How to Write A Novel - 02 - Start Writing

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By rjspindle
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Write A Novel - 02 - Start Writing

Now here's where the real work at writing a novel comes in. Today, you start writing.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

Step 1

For the rough draft of this novel, we'll be using a technique called Speedwriting. Speedwriting is a great way to purge the idea you have for a novel and create something solid to work with. For those of you who enjoy outlining and all other sorts of pre-writing, we'll be talking more about that in Phase Two. For now, we don't need to pre-write. The whole point of Speedwriting is to get as much of the story as you can onto paper.
Step 2

Like I said yesterday, you're going to need to set aside between 1 and 3 hours a day for writing. Normally, I would say it's okay to have a skip day here and there, but for the rough draft portion of writing your novel, it isn't always a good idea. If you come to a point where you absolutely have to take a day off from writing, then add another day to your deadline. You'll really want all forty-five days to write this draft.
Step 3

To write a 75,000 word novel in 45 days, you're going to want to write a consistent amount each day. I suggest setting a minimum goal for yourself. If you write between 1500 and 1700 words a day, you'll have (more or less) what you need by the end of the rough draft.
Step 4

Speedwriting is all about the word count. We want our story to be novel-sized. What you are doing here is putting everything you can think of into your story no matter how big it gets. Even if you think something doesn't make sense, write it. A lot of times writers get stuck while Speedwriting (I've found the oposite to be true with me. It's when I stop writing for a period that I run into problems), but push through it. We'll talk about fighting through writer's block later throughout this entire phase.
Step 5

Writing a novel is a collaborative effort from the onset. You will find, once you start writing, your characters will speak to you - they will tell YOU the story. You become a witness and a note-taker. Begin your novel where your characters tell you. You'll get to make more decisions about your novel when you revise and rewrite.

Comments

ae-sinclair said

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on 11/24/2009 Speedwriting is a great idea, but I, personally would not use the Speedwriting for the final novel.
The Speedwriting is just to get your ideas on paper, and then to use as a TEMPLATE for when yo actually start writing your novel, and NOT a rough draft.

eldrik said

on 7/29/2009 There is a ton of danger in writing in this style. It's very unfocused and will leave the writer with a unbearable amount of editing and rewriting when the speedwriting is done. Editing a 75,000 word manuscript is hard enough, but making sense of it and making it into something marketable after that much stream-of-consciousness writing will only lead to frustration. Have a plan before you sit down to write.