How I Write Quickly
It’s been 13 days since I set my 500-words-a-day goal and so far I’m averaging 538 words of the new novel daily. This column is partly supposed to be what I learn about writing from writing, and here’s what I’ve learned — I can write pretty quickly when I want to. (In fact, most days my quota has taken less than an hour to put on paper. Granted, it’s first draft, but then, so is this blog — which seems to be in more or less readable English most of the time.)
Here’s an idea I’ve found useful for writing quickly. As you know, I’m a planner-in- advance where writing is concerned. When I write nonfiction articles, I list the main topics, and beneath them, the main supporting points. I do this from the time I conceive the article idea right up till the moment I start writing the piece, jotting down everything I can think of that I want to include as it occurs to me.
I do this right in the electronic document I’m ultimately going to write the article in, moving it down about 5 or 6 blank lines below my written text when I finally begin the writing. I come up with an introduction (which many writers, including me, will tell you can be the hardest part!) and then start segueing into my topics and points. When I’ve covered one, I delete it from the list and the next one is right there waiting, and usually the combination of it and its predecessor suggest the transition between the two. When I run out, I’m done, and I’ve usually managed not to forget any of the points I originally wanted to make. (I’ve done this for most of my more than 120 articles, all of which got published.)
Two things are key here — first, examining the list before I start writing and establishing some kind of logical order to it — transitions are much easier when A leads to B and so forth. Second, I need to have listed my point thoroughly enough that I don’t wonder what I meant by it when I look at it later. Points can be a simple as “quote from so and so about conference sales” or as specific as “mention that many HR executives firmly believe in the old adage about criticizing privately and praising publicly” — as long as, when I read it, I remember exactly what point I wanted to make.
I did the same thing with the first novel and now the second. I work from chapter outlines. (I have a software package I use for novel and play development that helps foster these.) They’re generally specific enough to include all the characters who will appear in that chapter, what they’re going to do, what they’re going to feel, what thematic point I’m trying to support, and what will be set up for the next chapter by the action in this one. Sometimes they include specific actions — “so and so sells a house.” Sometimes they’re much less specific: “think of something that will show that so and so is afraid of X other character, but makes the reader think the fear will prove groundless.”
When I start on a new chapter, I cut and paste the chapter outline into my Word document, re-read the last couple of pages I wrote to get a feel for how the new chapter should begin, and start. I delete the ideas from the notes sections as I write them, and when they’re gone, I’ve made the point/set the scene/established the action this chapter needed. I’ve avoided going off on tangents (although I sometimes jot down something on a post-it note to include later or elsewhere). I’ve kept my story structure solid by having an action line, an emotional line, and a thematic line firmly in front of me (and therefore in mind) as I’ve written. Best of all, I know what comes next — crucial to avoid block, for me anyway.
This has proven freeing, and rather than squashing creativity, has actually helped spark it, as I’ve pointed out elsewhere. Usually the surprising revelations come in the area of characterization. (I discovered one of my characters’ peculiar method for keeping people from trespassing in her yard while following an outline - it just hit me.) I don’t have to worry about keeping the three big balls in the air because I’m looking at them on the screen in front of me. So my characters can come out and show me new aspects of themselves, which they quite often do.
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