Shéa MacLeod - Write Novels Fast: Down and Dirty Draft

Write Novels Fast:

Down and Dirty Draft

Sha MacLeod

Write Novels Fast:

Down and Dirty Draft

Copyright 2017 Sha MacLeod

All rights reserved.

Printed in the United States of America.

The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.

Chapter 1

The Down and Dirty Draft

A re you baffled by how some authors can write six, eight, or more novels in a year while you struggle with finishing just one or two?

Are you stuck on that first chapter (or any chapter), writing and rewriting until its perfect?

Are you lost in a never-ending loop of research before you put pen to paper (or keyboard to screen)?

Then what you need to get Down and Dirty.

No. That isnt a euphemism. Its a method I use to finish novels quickly so I can move on to polishing them, editing them, and making them shine with magic and glitter. Its something anyone can learn to do.

Yes, that means you! In this book, were going to discover how to get that first Down and Dirty Draft done so you can write more, write faster, and still turn out great stories.

If you read my first book, Write Novels Fast: Writing Faster With Art Journaling, you already know my method for plotting. Its step one in speeding up novel writing. The Down and Dirty Draft is step two.

Youre probably asking yourself, What exactly is a Down and Dirty Draft?

Glad you asked.

A Down and Dirty Draft is just what it sounds like: The first draft of a novel. Its rough. Its ugly. And it will likely never see the light of day (or at least you hope not because, oh my, the blackmail material). Its not meant to look fancy. Its not meant to read pretty. Its meant to be written fast and furiously so you can get that story out of your head. Because its what comes after the first draft that makes a story shine and turns a rough draft into a novel worthy of publishing.

The faster you can get that first draft done, the quicker you can move on to the next step.

And since youve got to do rewrites and edits anyway, why waste time polishing and polishing and polishing a first draft until your head explodes?

Youre probably wondering about now what my qualifications are. Why should you listen to me? I published my first novel in June of 2011. Since then (Its currently July of 2017), Ive written and published thirty-eight titles. Thats right. Thirty-eight. Thats over six titles per year (and this doesnt include works in progress).

Some of those novels have hit the Top 100 in the overall Kindle Store on Amazon. One was #1 in Australia. #1 in the entire Kindle Store! I hit the bestseller lists on iBooks awhile back. Been nominated for awards. But most importantly, my method has helped other writers like me to become more prolific without losing quality. Thats a win-win, if you ask me.

So, keep reading. Lets get Down and Dirty!

Why A Down and Dirty Draft?

The question you may be asking yourself right now is, Why do I need to write faster? Arent one or two books a year enough? After all, G.R.R. Martin only writes one book every seven years!

Okay, sure. If youre G. R. R. Martin, you can write one book every seven years and make bank, but for the rest of us mere mortals, we dont get to play in that league. Whether youre strictly self-publishing, going the traditional route, or combining the two into hybrid author-dom (as did yours truly), more books means more money. Readers want more and they want it fast . If you dont give it to them, they will move on. This is especially true of romance, but can be applied to all genres of fiction.

Getting as many books out as quickly as possible increases your chances of building a readership and making a living (or at least supplementing your income) with your writing. If you want to make writing a career, publishing every six months or a year isfor a vast majority of authorssimply not going to cut it.

So, I guess, what you must ask yourself is, What are my writing goals? If this is a hobby and youre happy putting out one book a year and making what you make, great! Go with that. If thats going to work for you, dont force yourself into doing something that doesnt make you happy or fulfilled. BUT...

If your goal is to make this thing happen. To create a writing career or take an existing writing career to the next level, then writing more books is the number one way to do that. You can market until youre blue in the face, but if youve only got one or two novels out, theres nowhere for a reader to go.

When you can promote the heck out of book one with five or six more novels in that series, that is gold my friends. Thats the goal. To get a backlist and get it fast. Plus, the more books you have out, the more likely you are to make money. One book selling ten copies a day at $2.99 will make about twenty bucks a day. But ten books selling ten copies a day will make ten times that. Its all about the math.

The money is in the backlist.

Chapter 2

Getting Started

I f youve read Write Novels Fast: Writing Faster With Art Journaling , you already know my method for plotting that will seriously speed up your writing even if youre a pantser . I highly recommend plotting this way. But if that doesnt work for you, thats okay. Plot your own way. But I strongly suggest beginning with at least some kind of vague outline so you know where youre going.

For the actual writing, I like to use a program called Write Way Pro. It was designed by a romance novelist and I like how it works. Its similar to Scrivener, so maybe you prefer to use that. Or you might be an MS Word person. Doesnt matter. Whatever program you like to use for your actual writing, use that.

Write Way Pro, like Scrivener, allows you to create chapter folders with individual scenes which can be swapped around at will. I find this great for rewrites because sometimes a scene needs to take place earlier or later in the book. Its much easier to do that with a writing program than with something like Word. Also, the program keeps track of my word count and how close I am to meeting my deadlines and so on. Which I love. Im pretty firm about my deadlines.

But I digress. Writing the Down and Dirty Draft is actually quite simple, but its not easy. It may seem easy, but in fact you are going to have to retrain your brain to behave itself and stick to the plan. Especially if youre the type of writer who likes to rewrite a chapter over and over or gets stuck on a single sentence for hours.