Use These Tricks To Write Faster
Become the Usain Bolt of writing
Don’t Over-Edit
What I mean is when you’re in the drafting process, don’t step out of that process to start revising what you’ve already written.
Editing slows you down and it’s difficult to recapture that momentum.
Also, editing is a very different frame of mind than writing, and switching between those mindsets is difficult. I recommend getting the first draft written as quickly as possible and then you can go back and try to fix it up.
The first draft should be a get-it-down draft, the second should be a fix-it-up draft.
Attempt a Streak
Faster doesn’t just mean typing faster, what faster really means is finishing your story faster.
If you attempt a streak of writing every single day and sort of challenge yourself to see how many days in the streak you can go, you’re going to end up finishing your story way faster.
Because when you have 14 days in a row you don’t want to miss a day and start the streak over at zero.
I recommend keeping track of your streak on a calendar. Mark every single day how many words you’ve written or how many hours you spent.
Let me tell you, if you hit 30 days in a row, that is a streak to be proud of and once once again going back to one you need to reward yourself.
Read Everyday
When you are writing, you are using up your creativity batteries. Reading is a way to recharge those batteries.
If you don’t have creativity pouring into you, you’re not going to have any creativity to put on the page.
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Some writers worry about being influenced by the book they’re reading but for most writers who aren’t very good, the trouble is not they’ve been influenced too much, the trouble is that they’ve been influenced too little.
Some writers like to read before they write. And if you have a book that you’re modeling yours after, then yeah absolutely, read so you can get a sense of the tone and the voice and everything and then use that in your book.
Personally, I like to read later on in the day after I’ve gotten all my creative stuff done and it just recharges me so the next morning I’m ready to write again number.
Replace Typing with Dictation
Raise your hand if you can talk faster than you can type. If so, dictation might be a natural step to writing your books. Dictation is an absolute Game Changer to help me get my ideas onto the page.
As far as software, there are many free ones that you can use out there. I would try a couple of different ones before settling on one and trying to write a book with it. And guess what, that’s only going to get better in the years to come.
Have a Sense of the Ending
If you know where your story is headed, if you know the climax, and if you know the end, then you’re going to be riding toward it much faster than then if you’re sort of floundering about and the character’s doing this and the character is doing that but you don’t really know where the character’s headed.
Not only that, but you have much less revision afterward because every single part of your book will have been aimed toward that ending.
Plus there’s a psychological thing where you were excited for the ending and so you’re trying to get there quicker and that forces you to write quicker.
Listen, this is your life and time is your most valuable resource if you can figure out how to get this story finished faster, you are going to be able to publish it and start writing the next one even sooner.
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This article was published on September 14th, 2024 in Long. Sweet. Valuable. publication.
