Write Fiction Faster! — How to Speed Up Your Story Writing

We all want to make more progress in writing fiction, whether to push through the 50,000 - 100,000 words needed to complete your novel or just produce more stories in order to get more feedback and grow as a writer.  

How can I write fiction faster?  Use these five steps to write fiction faster:

1. BLOCK TIME in 30-90 minute focused sessions
2. BATCH WORK with 3-6 pieces in progress
   
3. STARVE RESISTANCE  - it feeds on delay, hesitancy, and distractions
   
4. AUTOMATE R/OUTINE(S) in a writing workflow:  
    
   1. R/O - Research/Outline 
   2. U - Ugly-First-Draft
   3. T - Table-Read 
   4. I - Improve
   5. N - Nap
   6. E - End-to-End-Edit  
   7. (S) - (Ship) 
      
      
5. STAY MOTIVATED by challenging yourself, setting small goals, adding accountability, and celebrating along the way!

Let’s dig deeper into those 5 Steps to Write Fiction Faster, but first, let's get clear about the 4 Reasons We Don't Writer Fiction Faster. 

Before we start ...
do you want to write fiction faster,
while practicing your craft and your writing process to consistently get better? 

Check out this link to the FREE "Write Fiction Faster ... and better" guide and workbook,
which comes with a FREE companion course
with 23 bite-sized video lessons and 4 worksheets.

The 4 Reasons We Don't Write Fiction Faster

What is the problem? Why don't we write fiction faster, more consistently, and with higher quality? Here are the four reasons, summarized in the acronym mnemonic TRAP: Time, Resistance, Attention, and Process.

TIME

We feel that we don't have enough time to write. But is that true? Isn't it a matter of prioritization and motivation? Could it also be that we don't use the time we have to write in the most efficient and effective way?

RESISTANCE

We feel resistance to getting started, and a lack of motivation to write consistently. What causes this resistance? It is a natural part of the creative process. Steven Pressfield has written several books where he describes Resistance (with a capital 'R') as the universal force that acts against human creativity. Check out his books, The War of Art, Do the Work, and Turning Pro. Here's how it puts it:

"Most of us have two lives: the life we live, and the unlived life within us. Between the two stands Resistance.

Never forget: This very moment, we can change our lives. There never was a moment, and never will be, when we are without the power to alter our destiny. This second, we can turn the tables on Resistance. This second, we can sit down and do our work."

- Steven Pressfield

ATTENTION

We have a hard time staying focused and clearing away distractions. This is one of the tricks "Resistance" uses to trip us up. When we don't focus our attention on writing, no wonder we don't make progress.

PROCESS

We don't have a writing process that is honed into a tight workflow. Without a writing process, it's Groundhog Day every day, and we are Sisyphus rolling that same rock up an endless mountain. 

Why Is It Important to Write Fiction Faster?

The more you write, the more you develop as a writer. Writing fiction faster will build up your portfolio of finished work, whether that is getting through the 50,000 - 100,000 words of a novel or a series of shorter fiction pieces — flash fiction, short stories, novellas.

Writing fast doesn't mean writing sloppy, low-quality, hack-work. You want to write high-quality fiction that you can be proud of, consistently. So how do we do it? 

5 Steps to Write Fiction Faster

These are the five steps: block time, batch work, starve resistance, automate R/OUTINE(S), and stay motivated.

1. BLOCK TIME

You want to get into a groove of writing. You need to find a daily and weekly ritual that works for you when you can set aside a block of time to focus exclusively on writing.

For a lot of people that is first thing in the morning. If you don't have writing as part of your morning routine, give it a try. But it could also be during your lunch break. It could also be in the evening. Whatever is right for you.

The time block should be somewhere between 30 to 90 minutes.  The low end of 30 minutes is because it typically takes that long to get into the groove. The high end of 90 minutes is that you need to build in downtime for rest and recovery. Writing is intense brain work. After 90 minutes, you need to take a break and recharge. A 15- to 30-minute break is perfect. 

