Scott King - The Five Day Novel: The How To Guide For Writing Faster & Optimizing Your Workflow

S o here we meet again unless youve never read any of my books. In that case, what up? Im Scott King. Its great to have you aboard. Im really excited about The 5 Day Novel, but we need to put our cards on the table before you jump into it.

This book is not a how-to book on craft. The 5 Day Novel is about workflow, time management, and planning. I touch upon some craft topics here and there, but if you are looking for something deeper about the craft of writing, then checkout my book Finish the Script! or keep an eye out for my future releases. I have several craft-related books on the way!

The 5 Day Novel is structured so that you as the reader can follow the assignments listed within it and write your own novel in five days. I suggest that you first read this book in its entirety, and then, when you are ready to do your own 5 Day Novel, use the checklist at the end of each chapter to guide you on your journey.

I will warn you here and in a few other places: Writing a novel in five days is crazy. There are few good reasons to do it. If you are a sane person, you might gain more from reading this book, seeing how I streamlined my process, and where applicable apply those techniques to your own workflow. With so few good reasons, why did I write a novel in five days? Well, the stupid answer is pretty obvious. I wanted to see if I could.

Over the past year, Ive been trying to be a bit more social in indie writing circles. Along the way, Ive learned that romance is the hottest genre to write. Romance readers devour novels, and authors, to stay relevant and successful, often crank out multiple books a month.

Ive heard tales of romance authors who type so much that they have blisters on their fingers or that they have to ice their wrists while typing because of repetitive stress injuries! I attended an author meet-up once, and a woman mentioned how hard it was to remove blood stains from a keyboard.

Earlier this summer, I wrapped a 110k word epic fantasy novel that took me six months to write. I was feeling pretty good about myself. Then I learned that there were these kick butt romance authors who can put out that many words each month. It made me feel lazy and uncommitted to my writing.

Im not into machismo and that kind of fronting, but I like to know my limits, both physically and as a creator. Hearing that some of these authors can finish a draft for a 50k-word novel in a day or two blew my mind, and naturally my thoughts progressed to asking myself, could I write 50k words in a single day?

I knew writing a novel under such a tight deadline wouldnt be solely about typing fast. It would take extreme planning, quick decision making, and perfecting my workflow.

The more I thought about it, the more I knew I had to try. I had to see if I could write 50k in a single day, but I wanted more than that. I wanted to write a book from concept to polish, and when I estimated the time, I decided I could do it in five days.

The rules for a 5 Day Novel were simple. I had 120 consecutive hours to write a book. There needed to be multiple drafts, and I wasnt allowed to start working on the creative aspects of the book until that clock started ticking. So that meant no plotting, character creation, or any story-related brainstorming until I officially began the challenge.

Even though I wasnt allowed to work on the creative aspects of the challenge until it started, I still had plenty to do that was important for getting into the right mindset. Thats what DAY ZERO is about. If you are new to writing, or still trying to find your voice, then make sure you take a peek at it. If you are a seasoned author who has been around the block, I suggest skipping ahead to DAY ONE.

No matter if you are crazy like me and decide to take the five-day challenge, or if you are more sensible and plan to do it at your own pace, good luck. Writing is never easy, and whether you succeed or fail, know that you are never alone.

T his book is full of advice. Some is based on my personal experience, but most of it is from working with students and seeing what works with them. What you need to remember, more than anything else, is that all writers are different.

What works for one person creatively might not work for someone else. I cant count the number of people who have told me over the years that, if I logged my daily word count, it would help me write faster. It doesnt. I loathe numbers, and when I tried to log my word count, it annoyed the heck out of me and made me write more slowly. Does that mean logging word counts is bad? No, It means that its not for me.

A large part of becoming a writer is about figuring out what works best for you. You will see a lot of books and classes mention the rules of writing, and if you have only one take away from reading this book, I hope you learn that there are no rules. There are no rights or wrongs with writing. The only thing that matters is finishing your novel.

If to finish your novel you have to write by hand on a yellow legal pad while sitting in a park? Thats fine. If you have to get up and write every day at exactly 4:58 a.m. Thats fine too. If you like to journal before jumping into your daily writing, there is nothing wrong with that as long as it works for you.

No matter what I tell you in this book, and no matter what anyone else tells you, please remember that the only right way to write is the way that allows you to complete your book.

T o be a writer , you have to decide that you are a writer. This revelation comes to authors at various stages in their journeys.

I knew a long time ago that I wanted to tell stories, but because Im severely dyslexic, I thought Id make a career working as a screenwriter instead of being an author.

While I was in high school and college, I worked on a dozen or so movies, and for grad school, I was ready to move to Los Angeles. The plan was to go be a minion and work my way up the ladder from an assistant to a working screenwriter. Then my dad, who had been chronically sick, got worse, and I decided to stay closer to home to help out.

It was a hard time emotionally. I knew if I left to follow my dreams that I would regret going. I would always feel guilty that I should have been a better son and done more for him. In the end, I made the right choice for me, but it hit me hard because without being in California and pursuing screenwriting, I lost a bit of my identity.

For almost ten years, it was the plan, and without it, I didnt know who I was creatively. It took me a long time to realize that writing is writing. Even if I couldnt be a screenwriter, I could still tell stories if I changed mediums. Thats when I started to pursue comics and novels and started to think of myself as a writer instead of someone trying to be a screenwriter.

If you want to be a writer, you have to decide for yourself what that means. To me, it means that I sit in front of my laptop or desktop and write novels about fat dragons, or living gummy grizzly bears, and books like this.

Lots of people feel that being traditionally published makes them a writer, but Id like to point out that being published is external validation. Yes, having a book published may make you an author, but being a writer is different. To be a writer, all you have to do is write.