How to Finish a First Draft in Six Weeks

Most people learn that I hand wrote the first draft of Marmalade Skies and immediately decide I'm a little bit crazy.

They're probably right.

For whatever reason, typing a first draft gives my brain permission to run wild. A simple story suddenly develops three extra subplots, a detailed magic system, and enough worldbuilding to support an encyclopedia.

Which isn't necessarily a bad thing.

I have an abandoned project complete with a runic language and its own monotheistic religion that I'm still quite proud of.

The problem is that finishing a book requires a different skill than starting one.

When I began Marmalade Skies, I gave myself six weeks and a hard deadline. I knew it was a story I could finish in that amount of time, and I knew the only way to keep myself on track was to handwrite it.

Writing by hand forces me to slow down. I spend less time editing as I go and more time moving forward. The physical limitation of pen and paper makes it harder for the story to balloon into something completely different.

Six weeks later, I had a complete draft.

Recently, I finished what I've affectionately been calling Draft 1.5—the process of typing that handwritten manuscript into a digital document. Now I can begin the work of revision, shaping the world and strengthening the story.

It turns out that sometimes the best writing hack isn't writing faster.

It's finding a process that helps you finish.