Not only am I a pantser, I'm also someone who fast drafts. Unfamiliar with 'fast drafting'? It's actually relatively simple. You, the computer (or a spiral notebook sometimes in my case), file of choice, a word count goal for the day and no distractions (yes, that means no television, no internet, no Facebook, no Twitter--though I do plug into music). You're allowed to make grammatical errors, you're allowed to make spelling mistakes, you
DO NOT revise and you're even allowed to not get hung up on things that "stick" you (my personal fav is using brackets as a placeholder).
I just write.
It's just me and the creative process--which I love.
It's also something that I've learned over time. Four years ago, I stated, very clearly that I would never be able to write over 2K words a day and I couldn't. It was a struggle for me to get that much even over a week. This past Saturday, I wrote 8K words in an afternoon--big evolution. Is this always my output--no. I don't expect myself to because it seems like an unrealistic goal for me personally. I do like to get around 2K words a day, but that doesn't always happen either.
A lot of fast drafting, for me, is simply getting my thoughts out on 'paper'. It clears the way for more information that I can get down on the same book, especially since I typically write shorter stories (my shortest published work to date is just a bit under 50K words).
I like to call it dumping my brain. LOL
Anyone have any other methods they swear by that they care to share?
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3 comments:
I wish I could do this. I am still at the write, revise, revise, revise, go back, revise, MOVE ON, DAMN IT! scribble, scribble revise, revise, revise stage. (It's like a sickness, I tell you.)
I can write about 3 K a day if I do it unplugged, which is so hard for me right now. I like the idea of this.
I have one hour to write a day and manage about 1k. I write in my car on my lunch hour.No internet or external distractions and I have my music. It works for me.