How to Write a Metric Fuckton Quickly

I've done National Novel Writing Month every November since 2007, when I was but a wee twelve year old who had to sneak onto the desktop after everyone else went to bed to get any real progress made on my first book. I've managed to hit the big 50k goal every year, sometimes doubling or tripling it.

Mostly I did that by writing a lot of words really, really fast.

Fortunately, that's easy to do. I'll let you in on my Super Secret Strategy. It only involves two steps, so that makes it plenty easy:

1. Plan what you're going to write.

This is self-explanatory. How are you supposed to rend a first draft out of your head if you don't know what the hell you're going to write? I usually plan at least the first third of my book out before I start writing and do the rest of my planning as I write and learn more about my characters.

But, in general, I never sit down to write without having planned it first.

2. Stagger your writing.

Everyone writes differently. Figure out what works best for you. I like to write in thirty minute bursts, punctuated by ten minutes of screw-around-on-reddit-time. Breaking up massive chunks of writing time has helped me write five or ten thousand words in a day with relative ease.

I feel like this Super Secret Strategy works for any stage of the writing process, even if you're revising. At the very least, it works for me.

Sorry there's not a longer bit today. I'm just worn out.

Monday will be less shitty.

Take care.