I'm doing 17 things
There are a few things I like to have handy before I start writing:
1. A brief, one-sentence pitch about what I’m writing. I write this down on an index card and put it in front of my desk, so if halfway through my book, I don’t forget what I’m writing and end up writing something else entirely.
2. A series of brief, one-sentence character sketches.
3. A chapter-by-chapter outline. Not everyone does this, and that’s OK. But I like structure, and I like heavy plots, so an outline helps me out tremendously.
Once I have all that, I try and find a focal point that will give me perspective. For example, this novella will be around 60-75 pages, which is roughly about the same size as an hour-long TV drama. Having that as my focal point will (hopefully) help keep the pacing sharp, and keep me from making the plot too heavy for the allotted word count (17,500 words).
I know a lot of people who write scenes as they come to them, but I prefer a linear structure. That means I’ll start on page one and push through until I reach the end. No jumping ahead, no staying behind to edit. Sure, this makes for more work in the editing stage, when I go back through and realize I’ve changed my main character’s name four or five times, but the way I see it, the first draft is the fun draft. It’s the only draft where anything can happen and usually does, so why suck the fun out of it? Written pages can be fixed; blank ones, not so much.
Right now, my goal is to write an hour a day, every day, until I’m done. (I like to measure my progress in time, rather than words, because a huge part of setting realistic goals is basing them on things that can be controlled, as opposed to things that can’t—like how many words I can churn out in a day.)