If you string two of those 90-minute sessions together — back to back with a rest break between them, or at two different times during the day — you have three hours of solid writing time. This is the perfect daily time block for making steady progress in writing. If you can work in a third 90-minute session, you will get 4 1/2 hours of writing, which is the routine Stephen King, a highly prolific professional writer, commits to daily. It's not impossible, it just takes some planning and sacrifice of less important activities.

But let's start a bit smaller and go for consistency. How about committing to one 90-minute block in the morning before work (with the option to write for less time, such as 30 or 60 minutes on some days)? By using the rest of the steps you will be surprised how much quality writing you can produce consistently. And on days when you feel like adding more and have room in your schedule, by all means, go for it.

During your time block, it is vital to avoid distractions. You need undisturbed time to get deep into your writing. Use a certain type of music to give yourself the trigger that this is your time for writing. I alternate between Brain.fm, Focus@Will, and a classical music playlist. Sometimes cinematic music such as movie soundtracks can be the right trigger for writing. But if you need complete silence, then you could create the same trigger by donning noise-blocking headphones.

Consider turning your phone to airplane mode and putting it away where you can't see it. And unless you're doing research, shut down your internet browser. Turn off all notifications from the calendar and message programs.

Read Cal Newport's excellent book "Deep Work" for more of the science behind time blocks.

2. BATCH WORK

Specifically what I recommend is that you have 3 pieces of fiction in a batch. For example:

• 3 Short Stories
• 3 Chapters from your Novel
• 3 Scenes from your Novella
• 2 Chapters from your Novel + 1 Flash Fiction story
• etc., etc.

Batching is so effective because you get faster (and better) when you do one type of activity repeatedly. 

Why 3 pieces? There is something magical about the number 3. I find that it is just the right amount of repetitions of each step in the process, and just the right amount of pieces to have in progress at any one time. But if 2 or 5 or 7 works for you, go for it!

3. STARVE RESISTANCE

According to Steven Pressfield, when you feel Resistance, it means that you are headed in the right direction, developing your craft, and moving closer to your goal, but your inner self is resisting because it's always more comfortable in the status quo.

"Resistance is experienced as fear; the degree of fear equates to the strength of Resistance. Therefore the more fear we feel about a specific enterprise, the more certain we can be that that enterprise is important to us and to the growth of our soul. That's why we feel so much Resistance. If it meant nothing to us, there'd be no Resistance."

- Steven Pressfield (from "The War of Art")

Even though Resistance (experienced as fear)  is a sign of good things going on in your creative work, it is also real, and it does slow down your writing. So we need to take action to overcome it.

Fear is actually a sign that you are doing what's needed to move in the right direction.... The more time you devote to the object of your apprehension, the stronger it becomes. So starve the fear of its favorite food by removing time from its menu.... I refuse to feed my fear with time and allow it to get stronger. I opt instead to get things done quickly.

- Grant Cardone (from "The 10X Rule")

Resistance feeds on delay and hesitancy and distractions. We starve resistance in three ways: get started, set a timer, and get groovy.

Get Started

Just sit down and write. Don't worry about the quality of the work. We might even just start writing nonsense words in order to get started. Hemingway used the trick of ending at a point where he knew exactly what to write next, sometimes ending his work session with an incomplete sentence so that he would get started writing the next day, just to finish that sentence.

"The secret of getting ahead is getting started."

- Mark Twain

Set a Timer

This is also known as the Pomodoro Technique. Set a timer for a relatively short period (25-30 minutes is good) and commit to the work until the timer is complete.

Get Groovy

Get into the groove by having a consistent time of day, a committed time block that is on your calendar, and by batching work where you've already pre-committed to a batch of pieces of fiction in your inventory that you will work on. Another ritual that works for many writers is to read the work that you wrote the day before. This is both a natural way of editing and gets you into the groove of writing.

4. AUTOMATE R/OUTINE(S)

Now that you've blocked time, batched work, and starved your resistance, what's the writing workflow that will let you write faster with high quality? You need to automate your writing R/OUTINE(S).

