Writing Faster

If there's one thing a writer always wants to do - it's to write faster.

Why?

Because the faster a writer writes, the more stories can be published, and the more cha-ching ends up in the pocket.

But also because writing is hard.
It really is.
Creating anything takes effort.
It's so much easier to consume than to create.
It's easy to read a book - writing one is hard.
It's easy to sit and watch a movie - but writing a screenplay is not.
Consumption is easy.
Creation is very difficult.

So, even though I love writing, it is still difficult.
Every.
Single.
Time.

So, if I can figure out a way to write faster and get more accomplished in a shorter amount of time, I am all for it.

You may have heard of plotters vs. pantsers.
If not, I'll quickly explain.
A plotter is a writer who likes to do some sort of outlining before commencing with writing a story. The depth and breadth of the outline may vary, but at the very least, a plotter will have something down on paper to serve as a framework for the rest of their story.

A pantser is someone who writes "by the seat of their pants." They tend not to outline, but to let the story flow and take them wherever they want to go.

I used to be a pantser.
Then, I used to start out as a pantser who became a plotter when I got stuck and had to come up for some sort of synopsis for the rest of the story.

Now, I am a complete and absolute plotter.
And I love it.
I write so much faster this way.

It takes time to plot, that's true.
But, once I have created an outline for the story, I am able to write it out so much more quickly than I could when I left the story up to just happen on its own.

I'm sure there are pantsers who can write quickly.
I am just not one of them.

Over the last couple of days I tried something new to see if it would help me to write even more quickly.
I was well into the first chapter when I decided to stop writing all exposition, and write only dialogue. No "he said" or "she said"'s even. Just dialogue.

I have to tell you, this experiment was AWESOME.
I loved it!
In one afternoon I was able to write out all the dialogue I could foresee happening, and I was able to crank out several thousand words without a hitch. That's big news for me. I'm sometimes lucky to get several thousand words in a week.

I'll admit that I am very much a plot-driven author. Characterization is very difficult for me. In fact, it's not usually until I'm halfway through a story that I have a good sense of who the characters are. But, I always know what I want to have happen to the characters, and I have a good sense of how I want them to speak.

So, relying on just dialogue really helped me to flesh out my characters this afternoon and get to know them even more quickly as I wrote out their words.

Again, this was AWESOME.

I tried to imagine the story as a movie in my head, and in a movie there is nothing but dialogue. Screenplays are 95% dialogue because that's all there is. There are very few movies with voiceovers to get inside the character's heads (and those that have it probably shouldn't). Instead, it's what the character says and how they say it that helps the audience know who they are, what they want, what their problems are, and the type of people they become.

So, if you're looking to write a little faster, even if you're not a plotter like me, may I suggest this:
Sit back and imagine your story in your head just as if you're watching a movie.
Don't describe anything.
Don't worry about the setting.
Or the mood.
Or laying out the scene.
Just pay attention to what your characters say. Write that down. Only that.

Then, when you're done with a chapter, or even the whole story, go back and fill in. See if it helps you to get to know your characters faster, outline the plot of your story quicker, and ultimately - write a whole heck of a lot faster, too!

Before you read this...

Now that I'm done writing the first draft of my novel, I'm faced with temptation.

It's such a burning temptation, that it's difficult not to give in.

Oh, the pain!

Here it is...

I want someone to read my story.

Earth shattering, I know. Of course, I want someone to read it. That's why writers write, so that we can have people read our stuff, tell us it's not nearly as crappy as we thought, bolster our very fragile egos, and tell all their friends about this amazing story they just read from us. That's what we do, right?

So, I understand the temptation to write something, and then immediately give it to a few trusted individuals to read and give us their feedback (and by feedback, I mean compliments and constructive criticism, not a scathing review, thank you very much).

But, STOP!

Don't do it!

I implore you to fight against the temptation to give anyone your very first draft to read.

Why?

Well, honestly, it's probably still full of crap. If you have learned how to write and furious, and to ignore your internal editor until you have your first draft done and on the page, then you've been flinging crappy writing around. That's okay! That's what you were supposed to do!  But, that doesn't mean you're ready to share it with anyone.

