Regardless of the novel you want to write, there are seven elements youve got to have. Call them personality traits, work habits, tools, it really doesnt matter. If youve got them, your work is going to be that much more rewarding and that much more successful. If you dont have them, youve got develop | | them
The first one is a mastery of output. If you havent written your book yet, the only difference between you and a published author is that theyve written their book and you havent. They took the time to do it and you didnt. So get that started first. Youve got to write each and every day. No exceptions unless youre unconscious (you can still dictate if youre in bed.) No, youre not going to commit to writing for 30 minutes. Youre going to commit to writing at least x number of pages between 9:30 and 10:00. You pick the time and the number of pages. Its an appointment with yourself thats every bit as important as an appointment with dentist, business associate, customer or your childs piano recital. Make it a keep it.
The appointment has four critical elements to it. The start time tells you when to begin. If you dont have a definite start time, youll never get started because theres nothing forcing you to do so. Something else will always come up. Guaranteed. Even on a day when you have nothing else to do, youll get distracted by a simple paperclip on your desk or the pressing need to straighten the books on the shelf. This is the time youll start and you mean it.
Next, you have an end time. At that time youre moving on to something else. The big challenge here is that the first few times you do it, you wont know how many pages you can actually produce in that amount of time. So you may reach the end of the appointment and not have written the required number of pages. Or, even better, you may have written more than enough pages, and still have 10 minutes left in the appointment. With my system, you know youre writing 2/3 of a page every five minutes, so you can get it down pretty precisely. Always be pushing yourself to increase the number of pages you write during the writing period.
The third critical element for a mastery of writing output is knowing the number of pages youre going to write during that appointment. Youre not going to write until you finish that thought, or write until the hands of the clock have moved the required distance, youre writing to produce those pages. So write them.
Dont worry about quality, or skill, or story development, or characterization. Those are all factors you deal with elsewhere. Youre here solely to put out four pages. Whether theyre good or bad, frankly, is hardly important. You just have to get them done and done now. Initially it can look pretty daunting, but I assure you, its not nearly as difficult as you might think. Give yourself a few days of trying i |
| | with elsewhere. Youre here solely to put out four pages. Whether theyre good or bad, frankly, is hardly important. You just have to get them done and done now. Initially it can look pretty daunting, but I assure you, its not nearly as difficult as you might think. Give yourself a few days of trying it, and youll be amazed at how effective you become.
Finally, write fast. Youre not there to mull and fret over every word. If youre doing that, you had better increase the required output for the appointment, because youre wasting time. Im not talking about being frantic, or scribbling (if youre using a pen) so fast that you cant read your own handwriting when you go back later. Im saying only that your writing must be constant, and relentless. Pick a relatively quick writing tempo and keep going. If youve done the required preparation work youll have not problem with content, or having the thoughts flow into your head quickly enough.
If, at the end of your writing appointment, you havent written the number of pages you set out to produce, dont beat yourself up. Take a few seconds and ask yourself why. Theres always a simple logistical reason, and it has nothing to do with your writing ability or whether youre a good or bad person.
For the next writing appointment, make the adjustment and accomplish the objective. Dont tell yourself you have to write an additional two pages to make up for yesterdays shortfall. Youll never be able to catch up and youll just become despondent. Start afresh every time.
About The Author
Steve Manning is a master writer showing thousands of people how they can write their book faster than they ever thought possible. Here's your free book-writing library, http://www.WriteABookNow.com/main.html.
This article was posted on June 25, 2007 |
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