How author Rachel Aaron wrote a novel in 12 days

Well, not quite. It was 15.

First read her essay “How I Went From Writing 2,000 Words a Day to 10,000 Words a Day”.  Now read about her 12 day triumph in “12 Days of Glory”.

Amen on the pre-writing! I’d be lost without it. LOST. Sketching out scenes beforehand makes them SO MUCH EASIER to write. I can focus on the delivery, characters, dialogue, etc. instead of the events. It frees my creativity to focus on other things. Sketching out a novel beforehand does the same for the whole book. I have a simple sketch of the scene I’m going to write today. There’s no dithering about what to write. I KNOW what I need to write. So I do another more detailed sketch, the pre-writing for the scene before I jump into the day’s work. When I get the scene in my mind, the draft comes so much more quickly.

Amen on time! I’ve found my mind is like a furnace: it takes time to get hot, and if I only dedicatetake small chunks of time, I’m forever warming it up. When I get 3-4 hours a day, I far more productive on a per hour basis than when I only get one.

Amen on enthusiasm! There’s nothing worse than trying to write something that bores me. I can’t do it. And her little method for reviewing scenes is very similar to what I do.

Great posts, Rachel! Now I just need to get back into my dedicated time groove.

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4 Responses to How author Rachel Aaron wrote a novel in 12 days

  1. Dave D says:

    John, thanks for sharing this. I love her analytical approach to addressing the problem of productivity. This takes the whole BICHOK thing to the next level.

    As always, I’m left wondering: where do you get all these great links? Thanks again for sharing!

  2. John Brown says:

    ESP, that’s how I get them

  3. Dave D says:

    I envy you that. 🙂 I’d love to see your full bookmark list. Have a great day.

  4. John Brown says:

    I don’t know what led me there, actually. But I read Kris Rusch’s and Konrath’s blog regularly. Then I get mediabistro, publishers weekly, and publishers marketplace emailed to me. I review the USA Today weekly best seller list each week. And I’ll drop in on other various spots.