Faster Novel Writing

Christine Nolfi reports:

"The most experienced scribe feels trepidation at the sight of a blank page waiting to be filled. As you develop your novel’s plot, invite the characters to chat with you. Write down random dialogue, events and POV descriptions (of other characters or events) directly into your document...As work progresses, continue adding random paragraphs and compelling fragments...[Y]our creative well, the lifeblood of your art, resides in your subconscious mind. Learn to welcome these random snippets...Paste them inside your document behind the chunk of completed chapters...Halting work in the middle of an argument works beautifully...Throw the parent and adult aspects of your ego out the window, and let your imaginative child steer your writing...Leave the Freudian analysis and all your grammar books locked in a safe until after [you’ve] written the first draft. The entire draft. Ignore this rule, and you shall never learn to fly...Too many novels die in Chapter Five (or Six, or Ten) because the writer has no real direction. Don’t stop writing—improvise...[T]here’s nothing you set down on paper today that can’t be edited, revised or removed during the read-through of your initial draft."