Five Points to the Beginning, Middle, and End |
I found the last Hack Your Writing lesson very helpful in my writing, they talked about needing five things in each of the three sections of your book (the 3 sections of course are the beginning, middle, and end) you need the inciting incident, progressive complications, crisis, climax, and resolution. I did this for my book and it helped immensely. So, since I'm on a free printable spree XD I made a chart type thingamagig that you can download and fill out for your own books using that as a guideline. ~Leggy
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Hey, Sabrina aka Leggy here. I listened to this short audio segment to check for foul language and inappropriate content. There is one bad word just to warn you, but I thought the rest of the content was good. In this lesson, I'm going to save you months of your life!
I was recently talking with my friend Shawn Coyne, author of The Story Grid, and I asked him how you can know your story is any good before wasting 80,000 words trying to write it. I recorded it, so click here to hear what he said (it's less than 5 minutes long). Enjoy! Tim P.S. Monday is the big day! Several months ago I did a survey asking what you needed help with, and more than anything else, you said you need help getting your writing done. So over the last few months I've put together my new program, The Productive Writer. It's everything you need to organize your life, get your writing done, and move towards your goals of being a full-time writer. I'll tell you all about it on Monday, so stay tuned. See you then! In Lesson 6 of the Hack Your Writing Course he mentioned the Hemingway Editor. I checked it out and it's really cool! Here's another link to the webpage. Go check it out!
What’s your goal for Hack Your Writing? When you signed up, what were you hoping to learn?
As I put together the content for this course, I focused solely on the biggest question you’re asking yourself right now … “How can I get more writing done?” Whether it’s beating procrastination, planning out your book, or typing faster, the focus is on getting your words down, so you can finish your book and publish it. Today, I’m going to share several fun apps and tools that my writer friends and I use to get more writing done. But first I want to tell you something. Over the last eight years, I’ve committed myself to learning everything I can about becoming more productive and efficient with my time. We’re given such a short amount of time on this Earth, and I wanted to make sure I didn’t waste it. While on this quest, I’ve had the opportunity to work alongside hundreds of authors. They’ve shared with me the methods they use to get their writing done, launch books, and grow a successful writing career. I would glean their tips and add them to what I was also doing. As I started writing and talking about these things, I found that there is a hunger for this knowledge. Every writer is struggling with writing and publishing their books. Every writer is desperate to beat the demons holding them back from their goals. The evidence is right here, in this Hack Your Writing course: I’ve had more people sign up for this than any program I’ve ever created! Back in the spring, I sent out a survey asking what you needed help with, and the resounding response was, “Help me get my writing done!” I took that seriously. I began putting everything I know about helping writers get their writing done into one package. This coming Monday, you’ll get the first chance to see all of it in my new program, The Productive Writer. I’m so excited to share this with you for the first time. It’s packed with everything you need to finally start completing your books and reach your dreams of being a full-time writer. I’ll share a lot more about it soon, but make sure you pay attention to the next few emails, so you don’t miss any of it. Along the way, I’ve found a lot of different apps and tools that writers use to get their writing done. Here are some of my favorites:
These are some of the tools I use to get my writing done. Add them to your arsenal, and you’ll get your writing done too! Tim P.S. The other day I was talking with my friend Shawn Coyne, author of The Story Grid, and we were discussing whether there was a way to test your book ideas to find out whether they were any good before you invested months of your life and tens of thousands of words. He gave me some killer advice based on his 20 years of editing experience. I’ll share that with you in the next lesson … How can we increase our word count? Productivity is all about efficiency.
