Comments on: Time! Time! http://www.ninc.com/blog/index.php/archives/time-time The international organization of multi-published novelists Tue, 18 Jun 2013 18:39:57 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1 By: Bruce H. Johnson http://www.ninc.com/blog/index.php/archives/time-time/comment-page-1#comment-6631 Bruce H. Johnson Mon, 30 Aug 2010 15:15:43 +0000 http://www.ninc.com/blog/?p=5974#comment-6631 A self-imposed deadline is often very useful. Most of us can remember putting off that high-school report until the last minute, then pulling it off. Often, if we’d done any sort of decent research, we’d get a decent grade.

My older brother used to do his research and then dictate it to our mom who could type (manual typewriter) a lot faster than either of us could.

Try this while writing your first draft:
- Set a timer (no noise, please)
- Imagine part of the scene you’re going to write, usually about 2/3 of a finished page.
- Start the timer
- Write as fast as you can. No editing, let it rip.
- If you run into something that needs a bit of research, dump in a placeholder like ~~ or ** and do it later.
- When the timer ends, you’re done.
- Edits and reviews come in a different pass.

Yes, you’ll probably have plenty of typos, but more often you’ll find the phrasing, pacing and other stuff is right on the money.

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