You start with selecting a batch of 3 pieces of writing from your "fiction funnel." In the diagram above these are represented as the oval disks labeled "A", "B", and "C". Let's say they are 3 chapters in your novel or 3 separate short stories. You will take this batch through each of the steps in the R/OUTINE(S) workflow, returning to your fiction funnel to grab another batch of 3 (labeled "D", "E, and "F" in the diagram) at a specific step in the process as we will discuss below. 

You will have 3-6 pieces of fiction (stories, chapters, scenes) in progress at any one time, and 3 more queued up in the "fiction funnel". This batching and moving multiple pieces of fiction along in a workflow that keeps looping back for more is one of the keys to writing fiction faster.

R/O - Research/Outline

Research and outline go together, one flowing into the other, give and take. If you don't think about it this way, it's too tempting to research something to death, going down rabbit holes, research for the sake of research — procrastination (that is "Resistance") masquerading as "research." By combining the two into a single Research/Outline step in the workflow, you're researching "just enough" to complete an outline, researching with the purposeful intention of completing the outline — while feeding your outline with the research.

If you're a Pantser you may resist even the concept of having an "outline." That's okay. If you don't need the Research/Outline step in order to get started and you just want to jump right into writing, go ahead. But I do recommend that in order to write faster, even you Pantsers should jot down at least a few points about the story (or chapter, or scene). You will write faster if you have just a little bit of clarity before you write.

For example, you may want to use the Idea Catcher concept, just writing down the names of characters that you're going to use along with maybe one or two plot points, and then that's it, voila — your outline is done!

If you're writing a scene in a longer story like a novella or a novel, then — even as a Pantser— I recommend you create a quick summary of the scene, answering these five basic questions about the scene: who are the characters, what's happening, where are we, when does it take place, and who tells the story in this scene? 

If you're somebody who tends to get stuck in the Research/Outline step — I'm talking to you, obsessive Outliners — then give yourself a challenge and set a time limit. For example, set the timer for 20 minutes or 30 minutes, and when the timer runs down, stop, and go on to the next step in the R/OUTINE(S) workflow.

U - Ugly-First-Draft

The concept of the "Ugly-First-Draft" (UFD) is to give yourself permission to write an ugly mess. Hemingway said: "write drunk, edit sober." In his case, that may have meant he literally got drunk to write. But the concept is that you need to write with a loose, open, wu-wei (not forcing) attitude — not editing yourself during the UFD step. Turn off the inner editor. Let yourself just get the words down on paper (or computer screen, or digital recording.)

Some people actually recommend tricking yourself by turning off the computer monitor and writing blind onto the keyboard without being able to read your writing on the screen.

Personally, I prefer using speech-to-text dictation/transcription, which creates much the same effect — especially if you close your eyes as you dictate.

A few words on dictation vs typing. If you haven't tried it, please do yourself the favor. It's an invaluable tool to speed up your writing process. The mechanics of writing on a keyboard slows you down, and it does make it more likely that you're going to drift into editing yourself while you're writing.

Using speech-to-text dictation for your Ugly-First-Draft you can increase the number of words you capture three to five-fold (3x - 5x) — typing 30 words per minute is a decent speed, but you can speak 100-150 words per minute. There are lots of different tools you can consider, including the speech-to-text function built into many smartphones and computers, or a dedicated software like Dragon Anywhere by Nuance or my personal favorite, Otter.ai.

The key is to have completed some Research/Outline, so you have a framework for your dictation, and then just go for it, speak the Ugly-First-Draft into existence. Refer to your outline, close your eyes (unless you are driving), picture the scene and characters, and act out the scene, speak it as if you are reading the narration. What I like about Otter.ai is that it does not require you to dictate all the punctuation (commas, periods, quotes, etc.) which other dictation apps require, and which I feel get in the way of just narrating the story. Otter.ai will do a decent first cut at inserting at least the commas and periods without you dictating them — it won't know how to insert quotes to mark dialogue, so you have to do that yourself in the "Table-Read" step below.

