How to finish the first draft ASAP
Many authors start working on their book ideas but for some or other reason didn’t finish them. And many took years to complete just one book. And many just have decided that they will write and publish a book but didn’t set the deadline, a goal without a deadline is just a wish.
If you ask any of them I am sure excuses will be one of these:
1. I didn’t find time
2. Writing block, means that you are not attached to the idea yet
3. Story is flat
4. Tons of other reasons
So people out there who haven’t decided on the completion of their first draft yet, I dare you to challenge yourself that you will complete your first draft at least in a certain time maybe a month or two. Because when your first draft is ready you will eventually publish it. Worst case scenario will be you will at least start writing the book, the best-case scenario will be your first draft will get ready by that time.
I have completed the first draft of my debut book “Wrath of KAAL” in mere 27 days. Yes, you have heard it correctly. My daily word count target was 1k to be achieved in under one hour. Thanks to my mentor who suggested I write in sprints which not immediately but eventually increased my speed to write around 400 words in 10 minutes, so to write 1000 words I just need 30 minutes daily.
If you are planning to write a 30k script so you just need 30 days or I say 30 hours. And plan a night before on which scene you gonna work the next day.
Any piece of writing requires discipline, time management, patience, and faith in yourself that whatever you are writing will help others.
First of all the idea should be close to your heart, that way you feel no burden when you sit to write. I am an animal lover so it was clear to me that I will write something related to animals because I also get exhausted by my 9-5 job but that idea makes me alive every time I talk/think about it.
I joined a course on how to write a book in June 2020 and from July 2020 onwards I have to start working on my idea. But I was scared, fearful enough to at least make the story outline. I tell you why because when I was to start writing the book the whole story/scenes were not ready-made in front of me. My mentor suggested outlining half the scenes and start the writing and on the way figure out the rest of the story.
In short, the whole story was out of my control, and we humans tend to do things that are under our control and feel very uncomfortable in dealing with things that are not in our control, same happened with me. I literally procrastinated for 2 months, in September 2020 I made the outline and started writing. That was the biggest writing block that I faced because I am not from a writing background. This was all new for me and I finally overcame it. Do you want to know how? Why I wanted to write the book, that was crystal clear for me, ‘to spread more awareness regarding animal abuse’. That pushed me every day that I should complete my daily target first thing in the morning.
Getting out the first draft asap is necessary because you will definitely lose interest if you
stretch the first draft for months.
Tips:
1. Create a reading habit
2. Clear a thorough outline in which each scene will consist of a summary of what will
happen in a paragraph + characters present + setting + time. Setting and time will help you
to describe the scene.
3. Find an accountability partner who will push you.
4. Create a thorough character profiling of the protagonist, this will help you when you took a break and while resuming you can directly refer to the profile to figure out what the character is thinking in the current scene.
5. First complete first draft, edit later on.
6. Hire a mentor if you like.
7. Set a tentative end, and plan your scenes reaching the predefined end, in the writing
process if you find a better ending then update it. Your readers will never come to know what was the initial ending :).
If you ask any of them I am sure excuses will be one of these:
1. I didn’t find time
2. Writing block, means that you are not attached to the idea yet
3. Story is flat
4. Tons of other reasons
So people out there who haven’t decided on the completion of their first draft yet, I dare you to challenge yourself that you will complete your first draft at least in a certain time maybe a month or two. Because when your first draft is ready you will eventually publish it. Worst case scenario will be you will at least start writing the book, the best-case scenario will be your first draft will get ready by that time.
I have completed the first draft of my debut book “Wrath of KAAL” in mere 27 days. Yes, you have heard it correctly. My daily word count target was 1k to be achieved in under one hour. Thanks to my mentor who suggested I write in sprints which not immediately but eventually increased my speed to write around 400 words in 10 minutes, so to write 1000 words I just need 30 minutes daily.
If you are planning to write a 30k script so you just need 30 days or I say 30 hours. And plan a night before on which scene you gonna work the next day.
Any piece of writing requires discipline, time management, patience, and faith in yourself that whatever you are writing will help others.
First of all the idea should be close to your heart, that way you feel no burden when you sit to write. I am an animal lover so it was clear to me that I will write something related to animals because I also get exhausted by my 9-5 job but that idea makes me alive every time I talk/think about it.
I joined a course on how to write a book in June 2020 and from July 2020 onwards I have to start working on my idea. But I was scared, fearful enough to at least make the story outline. I tell you why because when I was to start writing the book the whole story/scenes were not ready-made in front of me. My mentor suggested outlining half the scenes and start the writing and on the way figure out the rest of the story.
In short, the whole story was out of my control, and we humans tend to do things that are under our control and feel very uncomfortable in dealing with things that are not in our control, same happened with me. I literally procrastinated for 2 months, in September 2020 I made the outline and started writing. That was the biggest writing block that I faced because I am not from a writing background. This was all new for me and I finally overcame it. Do you want to know how? Why I wanted to write the book, that was crystal clear for me, ‘to spread more awareness regarding animal abuse’. That pushed me every day that I should complete my daily target first thing in the morning.
Getting out the first draft asap is necessary because you will definitely lose interest if you
stretch the first draft for months.
Tips:
1. Create a reading habit
2. Clear a thorough outline in which each scene will consist of a summary of what will
happen in a paragraph + characters present + setting + time. Setting and time will help you
to describe the scene.
3. Find an accountability partner who will push you.
4. Create a thorough character profiling of the protagonist, this will help you when you took a break and while resuming you can directly refer to the profile to figure out what the character is thinking in the current scene.
5. First complete first draft, edit later on.
6. Hire a mentor if you like.
7. Set a tentative end, and plan your scenes reaching the predefined end, in the writing
process if you find a better ending then update it. Your readers will never come to know what was the initial ending :).
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