If you’re following me on Twitter, you’ll have noticed that my entire tweet campaign is geared towards those trying to write a novel in a month.
Essentially, it’s putting into practice Tom Clancy’s only advice on writing – “Write the darn book.” Well, he said something a little different, but I’m a professional and don’t use foul language.
Write the darn book. Plan out as much as you need to plan out to get your book written.
This is usually the day where people get disheartened, and begin to doubt they can do it.
The key is simple – write every day. You should have planned out – in advance – what scenes you were going to write. I learned this years ago from David Gerrold’s book “the making of the trouble with tribbles”, complete with his amusing little sketches. He was an advocate of 3X5 cards, and “Bill confronts Ted” written on the back. Then on the front, you fill in more information.
You’ll notice that Final Draft is set up like this, except the front is actually the Script itself.
Scrivener, the preferred program by most novelists, is set up this way too. Write the “bill confronts ted” on the index card, and the front side is the actual scene.
If you spent Oct. 30 filling out your 3X5 cards in Scrivener, then you’re good to go.
If not, you’ve got some catch up to do.
Write the darn book. December first, you’re going to be jumping for joy.
