The Fastest Way to Write a Novel

By David B. Silva

The fastest way to write a novel produces a wonderful side-effect: better writing. This is difficult for many writers to grasp at first, particularly those writers who have a tendency to edit as they write. However, as you'll discover in this article, writing quickly benefits not only the quantity of your output, but also the quality.

Let's consider how you might commonly approach the blank page. You write the first sentence. It looks okay, so you write a second sentence. That one looks okay as well, so you write a third sentence, but this one doesn't look okay. In fact, it's a poorly written sentence that jumps off the page.

You slam on your writing brakes and read the sentence again. Everything comes to standstill now. You're no longer a writer, you've picked up your editor's hat and completely shifted out of your writing mode. You tweak this and move that until the sentence, at last, passes your editor's approval. Then you remove your editor's hat and return to writing again.

But now the writing is more difficult. You've moved out of your writing mode, into your editing mode, and getting back is suddenly more difficult than it was when you first began writing. It's a struggle.

Does this sound familiar at all?

I tend to blame the computer for this dilemma. It's so easy to make corrections on the computer that we've come to believe stopping and fixing things as we go is a natural part of the writing process. It'll only take a second, we tell ourselves. And in that lies the danger. That second of editing destroys your train of thought and your writing momentum. It's merciless.

So, what steps can you take in search of the fastest way to write a novel?

They're simple, really.

Have a Starting and Stopping Point

Know before you put a single word on paper where your writing will begin. One trick that many writers use is to end their previous session in mid-sentence, so you have a great starting point for the next session. Next, you'll want an ending point. Now, this can be a page, a word count, or a specific place in your story.

For instance, if you're in the middle of a bar fight scene, you might determine that when your hero gets floored that will be the point where you stop. And when you arrive there, follow your own rules ... stop. Or you may prefer to stop after one page, or 250 words. Whatever works well for you.

Write in Short Bursts

Set a timer and write until it goes off. When you're first starting out, you might want to try five minute bursts. As you become more comfortable with the process, you might get up to fifteen minute or half-hour bursts. Generally, you'll want to keep these bursts shorter, with more intensity. Once the timer goes off, stop. Stretch. Get up and move around a little. Get a cup of coffee. And prepare for the next burst.

Don't Stop Writing

This is the key. During your burst writing session you never stop writing. It doesn't matter if you misspell words, get a character's name wrong, if you forget to put a period at the end of a sentence, or write the worst sentence that's ever been written in the history of mankind. Just keep writing.

Follow these three simple steps and you'll discover not only are they the fastest way to write a novel, but they will also help you produce much better writing. It sounds counter-intuitive, but it's true. Go give it a try.

Here's to your writing success.

David B. Silva runs the Newjournies.com site.

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