Fast Drafting Diaries

in which I talk to you about how I'm attempting to draft an entire book by August 10th.

Hello, friends!

If I’m keeping up with time, ALL WE HUNGER FOR has been out for three weeks. I’m still processing all of my feelings about debut and the inevitable quiet after such an extraordinary joy. When I’m ready, I’ll share all my feelings on it. For now, just know that gratitude is coming out of every single pore.

For now, I want to talk to you about fast drafting and how I absolutely have to learn it in order to hit this deadline: August 10th. Originally, the deadline was for the 27th, but that definitely couldn’t happen because of debut week and… because of a little secret I’ve been holding onto. I’ll spill that information that the end!

Fast Drafting Prep

There’s no way I could hit my 20k goals without prep. I’m someone who needs a plan. I used to think that I needed to have every single beat in every single chapter outlined, but I’m learning that’s not the case—not for this book.

I started with a seven-layer plot dip that entirely changed when my editor suggested I cut a POV. That’s right, I’m writing a single POV for the first time in… years. Literal years. It forced me to reimagine the story and anchor the themes to a single character who could carry a reader through this journey. I’m so grateful for this note. It made the story come alive in a way I hadn’t anticipated, and it cleared away a lot of the clutter to cut so much deeper at the message I wanted to scratch at.

From there, I made a scene by scene outline to fit my new seven-layer plot dip. (If you’re not familiar with it, check out Turning to Story). This part of the process fought me, and I think it’s because I was just so thrown off by all the possibilities of how I could carry my characters through such immense change. The nature of this book is that, truly, anything is possible. I just needed to find what worked for my characters and their arcs.

That? That’s what allowed me to accomplish all I did this week.

Week One: The Words

My goal is to write 20k each week. I gave myself some very simple rules to accomplish this.

1. Try to write every single day. You cannot write all day every day, but you can write every day.

2. Listen to your body and soul. Walk, visit with friends, eat, nap. When you need a break, take a break. Find a place to add in words later.

3. Keep it fun. Outpace the critic in your head because you can fix it later.

That’s it. Three rules to keep my fingers flying across the keyboard.

After each session, I journaled about how I felt about the words, the process, and life in general.

Here’s the results.

Monday- 5,672— Admittedly, I was high on the energy of getting started! I’ve always been someone who treats Mondays with enthusiasm because I’m fully rested and there’s so much potential for the week. Also, I treated this like a mini-writing retreat at the library. Something about buying a coffee, leaving my house, and plugging in at a quiet table in the corner makes me lock in.

Tuesday- 2,987— Appointments in the afternoon kept me from writing all day, but I got up early and wrote my words in the morning. This follow Rule 1. Rather than get annoyed with appointments or responsibilities, I made space for them and writing.

Wednesday- 4,632— I went and grabbed a smoothie and took a walk with a friend. It was much needed both for my body and my soul. Moments like these keep me grounded in what’s really important. After, I carried that energy into two sessions in the afternoon.

Thursday- 2,583— I was exhausted this day, and I pinpointed that it was because I hadn’t been walking as much as I should. Yesterday’s jaunt in the park reminded me that I need to be caring for my body. Did I listen to this later in the week? No. Am I going to listen to it this week? Yes.

Friday- 1,968— I wrote in the morning with a friend at the library. I always feel energized when I’m working beside someone who also gets to work! However, the word count was kept short because I did an impromptu dinner with my parents. Again, I wanted to have dinner with them. I wanted to hang out and eat good food and laugh. I made room for it.

Saturday- 0— This was a hard day. Days like these sneak up on me at times. They’re days where I don’t realize I have a lot of pressure building up until the events are right in front of me. Saturday was the Gotcha Day for our dog Duck who passed away earlier this year. The reality of losing him and our beloved cat Mirana this year sort of collapsed on me. It also felt like a boiling point because my husband and I had made plans to celebrate him with Vander (our newest addition), but life got in the way. Rather than fully melt down, I talked it out with my husband, took a nap, and enjoyed a calm, rainy Saturday.

Sunday- 2,118— Because I chose to reset on Saturday, I was able to fully embrace Sunday. I got up early and crushed words before friends arrived to eat good food and play some Magic the Gathering. Again, making space in my brain and my schedule helps me stay balanced, especially in terms of expectations for myself and my work.

a week of words

Week One: What’d We Learn?

This is the reason I wanted to track my progress both in terms of productivity and in my heart. More and more, publishing requires authors to turn around deadlines at alarming rates. If you can learn to adapt your process for a faster pace, it can only help you.

Going into this, I knew I wouldn’t sacrifice joy. I wanted to feel good about my work. I wanted to learn. I wanted to revel in creativity because I haven’t written a first draft in years at this point. It is so important to me that I keep this love of the craft moving forward because I’m focused on longevity in the publishing industry.

How have I managed this? I learned something important to writing a first draft without every scene figured out. Characters must change in every scene. They can go forward, they can go backward, but they must change. Figure out the one issue your character has, and make every scene push them toward change.

For example, my main character doesn’t feel worthy of love. At the end of the day, all of her emotions sprout from not feeling worthy. When I feel her getting angry, I ask why she’s feeling angry in a scene, and I tie it back to that feeling of self-worth. Is she feeling guilty? Is she feeling selfish? Is she feeling insignificant next to another character?

I have my plot beats figured out. Now, I can fly by asking myself how my MC will respond to these events. I think this is possible because I spent a ton of time mapping out my characters. I know their backgrounds, their worst fear, their misbeliefs, and their deepest (unconscious) desires. Now, everything revolves around that, and I can create with wild abandon. Going into drafting, did I know that my MC and her father used to sit on the rooftop of their apartment as a way to decompress? Nope. Did I know that her family used to house dinners for the entire apartment? Nope. Did I know one the boy she meets has an obsession with suits? Not at all. I figured all these things out because they connect deeply to the heart of these characters.

Stay tuned for next week’s diary!

The Leftovers

1. I watched The Drama, and I’m so glad I went into it not knowing anything. What an incredible film that does the absolute magic of making the audience feel what the characters are feeling, PLUS that connects to the theme?! Genius.

2. I also watched Widow’s Bay, and it is the perfect example of a show that feels like the writers and actors had a blast creating. It’s a weird genre-mashup, and I’m depressed the second season isn’t here yet.

3. I hurt my back moving an unwieldy table yesterday, so now I’m at the laptop with an IcyHot patch and a sore pride.

4. The news? Oh. Yes. I’m waiting to announce on Instagram, but somehow your girl swindled her way into being invited to San Diego Comic-Con! I’ve got some major imposter syndrome I’m fighting against because I’m literally surrounded by powerhouses of the industry, but I’m so damn grateful for this opportunity! I’ll be participating in four events throughout the weekend. Also, I’ll be posting a newsletter afterward to talk about what this means to the nerdy, impoverished version of me who never dreamed she’d make it to Comic Con as an attendee let alone a guest. Wild.

That’s all for now! I have words to write!

Anna