http://thisblogisaploy.blogspot.com/2011/06/how-i-went-from-writing-2000-words-day.html

I approached this with mild scepticism, but what she says about process resonates so strongly with my own experience that I'd suggest it's well worth reading and thinking about.

Emma

Emma, thank you for posting this - it's brilliant: so simple and so effective (and it 'feels' true somehow, so am going to try it and send this to others too).
Susiex

Yes, very interesting reading, thanks.

Fascinating stuff

You're welcome.

it 'feels' true somehow

Yes, it felt like that to me, too. One of those things where I clearly recognised some things in myself, and so the rest is worth listening too as well, and coming up with one's own version.

All I an say is yes, yes and yes.
HB x

This really resonates with me, because I know that when I have a fairly detailed brief to write to, I can whizz out 2000 words in an hour and a half. I know that I need to stop being a 'write and see what happens' kind of writer and actually plan things out in more details before I begin.

It's so much more efficient. I'm going to try it that way with the next wip.

Honest.

actually plan things out in more details

I do know that an awful lot of writers resist the idea hugely, so I wonder if the way to think of it is not "plan" in more detail but to "imagine" in more detail. 'Plan' somehow implies something rigid, but of course it mustn't be.

It's more learning to do your imagining before you put first-draft-pen to paper for the word-by-word laying down of it.

Hmmm... I can feel a blog post coming on.

Emma

Very interesting indeed - lots for me to think about in that blog post. I'd love to be able to achieve more than I do in each writing session.

I've found with my wip that I'm writing the suffragette strand much faster and more confidently than the contemporary strand, and I think this is simply because I know what happens in the suffragette strand much more - I've thought about if for longer and imagined it in more depth. When I've tried to plan sections of the contemporary strand it doesn't seem right in the writing of it, and I end up abandoning plan. And then I end up with scenes that take ages to write and which read like 'a writer writing to find out the story' as one of my tutors put it. To bring this material to life I then have to completely rewrite it.

Emma - yes, more detailed imagining rather than more detailed planning seems like a good way of thinking about it to me.

Michelle

It is an interesting post, but I still can't imagine writing that much in a day - sometimes a couple of paragraphs is hard enough. Although she does do it for a living, so obviously there's more pressure on her to keep coming up with the goods and meet various deadlines...

One thing I find useful is to colour code my character's scenes - that way, when I look at my chapter by chapter synopsis, I can see if I need to re-balance their interactions by swapping scenes around to ensure the spotlight shifts from my two main characters enough to keep the parallel plot-lines in view. Fingers crossed, it's working so far!

Emma, thanks for posting. This is very helpful, even revolutionary to me as someone who was a pantser who dumped a book that took ages to write because the writing was great but it lacked direction.

I am finding that just a little writing down in long hand can make a huge difference to my process and speed. I think one of the reasons why I've always resisted putting down a fast draft was a (false) perception that the quality of the writing would fail. I'm finding that's not the case at all. I just needed to trust that I can write and leave the rest to the second draft and fine-tuning.

Another thing that this method brings to mind is that old saying:

the great thing about not planning is that failure comes as a complete surprise without the attendant pain and agony.

S

Thanks for that link, Emma - very interesting and useful.

It's more learning to do your imagining before you put first-draft-pen to paper for the word-by-word laying down of it.

That reminds me of my old boss, a computer security journo, who wrote a lot of columns. He always told me that he'd lie on the sofa and think about what he was going to write, and only when he'd roughed it in his head would he go to the computer and put it down pretty swiftly. Obviously a pure techie article is different, but a column needs an angle, and that's what he was cooking up.

It's always stuck in my mind because I think it's the same for fiction.

And it's also a pretty appealing idea, lying on the sofa "working", so long as you really are.

Deb

Hi Emma,

Very interesting read, thanks (and it’s exactly the kind of thing I need at the minute, so very relevant for me too).

Steph

I

t is an interesting post, but I still can't imagine writing that much in a day

That's what I thought. If I could 'only' write 2000 words a day I'd be happy!

I think this works for her but I've done both pantsing and plotting and sometimes both have worked and sometimes neither. I'm not sure it matters particularly how long it takes or rather I think writing a story/novel/whatever takes as long as it takes. If, for instances, I spend six weeks planning/thinking/dreaming/plotting a serial it will probably take me a month to write it. SImilarly, if I only take a week to think about it it might take me another nine weeks to write it so it's as broad as it is long.

It's interesting to read but I still maintain that my pen knows more than I do - or my keyboard, rather. It's only by starting to write that I can fix bits of plot firmly in my mind. I suppose I'm half pantser and half plotter and it seems to suit me.

If, for instances, I spend six weeks planning/thinking/dreaming/plotting a serial it will probably take me a month to write it. SImilarly, if I only take a week to think about it it might take me another nine weeks to write it so it's as broad as it is long.

Yes, you could read the post that way. But of course, planning/thinking/dreaming/plotting you can do in all sorts of shapes and places - I think it's significant that she started thinking this way when her actual, physical, child-free writing time was very limited.

Which are the kind of circumstances where it makes sense to find ways of doing as much as possible of the total first-thought-to-finished-draft work when you're peeling the potatoes or lying in bed, not in that rare, precious time.