If you're not a fan of speech-to-text dictation — and I get it, there are times when you need to write your way into the story seeing it take shape on the computer screen — you should consider working on your typing speed. 

Try to do your best to push through with an Ugly-First-Draft of the entire "mini-outline" for the scene or chapter in one sitting. Use placeholders where there is missing information, so you don't stop. Here are some examples of placeholders:

• TK - this means "to come" and is a clever trick because in English there are no words that have the "TK" combination of letters, so you can search for all the instances of "TK" in your manuscript. Saying "TK" works well in dictations apps.
• TBD - this means "to be developed" and is similarly a combination of letters that don't appear in any words. It also works well in dictation.
• ~ (i.e. the "tilde" sign) - this symbol is rarely if ever used in fiction, and if you're typing it's convenient because it's in the top left of the keyboard above the Tab key on most keyboards. However, it's not as effective if you're dictating.
• **** (i.e. four "asterisks") - it shows up nicely in the text so you can visually spot it, and it's easy to search for. Unfortunately not quite as easy to dictate. Also, since many of us use *** (three asterisks) to mark a shift in scenes within a story, I find that the four asterisks can be a little confusing as a placeholder.

My personal preference is the "TBD" placeholder because the abbreviation makes more sense than "TK", but that's just me. Yes, it's one more keystroke if you're typing, but I prefer dictation anyway.

T - Table-Read

The table-read (also known as "read-through") is a concept from plays and filmmaking where the cast gets together and read through the script together — usually sitting around a table, hence the term "table-read." There are no sets, no costumes, no real interaction, just a straight read-through where the cast members get to know each other in a non-threatening setting, and where the writer and director get a sense of the overall dynamic of the story and the interaction of the cast of characters. 

In the context of writing your story/chapter/scene, this means that you do a straight read-through of the Ugly-First-Draft where the goal is simply to get through it from beginning to end, cleaning things up as you go along, but NOT slowing down to do a deep edit or even fill in major holes. You are NOT trying to make it perfect. In fact, the main thing you want to get out of it is to find all the holes and mark them — using your favorite placeholder symbol — creating a "punch list" that you will go through in the next step in the R/OUTINE(S) workflow.

I - Improve

Now you work the punch list from the Table-Read step, searching through the manuscript for the placeholders. You also add, embellish, cut, reshape, and reorder. I find that this is the step that takes the longest. 

In the end, the goal is to have a fairly clean draft, one that might be complete. I say "might be" because most likely it isn't. That's why it's important to build in time for the next step in the R/OUTINE(S) writing workflow.

N - Nap

After you've worked through the punch list, you have a fairly clean draft. The last thing you'll do in the Improve step is to read through the whole story/chapter/scene, and then ...

... you're done, right?

Nope.

It's time for your story to take a Nap.

Stephen King calls this step "drawer time," because he puts the (typed/printed) manuscript into a physical drawer in his desk and lets it sit there for a while. During this time, the story is incubating, gestating. There is subconscious work going on. You may wake up in the middle of the night or get out of the shower with an idea that you need to capture on the spot in a notebook (or a post-it note or a note-taking app on your phone.) During the Naptime, you also get some distance from your writing so that when you return to it in the next step, you will be able to spot things you would not have seen if you skip the "Nap" step.

While your story is napping, what do you do?

The concept of batching is that by doing one type of activity multiple times in a row, you get into the groove and therefore you work faster and with higher quality. With your batch of three stories (labeled "A", "B", and "C" in the diagram), you should do the Research/Outline step for all three in a row, then the Ugly-First-Draft for all three in a row, then the Table-Read for all three in a row, then the Improve step for all three in a row.

Now, when you get to the Nap step for all three, what do you do? They're all napping, right? So what do you work on?

