Tips for Fast, Clean Drafting
We all want to write faster, right? We dream of those marathon writing days where words flow effortlessly, the story falls into place, and by the end, we’ve got a manuscript that’s nearly ready for submission. But here’s the thing: speed alone isn’t the secret sauce.
Let’s break it down:
1. Words Per Hour (WPH):
This is the metric most of us focus on. How many words can you crank out in an hour? If you’re anything like me, you’ve probably tried to push this number as high as possible. I’ve had days where I’ve hit 3,000 words per hour in sprints that left my keyboard smoking. But that’s not the whole story. There are plenty of writers who produce fewer words per hour yet consistently publish more books. How? By mastering the next two factors.
2. Hours Worked:
It’s not just about how fast you can type; it’s about how long you can keep that pace going. Writing is a bit of an endurance sport. Some days, I’m in the zone for hours, knocking out page after page. But other days, a 10k day leaves me absolutely wiped. The key is building your writing endurance so you can sustain longer periods of focused work. Tools like Brain.fm can help you stay in the zone longer by sharpening your focus and stretching out those productive hours.
3. Post-Draft Hours Spent:
Here’s the part that often gets overlooked: how much time are you spending cleaning up after those speedy writing sessions? This is where many writers lose precious time. If your first draft is a hot mess of typos, tangled sentences, and half-baked ideas, you’ll spend hours—maybe even days—cleaning it up. And that’s time you could have spent writing your next book.
The Secret to Faster Writing:
The real trick to boosting your overall writing speed isn’t just cranking out more words per hour or working longer hours—it’s producing cleaner drafts. The closer your first draft is to a finished product, the less time you’ll spend revising, and the faster you’ll be able to move on to the next project. This doesn’t mean you need to slow down or stop dictating or sprint-writing. It means you need to develop the skill of drafting strong prose right out of the gate.
Pro Tip: Focus on Storytelling Speed:
Your storytelling speed—the pace at which you can come up with the next part of your story—is critical. If you find yourself getting stuck, try tools like Flowstate or the Most Dangerous Writing App. These apps force you to keep writing by deleting your words if you stop typing for too long. It’s a bit extreme, but it can be a game-changer for staying focused. The faster you can make decisions about your story, the faster you’ll write—no endless backspacing or second-guessing.
Remember:
The fastest writers aren’t necessarily the ones who can type 100 words per minute; they’re the ones who can tell a coherent, compelling story on the first try. If you can cut down on post-draft editing by drafting more carefully, you’ll not only write faster but also produce stronger books.
Learning about how to improve your story-telling — reading how-to books, blogs, and other sources that teach the techniques of fiction — will help you produce better stories first time out.
So, yes, write fast, but also write smart. Practice drafting cleanly, stay focused, and learn to love the revision process—because the fewer hours you spend cleaning up, the more hours you’ll have to create something new.
