How to Fast Draft Chapters

Writing quickly and effectively is a skill. One that is learned overtime. That said, you can also learn methods from writers who have figured out universal formulas, and I wanted to share one of mine today. 

How do I fast draft chapters? 

It starts with an outline. Personally, by the time I start writing my novel, I know where my book begins, the midpoint, and the ending, as well as a few places that I want to stop in between. This means that I end up with a scene-by-scene playbook. Granted, there’s a lot of details in some scenes, but also a lot of wiggle room for discoverability.

Once I have my outline, this is where fast drafting begins. 

Any time I sit down to write a chapter, my first step is checking my outline. Today, I’m writing Chapter Five in one of my WIPs. My outline is 3,783 words. This document includes what I know will happen for certain. I also have a document called Unorganized notes (896 words) and things I meant to add in previous chapters that didn’t work out naturally (139 words at the moment). I scan all three sections and piecemeal a solid chapter outline together. In this case, my Chapter Five is focused on introducing an important side character and how their goals both conflict and assist my protagonist. The cliffhanger is whether or not my protagonist will risk working with them in order to get the reward. The outline ends up being 312 words. It’s basically important dialogue and descriptions of what the characters do. 

How do I decide what makes a solid chapter outline?

If you haven’t read When to Begin and End Chapters, I recommend checking that out. 

Most importantly, I make three decisions: 

What is the question I’m asking at the beginning? What am I answering by the end? What is my cliffhanger?

Once I know these three key points of my chapter, I understand my overall theme, so I pick out a chapter title and start writing. From writing similar books in this age category and genre in the past, I know I want my chapters to be 2,000-3,000 words. In this case, I land at 2,290 words. It’s definitely a first draft. While writing, I also took some notes about things I might want to change as I continue the story. I also reconsider the parts that I couldn’t enter. After realizing I can fit them in, I end up with a 2,655-word chapter. I’m left with 109 notes that don’t fit naturally. (Right now anyway.) 

If I think it’ll be easily fixable during my first round of edits, I put it in the chapter notes. If not, I add it to my overall unorganized file. 

This is where my pantsing comes in. While I was writing the dialogue in Chapter Five, I realized a small detail that I could solve an arc issue by the end of the book. So I make more notes while I’m writing for future chapters. I take A LOT of notes. An overkill amount. Why? Because I’m pursuing traditional publishing, my agent could call any day and ask me to switch focuses on a deadline. That means I gotta drop this project, swivel to a different one, and I have no idea when I’ll be able to come back. I want to be able to pivot quickly and effectively. 

Granted, my agent didn’t call today. 

Since I just turned in a manuscript, I’m actually on a bit of a writing break, so I’m free to move into Chapter 6 with the same process. 

On average, I can get my individual chapter outline and chapter written in the 30-40 minute window I have before work. With one chapter done a day, I could finish a 70,000-word novel in a month. I consider that fast drafting. Others might not, but I’m perfectly happy with that pace.

Granted, what makes it even faster, is if I prep my individual chapter outline the night before. Meaning, I write my chapter in the morning, but I spend my evening doing prep for the next day. That increases my speed quite a bit. Enough so that I can afford a weekend without any writing and still finish a book around the 30-day mark.

That said, it’s more important to write well than fast. I definitely let myself slow down if things aren’t working out. But once I get three chapters bundled, I’ll send it to one of my critique partners, who knows I’m in first draft mode. I’ll keep writing while they’re reviewing.  

I love sending my first draft to a beta reader or two because they often spot fundamental issues that save me a ton of time. I will never forget writing an entire novel before sending it to someone, only for them to spot something that unraveled things early on. That edit was time-consuming and a mess. I don’t worry about that anymore. 

Having beta readers on my first draft is a perfect fail safe, especially when you’re fast drafting. 

Anyway, I hope this helps! 

~SAT