The One Tip that Helped Me Write 50,000 Words in Two Weeks

Wednesday, April 22, 2015

*coughs* I am not ashamed of this insanely long title.

So. You all read in this post about me going insane with Camp NaNoWriMo and writing 50,000 words in two weeks.

I know, it comes across as bragging, and I'm really not trying to phrase it that way. I was honestly surprised with myself that I was able to pound out so many words in such a small time, especially since I did NaNoWriMo last November and barely won. I am a fast typist, but I take lots of breaks when I write, thinking about the path the story's taking.

But I did something different for Camp. I used one, simple tip that prevented most of the "staring at the blinking cursor feeling frantic to write but just not sure where the scene should go." (It's a thing all writer's struggle with, believe me)

I planned the scenes I was going to write that day before I actually started writing.

That's it.

Every day before I plunged into my crazy writing world, I would either pull out a notebook or plan it in my mind. (Usually the latter, for who would want to go and get a notebook when you're completely comfortable on the couch?)

I thought/wrote three to four bullet points, no more than a sentence for each. For example:


  • Walk through forest. 
  • Save the injured horse. 
  • Find directions to the nearest exit.

This is not an outline for my novel, but you get the point. It takes no more than a few minutes, but is surprising how much easier it is to write with. Planning out the scenes prevented pauses in between Word Wars, and helps me to write faster in general. 

And though Camp is quickly coming to an end, it is never too late to catch up! Go Teen Writer's is having a week long Word War until Friday, so if you need that extra motivation, join the other awesome writers there!

- Katie Grace

Do you plan out anything before you start writing or do you just go with the flow? How are you doing in Camp? DO YOU REALIZE THAT THERE'S ONLY EIGHT DAYS LEFT? Major freak out time, right?

27 comments :

  1. That's a good idea (: I was having a scene list for my NaNoWriMo novel, but I haven't been doing it for camp...
    I really got to stop procrastinating and write (20k behing eek!)

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  2. IKR?! Eight days!!! It's like, oh, this will be done...until editing starts. lol! I've got almost 26k and about 4k left.. *gasps for breath* I've been doing word wars, tonss of fun! I got extra done for today, I should finish about three days early, if I hurry I can go even faster! Well, farewell, back to writing!

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    1. Editing. *shudders* Yeah. That. xD I usually like to take a break before diving into edits, so I won't have to start on that dreading task SO soon.
      Good luck to you! You're doing awesome.

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    2. lol! Yeah, I'll probably have a longgg break before I start that..I might even do that for camp in July-unless I get an idea that simply won't let me rest. ;) Thanks! Good luck to you too!

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    3. That's a good idea. I'll probably start editing in August... It's a long break, but I don't want to spend my summer editing. xD But we'll see. Maybe I'll get inspired.

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  3. This is incredibly amazing advice!! I usually don't outline, but seeing as how well it worked for you, I suppose I must try it.
    (P.S. I found your blog via Kingdom Pen...I love it! :) )

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    1. I hope it works for you! You'll have to let me know.
      Aw, thanks! :D I hope future posts will not disappoint.

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  4. I kind of wish I would have done this. I had multiple times when I was writing without any major direction and just knowing some spots in the future. I tried outlining! I made a valiant effort to keep an outline for this one! But I got so far, and I wasn't expecting to get that far in my plotline, and I ended up on the pansting side of plantsing. :P That led to... /unexpected/ circumstances. After that I didn't know where I was going, so I wound up doing some character sketches, background work, and worldbuilding. :P Once I had done a good bit of that, I felt that I needed to start working on my new outline. :P

    I'm glad that your Camping has gone so well, Katie! *tosses some confetti on you. It looks distinctly familiar. Probably the same stuff as you got buried in before. :P* Congratulations! :D

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    1. Hey, it's not too late to start. There's still a whole week left in camp...
      Heh. xP With my first novel I did absolutely /no/ outlining, and in the end suffered from that. Thankfully I managed to plan ahead a bit more with this one. :p

      *gets buried under confetti* *manages a mumbled, "thanks" underneath all the celebration*
      Aand, you're doing awesome, too, so you deserve confetti. xD *shoves confetti on you*

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  5. It seems so simple, but it's really a great idea! I don't always do this, but when I do it's a lot easier for me to get the words down. Great advice!

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  6. This is exactly what I do, and it's true, it works so much better writing out what you're going to write about beforehand. It's how I got through NaNo too. :)

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    1. Awesome! I'm glad to hear that it worked out with at least one other person. :p

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  7. This is a really good tip! I've done this an it's so helpful. Sometimes the scene goes differently than expected, but knowing basically where you're going helps prevent one from getting stuck so easily I've found. I'm finally caught up in Camp NaNo as of night before last. XD So I'm almost guaranteed to win! Yay! It will be my first year winning. I've done unofficial Camp NaNos but this will be my first official one lol.

    Stori Tori's Blog

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    1. Thank you!
      Ooh, congratulations!! That's really awesome. I'm glad your first official Camp NaNo went well. :D

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  8. Wow, that's impressive. I always seem to know what I'm going to write before I write it, it's just that I'm not always very interested in writing it and that's my problem. Still, congrats on writing 50,000 words in two weeks! That's quite an accomplishment!

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    1. Yeah. I get that, too. I've struggled with that a few times this month, where I know what I needed to write, but just didn't feel the story.
      Thank you for reading! :D

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  9. First off, 50 000 WORDS IN TWO WEEKS?! That deserves some bragging. Congrats!

    This tip is so effective! I've used similar strategies and always had good luck with them. It's much less daunting to just write down a couple of points than to outline a full story when you're on a time constraint.

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    1. Thank you so much. ^_^
      Very much so. And Camp NaNoWriMo is very time consuming. :p

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  10. I do this too. Every day at work (my job is more physical than mental) I literally write in my head word for word as though it's on paper. I take the lines I'm proudest of, and paraphrase the rest. It works out well for me- best method of writing I've used.

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    1. That works out. *nods* Then you can take away the planning and get to writing right away when you come home. :)

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    2. Yeah, it totally worked for me! Plus it made work less monotonous.

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  11. Oh my gargoyles, did you go to Pieology??

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