I teach kids how to write, and the biggest struggle for them is writing something down, believing they just threaded together sentences that sparkle like diamonds, and then feel that they they're done. Here! Read my three paragraph story that I wrote in 10 minutes. It's awesome!

I've learned over my 10+ years of teaching that the first thing anyone writes is never, EVER awesome. Parts of it may be awesome. Much of it may aspire to awesomeness. But, the whole piece is never, ever, EVER awesome.

Again you ask, Why?

Because it's the first stinkin' draft, that's why!

It's supposed to be crappy. It may exist in various shades of crappiness from incredibly, mind-blowingly crappy, to only mildly crappy, but it will be crappy nonetheless.

I have no desire to force my crappy writing on anyone. I'm sure you don't either.

So, what should I do? I hear you ask. Well, I think you should be your very first reader. You should probably be the second reader, too. And the third. In fact, I think you should be the only reader until you have revised the crap right out of that story, and have absolutely no idea how you can possibly make it any better. Then, and only then, do you share it with a critique group, a friend, a family member, whomever you are looking to for feedback.

I think it's imperitive that you do this.

Why? (You love that question just as much as my two-year-old daughter, I see.)

Because frankly, I don't want to read crap. I love reading! But, I only want to read the very best that my students can create. That doesn't mean it has to be perfect. It can still need lots of work, that's fine. But, I insist that my students have made their draft the very best that they know how to make, before it ever is read by anyone else.

I expect them to read their story aloud. (You should, too! You'll be amazed by what you find.)
I expect them to correct spelling and grammar mistakes.
I expect them to constantly ask themselves "Does this make sense?".
I expect them to check for continuity.
I expect them to be able to outline the main characters, problem, and resolution.
I expect that the very first draft looks vastly different from the draft they hand to me.
In short, I expect them have done their very best work before a peer reader, or their teacher, ever sets eyes on it.

I expect this of myself, as well.

I have the advantage of age and experience over my students, but that doesn't mean that I turn out nuggets of gold everytime my fingers start typing. I have to hold myself to the same standards that I hold them to, so before I ever show anyone my writing, I make sure that I've gone over it again and again (and again, and again, and again, and again, and again and again) before I ask someone else to read it.

I'll admit, I've given in to the temptation a few times. I've dashed off something, believed it to be the prose of a genius, and given it to friends to read. And then, I've always faced the shame and embarrassment of having them point out typos in my story.

Typos!

When I give a story to someone to read, I don't want them to be fixated on typos! I want them to be pulled into the story and help me find key elements that need to be changed in order to make my story stronger. Is the theme evident? Are the characters believable? Is the plot intriguing?

Not - Did I spell this right? Is this the proper use of commas and colons? Are my verb tenses mixed up?

So, I urge you, writer, to be your very first beta reader, and your second reader, and your third, and so on until you've taken out as much crap as possible, and filled it with your amazing writing. Then, feel free to share it with your critiquers for advice and help.

Just don't be surprised when they find crap that you missed.

Write Crap!

I'm a newbie. I admit that.

And I'm still prone to making newbie mistakes.
One of the ones I'm proud of NOT making anymore is that I no longer struggle with getting the words down.

It used to be a huge struggle.
I would write a chapter, and before I could go on to the next, I would rework it over, and over and over again, trying to make absolutely perfect. I think a lot of newbie writers struggle with this.

I've adopted a new philosophy of writing my first draft, however. I think it's a philosophy shared with most writers, at least the ones that I've heard from. I call it "flinging crap fast and furious."

The first draft is going to be crap.
It's okay to be crap.
It's expected to be crap.
There is no shame in crap.

After all, it's the first draft. Not the second, or third, or twelfth. It's okay to be crappy.
So, just get the crappy writing over and done with as fast as humanly possible.
Write as much as you can, as fast as you can, without stopping to revise and edit along the way.
I've heard that some writers don't even bother to fix typos or spelling errors as they write their first draft. I'll admit, I hit the backspace button quite a bit to redo misspellings, but other than that, just get it out there.

Get it done.

Get your crappy writing down on the page.
You can fix your crap later.