Last week, we talked about ways to write faster. The blog was filled with tips and tricks to get those 50k words for NaNoWriMo down more quickly. Though the tricks will work for any project at any time.
Writing faster is a valuable skill. As a professional writer, I know the faster I am able to write, the more I can produce, which means more money. Of course, faster can’t be more important than good, when it comes to clients. When it comes to first drafts, the words matter more. Get them down as fast as possible. You can worry about the quality later.
Here are more tips to get your words moving:
Turn off spelling and grammar checks.
You don’t want to get sidetracked by the computer judging your work and deeming it inferior. There will time for that kind of judgment later. Turn off all grammar and spelling programs. No more red squiggly lines to distract you.
Change your method.
When I get stuck, I hop off the keyboard and switch to pen and paper. Changing the physical way I write taps into different neurological pathways in my brain and unlocks new avenues for thought. The neurological pathways between the hand and brain are why Julia Cameron urges writers to use a pen and paper for their morning pages instead of using a computer. A computer may be faster, but it is easier to tap into our creativity with the hand-to-brain bond. Try it the next time you get stuck.
Research later.
Don’t stop to look something up, even if you swear it will be quick. It won’t be. It never is. Four hours later you will be staring at the bottom of a rabbit hole and wondering how you got there. Don’t give into the temptation. Mark the passage that needs research and move on. I don’t recommend using tk, which is an old journalist’s trick for To Come (see below for why is it a K instead of a C?). It is too easy to miss in a manuscript. It’s better to write in capital letters TO COME or RESEARCH NEEDED followed by what you need to fill in the blank space. Be specific. This will help you find the right missing part later. It’s amazing how easy it is to forget what you wanted to put in a particular spot after the fact. But write your note and move on. Your story will survive without that one fact. If the missing information affects the entire scene, write a brief summary of the scene and move on to the next one. Do not stop.
Practice your typing.
Okay, this may sound silly, but it does help. If you are a hunt-and-peck kind of person or even one who types at a slower rate, it is possible to learn how to type faster. This is true especially for those of us who never learned properly, picking it up as we went. You can find games to play that may increase your speed and accuracy. Typing faster will help you keep up with those thoughts flying through your head at warp speed
Dictate it.
Don’t be afraid to talk it out. Grab the recorder app on your phone and capture your thoughts, especially if the typing apps failed you and your fingers are still too slow to keep up. This is a great way to capture your scene as you imagine it. I use the recorder app a lot when I drive. I always seem to get ideas on the road when I can’t write them down. That’s when I grab my phone and hit record. I transcribe the notes when I get home and then write the scene.
Use talk-to-text.
I’ll admit, I’ve never tried this, but I know some people who have great luck with it. If you are technically inclined and like to say dialogue and narration out loud, it may be helpful. It does take time to set it up though, so I don’t suggest starting it during NaNoWriMo. But consider it for the future.
Jump around.
There are no rules that say you have to write linearly. If you are stuck, jump to a scene you know you need. Move around. You can string them together later. The point is to keep moving. If you don’t know where a scene should end, tag the spot and move on. If you don’t know where the scene should go in the story, put it in a folder to add later.
Capture ideas as they happen.
If you come up with an idea for a future scene, write it down, maybe even write the scene now and put it aside to insert when it fits. It’s okay to write out of order. It’s also okay to grab ideas for other projects as long as you quickly jot down the idea and get back to work on what matters now. Don’t follow the bright, new, shiny idea and forget to write on your main project.
Use expanders.
Set up expanders so you can save steps typing longer words, titles, URLs, names, phrases. You can use extenders for whatever you keep saying that takes time to write out by hand. An expander allows you to build in a shortcut for frequently used words. I use it for Figments & Fables all the time. Whenever I need to write my blog name, I use F&F and my computer automatically changes it for me. That saves me 14 keystrokes. If you use an expander often enough, it can save you thousands of keystrokes. This will increase your typing speed. Just be careful how you key your extenders so they don’t appear when you don’t want them.
Accept lower standards for your writing.
You are not going for perfection in a first draft. In this case, B work is better than A work. Let go of the concept of right and wrong and focus on story instead.
Prioritize your writing.
Make your writing important. It’s not a hobby. It’s a choice. A job. A need. Not a want. Once you change the way you see your writing, you will find more time to write. It’s about changing your perception of your work.
Schedule your writing.
Don’t just fit it into around other items. Put writing time in your calendar and treat that time as absolute. No fudging or skipping.
Block social media and the internet.
When you are writing, turn it all off, unless you are doing a write-in or sprint with other writers. Silence notifications. Turn off your phone. Expand your project to full screen view. You don’t need the distraction. Use an app if you must. There are many available: OmmWriter, Serene, Freedom, Focus, StayFocused, RescueTime, 1Focus, ColdTurkey, AntiSocial, SelfControl. There are so many apps to help you stay focused and writing. You could even go extreme and use Write or Die on Kamikaze mode where you set a time limit and a word count goal and write. If you don’t meet the goal, the app eats you words. Not a great idea during NaNoWriMo, unless you work great under extreme pressure. They do have a normal mode that allows you to use the features without the danger of losing your work.
Learn shorthand or employ abbreviations and codes.
If you don’t have time to learn shorthand or expanders, create a system for yourself. Come up with codes for certain phrases you can find and replace later. Use abbreviations. Use symbols. I admit I use a personal form of shorthand/code for my writing when I am doing it by hand. It speeds things up and allows me to focus on what I am doing instead of writing out a lot of endless words. This is particularly helpful when I am taking notes during an interview. The key to this is to have a key. Make a key for your code/abbreviations so you don’t forget what “q” or ||: means.
Write.
Write a lot. Write every day. Write stories. Write poems. Write a journal. The more you write, the better you will become. Good writing takes practice. Fast writing does too. You wouldn’t expect someone running a 50 yard dash to be the fastest in the race without a ton of practice.
Those are my best tips for a quicker writing. Now stop reading and get back to writing. It is the fastest way to be a better writer. I will see you next week when we will talk about how to overcome the four biggest obstacles to writing. It will be a four-part series with one blog on each obstacle. Until then, happy and speedy writing to you.
Why tk? It is an old printer’s mark to mark placement for missing items. It is typically used in lowercase and stands for to kum.