How to write a novel by working smarter, not harder

The fastest way to write fiction

Writing a novel is a monumental task! Most writers don’t get paid enough to write full-time. Most writers are balancing full-time jobs, children, school or family responsibilities. Writing is our side-hustle. That’s why it’s incredibly important to learn how to write smarter, not harder. We simply don’t have time to waste! Here are some tips to help you write smarter, not harder:

Outline your novel

You’re going to tell me that some people are Pantsers and outlining doesn’t work for everyone. I’m going to challenge that, a little. I used to think I was a Pantser too, but I was actually jumping to the drafting process because I didn’t know how to outline and I didn’t deeply understand story structure. The result was a draft that was in such bad shape that my revisions became tedious and never-ending. I ended up shelving my first two novels for this reason. Once I learned structure and outlining, I was able to finish a draft faster and easier and I had fewer revisions and drafts overall.

Now, that’s not to say everyone is in the same situation. But if you lay out your main plot points, story beats and character arc before you begin drafting, it will save you a ton of time in the revision process. Think of it as getting your skeleton or framework in place early on because it’s next to impossible to do that later. How you do it, is up to you. Maybe it’s a beat sheet, maybe it’s a list of the key turning points, maybe it’s a zero draft or maybe you do a little outlining and a little writing. If you’re going to fully Pants a novel, then you need to have a very intuitive understanding of story structure, character and how these two crucial elements weave and work together. Most new writers don’t have that understanding yet. That’s okay! Storytelling is a skill that takes time to learn, just don’t assume you’re the exception.

Make your writing process efficient

When writers don’t have a proper writing process in place, they can easily overwhelm and overwork themselves. Your unique writing process might take some trial and error to figure out, but generally, to be efficient, your process should follow this sort of pattern:

Outline or Zero Draft - Establish structure, plot and character arc (macro or big-picture story elements).

First Draft - Write out scenes, decide which parts of the story are scene vs. summary.

Second Draft - Solidify scene order, add/remove scenes that are/aren’t central to the plot/character arc, begin style edits.

Third Draft - Scene order and number + plot and character arc are firmly in place. Work on style edits such as voice, description, dialogue (micro story elements).

Trust your future self to perfect things

A huge time sink for writers is when they try to edit at the sentence level during early drafts. Resist the urge to do this and trust your future self to fix stylistic elements in later drafts. Why? Because you will likely end up deleting and removing scenes from early drafts. Spending too much time on style elements, such as descriptions, dialogue, voice and beautiful turns of phrase in first drafts will not only be a waste of time but will make it harder to delete these scenes if you need to. Writing smarter means keeping the above goals in mind for each draft. Your early drafts are for getting structure, plot and character arc in place. You may have style ideas that come out naturally, and that’s okay, just don’t go over style elements trying to make them perfect at this stage. That will prevent you from your goal of getting the big-picture/macro story elements in. Trusting your future self means you won’t get overwhelmed with the amount of work you need to do now and you’ll be spending your precious writing time on the right things.

When book coaching clients come to me for help, I take them through this specific writing process. I help them get structure/character/plot in early so they have fewer revisions later and so they’re spending their writing time efficiently. I help writers figure out what the story sructure is going to look like for their specific genre and unique story. If you’re a new writer without training, you likely need guidance to not only learn a process for faster/more efficient writing, but also to understand the complexities of story structure and how it might work for your story idea! Writers who have these skills will have an easier time reaching their writing goals and dreams! Get in touch to learn more about my coaching method.