3 perspective shifts for aspiring novelists to triple your daily word count
Finish your first draft in record time and kick-start your writing career.
I used to believe I was a slow writer, destined to never finish anything.
Then I realized my real problem was how I approached my writing. Professional writers don't wait around for inspiration to strike. They design systems for consistent daily output.
In the book 2k to 10k by Rachel Aaron, I discovered a framework that tripled my daily word count, without adding a single hour to my writing time. It's not about typing faster or using fancy software—it's about shifting your perspective.
Today, we're diving into 3 game-changing shifts to supercharge your writing process:
• How to harness the power of knowledge to conquer the blank page
• The secret to identifying and protecting your sacred writing hours
• Why your enthusiasm is the hidden key to unlocking writing velocity
Knowledge is power: prep the page before you start.
Are you sick of staring at a blank page?
The reason you feel stuck is because you don't know what to write. Figuring out what to write, as you write, is a little like building an airplane when you're already flying.
The solution is ridiculously simple, and yet so effective. Make a plan of what you want to write, before you write.
That’s why at the start of every writing session I like to prep the page with bullet points. The bullet points include key information or plot beats I want to cover in the scene I’m writing that day. Afterwards, filling in the details is as easy as painting by the numbers.
An added benefit of prepping the page is it allows you to find issues with your scene before you waste time writing it. I like to read through the bullets visualizing the scene, looking for cold spots and logic issues.
This is the single best thing you can do to increase your writing speed.
How to find your sacred writing hours.
You're never going to write faster if you're only writing for 10 minutes a day.
Rachel Aaron and Brandon Sanderson both say their writing speed is much slower in the first hour of their writing sessions, around 500 words per hour. It's only around the 1st or 2nd hour mark when their writing speed reaches more than 2k/hour. Increasing your word count requires a large block of time devoted to writing, at least 2 hours long, ideally around 3-4 hours.
Block out on your calendar a 2 hour time slot (in a perfect world every day), these are your sacred writing hours. Think of it as a meeting with yourself. You wouldn't bail on a meeting with your boss, so don’t cancel on yourself. Protect your sacred writing hours at all costs.
Here is some common advice for finding your sacred writing hours.
Find a novel work environment like a cafe, to free yourself from the distractions of the familiar.
Tell your family about your sacred writing hours, ask for their help in protecting the time.
Pick a time when you are the most unreachable. (Outside of working hours for many people.)
Find the time when you are the most productive.
Rachel Aaron recommends keeping a writing log to record the time of your writing sessions and the number of words you wrote. You can then analyze the log to find the time of day when you are most productive.
Lately, I have been writing in cafes in the evenings after work, without internet. It has done wonders for my word count.
Your enthusiasm is a powerful tool for increasing your word count.
It's easy to forget, but writing is supposed to be fun.
The easiest way to keep writing is to cultivate a sense of playfulness. If the scene you're writing feels like a slog to write, then honestly it's probably a slog to read. Cultivate your enthusiasm, it's a valuable tool, not only for increasing your word count, but for creating a more enjoyable story.
Here’s a handy heuristic: if it’s not fun, chuck it in the bin.
While fancy software is not required, it certainly can help.
As a programmer, I am no stranger to specialized software for achieving complex tasks. That's why I use Plottr and Scrivener for writing stories. (These are not affiliate links, I'm just a fan.)
The key to writing is to figure out what works for you, via the process of eliminating the things that don't work. Save yourself time by learning from what works for professional writers.
Using Plottr for creating outlines and then writing inside of Scrivener feels like standing on the shoulders of giants. These software encapsulate how to write faster and better, from professional writers who have been doing this for much longer than I have.
A major benefit of specialized writing software is the ability to reduce your working memory, allowing you to stay focused on the problem you are trying to solve. If people are interested, I might write an article about how specialized tools reduce the cognitive load of a task, making it more tractable and lower friction.
Approach your writing like a speed runner, see how much you can write in a given session.
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