AKA the actual writing part.
Welcome to Part 4 of a series on How to Get Started Writing a Novel. My original goal was for you to go from pen and paper to, say, 10 pages of a novel…and so far, I’ve talked about ways to brainstorm ideas using place as a starting point, more ways to brainstorm ideas, and how you might make an outline.
So! Now it’s time to actually write!
Quick writing and reading update:
- I revised a chapter of my manuscript Finding Lucy twice, womp womp.
- The Passing Bells is still pretty good, but losing a bit of steam.
Now! Onto the lesson.
Drafting resources…
- A novel is supposed to be ~60k words
- Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott
- On Writing by Stephen King
- The Getaway Car by Ann Patchett (an essay)
Things to try:
- Give yourself a word limit (I use 500-1000 words)
- Give yourself a time limit (I use 20 minutes)
- Try the Pomodoro Technique (I use this timer)
- Send your work to someone else to read; take turns reading each others’ work
- Remember that you like to do it–this is what you want to do (right??)
- Write the next thing that happens
Do you have any resources that help you write your first draft? Or any special techniques that you use?
Come back next week to learn about RESEARCH!
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