Write a Short Story in a Weekend - CH 3
Writing the Draft
Chapter 3 - Write the Draft
Your goal at this point, is completion, not perfection. Perfection is the icing on the cake, but you must get the cake mixed and baked first. Obviously, no one would try to decorate a cake before it was finished in the oven.
Write in sprints, that is to say, short, manageable pieces of time that will not wear you down, because you are always in sight of the horizon. Let your momentum and focus be your friend.
Keep your Dialogues & Details simple in the beginning. Refine them later. Dialogues are like the people who speak them. Sme can ramble on and on. And details can be just as precise as you let them be, or as simple as you want. Never describe with “blah, blah, blah,” what you can say with “blah, blah.”
PRO Tip - Trust your instincts. Writing fast lets your creativity flow more freely.
Write It at Lightning Speed
At this point you need to let go of the reins, and go pedal to the metal. Writers need to blast through the first draft, focusing on momentum not perfection.
Set the Scene
Create a focused environment. Turn off your phone notifications. Grab your timer, and pick your favorite tools like your pen, or your laptop.
Use the your outline from Chapter 2 as your gyroscope or GPS for quick directions as you fly through this part of the process.
Momentum Hacks
Start with dialogues or actions. These often flow faster for me than do descriptions.
I have even been known to skip over the slower details and just write a place holder like “more details here.“
Aim for sprints of 30 minutes of uninterrupted writing at a given time. They will add up painlessly.
Last Words.
Write Ugly, Write Fast the draft doesn’t have to shine—it just has to live. "Perfect is for revisions.” and “Done is better than perfect."
Celebrate Mini-Wins Break the story into chunks, by the scene, or by the paragraph. Finishing each is a victory!