Hunting Demons: Finding Momentum not 10K

It is funny how we come to things. Trying to write ten thousand (10k) words in a day was a consequence of needing to kick myself out of a ponderous editing compulsion. A single day word count goal that would prove beyond me, as it happens. But I had guessed that from the outset, having calculated it would take me over eight hours of non-stop typing at twenty words per minute, with no pondering, or breaks or anything to achieve it.

But I wanted to see what I could achieve in a day of flat out writing. Especially as I needed to get my arse in gear with a deadline looming.

Before starting on the day I planned the medium term goals of the characters and the story. And then I began. I wrote in three sessions of three hours. Managing on average 1.2k words per session. Totalling just under 4k for the whole day. I stopped just before 9PM having written myself to a standstill. An expected fail you might think, but a funny thing happened during the day.

A novel is a strange beast. It is nothing like any other writing medium. It is focused on the moment to moment and at the same time it is a dauntingly huge canvas of interlinked threads, most of which are layered deep into the moment and only realised as we move between these moments. A lot of the links won't even be neatly tied off when the first draft is finished.

And in the four years since finishing the first draft of Chasing Innocence, I'd forgotten about those interlinking threads. As I built momentum through the 10k day they started to form, wildly branching out the more I wrote. It was incredibly thrilling realising the shift from ponderous editing to full on novel writing. This is what I got most from the day, that once my characters feel real and I know where I'm going, it is momentum that will fill the canvas and build the core elements of the book I'm trying to write.

Here are a few other observations I made during the day:

I thought in trying to write a lot in one day I might overwrite - the actual output if anything was lean. It will be built on, with additional colour edited into the core story. It will change by percentages, getting swapped about, added to, moved or dropped. I do think those percentages are considerably less than I might have expected.

Dialogue was fully realised within the needs of the story as it currently stands. There were some nuances, emotion and character inflections built around the dialogue but only those that helped the characters speak as I progressed. Once more additional colour and drama will be layered, again in lesser percentages than I expected.

By writing with momentum I was far more creative in how I told the story than I would be in ponderous mode. I think this is important for me at least in my thriller mission statement.

If I realised I needed to change previous content as I wrote, I only went back if it helped build the story. If it was just an edit I made a note and continued.

I have to see the physical environment in my mind to tell the story, so if I can't I have to stop and mentally build it. This I had to do twice during the day. Better planning would have overcome this. I knew I was going to be in these environments but realised while writing I needed more geographic detail.

Huge fun.

Shout out to Melissa Foster for providing the inspiration to attempt a 10k day.

Hunting Demons: Writing 10k in a Day

Taking the imagery that exists in my mind and producing prose that plays that imagery in other peoples minds, is a complex multi-layered process. The first layer is the hardest for me, which is the actual process of writing the first draft. Anyone who thinks an author sits hunched over a keyboard, massaging the keys with conductor like flourishes while producing sparkling jewels of literary treasure, has quite clearly never tried writing fiction.

The production of my first novel took three years, largely because I made so many mistakes and learned a lot of lessons.

For book two I'm on a tighter schedule. I need to have finished the first draft before the end of September (2013), preferably earlier. With a publish date scheduled for February 2014.

I'm currently behind schedule. This is in part due to my usual slow start while finding characters and voice, but it's also a product of my propensity towards over editing. While writing I will habitually comb back through the last few paragraphs and smooth them out. There is nothing about writing I enjoy more than editing, but with a whole book to write, these edits are a luxury I don't have. Especially when so much will change once the first draft is completed and 20% of those excessively edited paragraphs will be discarded, as I tend to over write in draft one too.

I have a number of writer friends who have studied the art of productive writing. One in particular will manage to produce ten thousand (10k) words, usually on about one writing day a week, 2-3k on normal days. 10k is often the total output of a good week for me.

My 10k specialist friend says preparation is key for the 10k day, with bullet points to hand for where the story will head, the themes and character goals. Then go for it.

Which is what I will be doing Saturday 8 June, my first 10k in a day attempt. I will Tweet occasional updates #amwriting10ktoday on my progress and blogging my considered thoughts after.

If anyone else has any productivity tips, I'm all ears.