Here's where you get to the next level in writing fiction faster. You should always have a list of ideas for stories, chapters, and scenes -- a "fiction funnel." This is the time when you go back to your "funnel" of ideas and pick the NEXT THREE (labeled "D", "E", and "F" in the diagram) and start with the Research/Outline step, working your way through each step until these three are "Napping". That's just about enough time gone by — just long enough of a nap — for the three stories in the first batch to be ready for the next step in the R/OUTINE(S) workflow.

E - End-to-End-Edit

To me, the word "edit" is intimidating because it just seems so open-ended. But you'll notice that we've actually been editing, starting with the Table-Read, continuing with the Improve step, and even letting your subconscious do some mysterious editing during the Nap step. By breaking it down into these smaller steps, each step is manageable and less daunting, and the whole flow of moving from Ugly-First-Draft to final product feels more natural.

Now we are ready for a (perhaps) final edit. At this stage, you have something that's fairly good that you can "read as a reader" without cringing too much. You also have some distance to the story because of the Nap stage, so it will seem fresh.

You could be doing a final polish or you may find that you need to repeat the End-to-End-Edit step a few (or many) times before it's ready.

(S) - (Ship)

I'm using the term "Ship" as in "shipping a product". You can also call this step "Submit" as in submitting to a publisher.

I put this step in parentheses because it's optional. If you're writing a novel, you won't "ship" your chapter/scene until you have the whole novel written and edited, so you're just moving on to the next part of the novel.

But if you've finished a standalone story there are many places to "Ship" it to, including:

• Short story (or flash fiction) magazine or contest
• Writer's group - in-person or online
• Your blog
• Someone else's blog
• Share it with a friend who will give it an honest critique
• Self-publish on Amazon as a "Kindle single"

5. STAY MOTIVATED

The fifth and final step is to stay motivated. You should challenge yourself, set small goals, be accountable, and celebrate.

Challenge

For example, challenge yourself to finish the research and outline in 30 minutes. Make it a game. Challenge yourself to "Ship" a certain number of stories per month to online magazines, your own blog, or to writer's groups — or all three!

Small Goals

For example, Walter Mosley sets a daily word count goal of 1,000 words and he tries to do that in about three hours. But it could be completing a scene. It could be completing a Pomodoro of 25 to 30 minutes or a Deep Work time block session of 90 minutes. I find that having a daily goal of 1-2 time block sessions (each 60-90 minutes duration) works best for me since the R/OUTINE(S) process does not lend itself to "word count" as the ideal goal.

Accountability

Being accountable to someone is a great motivator. Find a writing buddy or a writer's group. Publish to your blog and commit publicly that you will post at least one story per month (or per week if you want to challenge yourself.)

Celebration

Each time you finish, give yourself a high-five. When I say "finish", I mean complete any activity, not just the whole story — or the whole novel.

When you finish any time-block writing session, celebrate!
When you reach your word count goal for the day, celebrate!
When you finish your Research/Outline step, celebrate!
When you finish your Ugly-First-Draft, celebrate!
When you finish your Table-Read, celebrate!
When you finish your Improve step, celebrate!
When you tuck your story in for a Nap, celebrate!
When you finish your End-to-End-Edit, celebrate!
When you SHIP ... it's time for a BIG CELEBRATION!!!
(... and give yourself a reward)

RELATED ARTICLES

Now that you know the process for writing fiction faster, here are some articles that will be helpful: 

• Need a Great Idea for Your Next Story? Try the Story IDEA Formula
  
  
• From Idea to Story: 3 Methods to Develop Your Story Idea 
  
  
• How to Write Characters Who Stick in the Reader's Mind 
  
  
• What Makes a Good Story? — Great Scenes! Here's How to Write Them
  
  
• Make Your Story Sing — Write Great Dialogue!
  
  
• Flash Fiction: How To Use It To Supercharge Your Writing 
  
  
• Blast Through Writer's Block: How to Get Unstuck 

FREE COURSE, GUIDE AND WORKBOOK

Do you want to write fiction faster, while practicing your craft and your writing process to consistently get better? Check out this link to the "Write Fiction Faster ... and better" guide and workbook, which comes with a companion course with 23 bite-sized video lessons and 4 worksheets.