
Without stakes, nobody loses anything if they don’t get what they want. Nothing is that big of a deal.
Double bor-ring!
Always include conflict and stakes if you want your story to be interesting. What does your character stand to lose if they don’t get what they want? The girl? Their dream job? Their very existence?
Another important point to remember is that you’ll also need to create REAL characters with both good points and bad for your story (not convenient cardboard cut-outs), so you’ll need to take some time after doing your draft to do some research on them.
The three-act structure
If you’re interested in adhering to a formal structure, try the ‘three-act’ – a popular structure for novelists.
On a basic level, there are 3 acts:
Act 1. Sets the stage for the story. Who is your protagonist, and what sort of life do they lead? What are his/her goals, and the obstacles to achieving those goals? Here there is an inciting incident (something happens and the character deals with it) which kicks the story into motion.
Act 2. The stakes for the character are raised and the conflict escalates.
Act 3. The story comes to a resolution – either the goal is achieved OR the protagonist has failed OR the story ends on a cliffhanger, where things could go either way.
Brain-dump your plot
With those important points out of the way, let’s get back to the subject of brain-dumping. Use this method every day to get an outline for your novel:
Set a timer for fifteen minutes and type continuously, as fast as you can.
Focus on the plot of your novel and write down every single idea that comes into your head. Don’t worry about the quality of your ideas or the quality of your writing and don’t pause or back-edit.
When you’ve finished your brain-dumping session, you’ll find yourself with a page or more of writing containing ideas to use or discard.
Go over your writing and cut and paste the ideas you can use for your plot into a separate Word document and discard the rest.
Organise your ideas in your Word document so that they make sense.
Keep going with sessions every day (fifteen minutes), brain dumping and cutting and pasting and organising your ideas until you’ve got a rough outline for your novel (a rough outline is fine).
When you’ve reached the stage where you’ve got a one or two-page plot for your novel written down, start working on the first draft.
Brain dump scenes mentioned in your plot
You already have a brief outline of various scenes from the plot; now armed with that information, it’s time to brain-dump those scenes, so get typing!
Keep going like this, brain dumping and typing scene after scene, till you reach the end of the first draft.
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In true brain-dump style, type the first draft continuously, without any pausing or back-editing.
The key is: don’t worry.
Don’t worry about going back over your work to tidy it up. Keep moving forward, and keep the momentum going. Don’t stop till that first draft is finished.
Something needs fixing, changing, or more research? Hit a plot hole? Make a note in red of the problem, and what needs to be done. You can always go back after the first draft is done and work on it later.
You must train yourself to be okay with bad writing when you’re in the drafting stage, for the whole purpose of the draft is to organise your thoughts and get a structure going. Resist the urge to criticize yourself and call yourself a bad writer, as your work will only improve with subsequent drafts, and the only one who has to see your work is you.
After you’ve completed your drafts, you will then have to research things like character profiles, character motivations, and setting.
Set yourself a word count goal
Set yourself a word count goal for every writing session, and stick to that goal. What can you realistically and comfortably manage for your writing session? Five hundred words a day? A thousand? You’ll find that even five hundred words, when done every day, will see you making real progress. A word count goal also gives you a better idea of when you can roughly expect to finish your novel.
Embrace voice dictation
Voice dictation is amazingly fast, as you can speak so much faster than you can type! Every writer should try it, as you can get a lot of work done in a short amount of time. How do you activate voice dictation once you’re in your Word document? Simply press the Windows icon on your keyboard + H.
Stick to a schedule and form a writing habit
Work out your writing days, whether every day or a few times a week. Schedule a time in your day when you can write and try to stick to it – whether it’s early in the morning, late at night, or some other time.
Do this consistently and before you know it you’ll form a writing habit, and your writing routine will become easier to adhere to.
Eliminate distractions. If turning off the music, your phone or the T.V. helps you concentrate better, do it.
Set a deadline to get the first draft done in three months (or less), so you’ve got something to aim for.
How many drafts does it take to finish a novel? The average is between three to six. It’s a good idea to save 2 copies of each draft done – one for your records (to keep on hand if you need to refer back to it) and one for altering, adding, and playing around with, to turn into the next draft.
And that’s how it’s done!
In three months or less, you’ll have the first draft of your novel completed, and what an achievement that is!
The trick is to be consistent – you’ll hardly make any progress without consistency.
And once you’ve completed your novel, know that you’ve done you’re very best.
You’ve shown you’re writing to various people and received valuable feedback from their opinions.
You’ve got your novel professionally edited AND formatted and you’ve got a brilliant front cover, and you’re now working on the marketing.
It’s post-novel time now – this is the time when you need to train yourself to let go, to resist the urge to make changes to your book because you think it’s not ‘good enough’.
It’s the time to remember to let go of the idea of perfection, as it’s like chasing the sunset – you’ll never get there!
Embrace imperfection with your first draft, keep plowing ahead, and happy writing!
P.S. Are you the type of person that likes a challenge? NaNoWriMo is an organisation that issues a challenge every year: to write 50,000 words of a novel for November. They also have free writing resources, including a course where you can prep for the challenge.