How can we get more written in less time? Whether I’m writing blog posts, emails, fiction, or nonfiction, I write an average of 1,000 words per hour. For most writers, that’s lightning fast. But even if you’re already writing fast, we want to know how we can increase our efficiency to make sure we’re getting the most out of our limited amount of writing time. Here’s what I’ve done to increase my word count per hour: 1. Know what you’re writing before you start. If you approach your writing time without knowing what you’re writing next, it’s much too easy to flail around and procrastinate instead of typing. So before I sit down to write, I’ve already made a decision about what I’m working on next. 2.a. Only write forward. Ernest Hemingway once said to F. Scott Fitzgerald, “Write the best story that you can and write it as straight as you can.” Another quote, often misattributed to Hemingway, was “Write drunk; edit sober.” Please don’t actually write while drunk. The point is that writing and editing are two very different things, and should be done separately. When you are writing, write forward. Don’t edit while you’re writing. Don’t tweak. Don’t change, and change, and change again that line of dialogue. Your goal should be to keep up with the muse. Save the fixing for your first round of editing. 2.b. Note things to add or fix. In the first lesson of Hack Your Writing, I shared Hugh Howey’s BOOKMARK technique, along with my NOTE technique. If you’re rolling through your first draft and hit a wall, simply note it and come back to it later. If you need to do some research before you can adequately describe something, simply insert “[NOTE: Research!]” and come back to it later. If you hit a scene that you can’t figure out how to write yet, simply insert “[NOTE: Write the scene where he asks for forgiveness].” And then keep writing forward. 3. Ruthlessly cut out all distractions. A friend of mine recently hacked an old MacBook to delete the Safari internet browser, then deleted every app on the computer except for Scrivener (for writing) and Evernote (for referencing research). This makes it impossible to get distracted by Wikipedia or a random instant message. I get up early in the morning — usually 4:15 am — so my writing happens when there are no phone calls, text messages, children, spouse, or … well, pretty much anything to answer to besides writing. Ruthlessly cut things out of your life that might keep you from writing. 4. Learn to type faster. In the past nine months, my typing speed has increased by more than five words per minute. That means for every hour of writing time, I can type 300-plus more words than I could a year ago. Of course, I’m not typing at full speed at all times, but even just an extra 100 words per hour can make a significant impact to my word count. If you’re a slow typist, pick up some software that will teach you how to type faster. Or, if you’re like me and already type pretty fast, consider switching from the QWERTY keyboard to the Colemak layout. It’s excruciating at first, but it makes a big difference in the long run. (This training method by Josh Kaufman is what I used.) Learning to type faster will increase your writing productivity for the rest of your life! You may be thinking I’m crazy for spending the months it took to learn an entirely different keyboard layout like Colemak, but that’s been my level of dedication to increasing my productivity. And starting next week, you get to benefit from my obsessiveness about getting more done. I’ve put together everything I’ve learned along with the tips and tricks from the top writers I’ve worked with, into a new course titled The Productive Writer. This 5-week course will help you break out of your writing blocks and negative mindsets. It will free you up to build a daily life that ensures that you get your writing done and experience the success you’ve always wanted, but never seemed able to reach. I’ll tell you more about this next Monday, but stay with us, because I have more free lessons coming as part of the Hack Your Writing course. Tim P.S. I’ve got several more great apps and tools to share with you that will help you get more writing done. That’s coming up next, so hang in there! OK … I was going to wait to share this, but after the last lesson when Michael Bunker shared how he uses distraction to get more writing done, I’ve got to counteract that with some sanity. Here’s the thing.
We’ve all done it. We want to start writing, but tell ourselves we’ll just check Facebook really quickly before we get started. And half an hour later, we’ve lost our precious writing time, staring slack-jawed at pictures of cats dressed as humans. Or wizards. Or superheroes. And yes, they’re adorable. But they’re keeping us from writing our book and hitting our daily word count. So what can you do? Kill the Newsfeed! I love messaging people. I love checking in on Facebook groups. And I love keeping track of anyone who’s tagged me in a post. But it’s the newsfeed that distracts me and millions of other writers! So kill it! Here’s how: If you’re using Chrome, it’s really easy with the News Feed Extractor. On Firefox and Safari, use this handy Quiet Facebook hack. Here’s what happens: All the best parts of Facebook, without the distractions! So that’s one way to quiet the distractions, but how can we actually move forward with our writing? My friend Todd Henry, author of Louder Than Words and Die Empty, has an actual real-life, non-tech hack that he uses, which he explains here: “There is really only one tool that has been thoroughly indispensable in my writing process. I’m not talking about Scrivener, which is the app I use to do all of my drafting. I’m also not talking about Evernote, which is where I capture the majority of my research for the books. No, This tool is decidedly less sexy than either, but infinitely more adaptable and useful in a pinch. Index cards. I carry them with me everywhere. They are cheap, ubiquitous, and boot up faster than any app on my phone. (For anyone who cares about such things, I also carry with me a Pilot G-2 .38 ultra-fine pen for note-taking.) In a world of apps, sync, and nearly omniscient search, why would I rely on something as low-tech as index cards? They’re cheap and durable. I can grab a handful of them, stick them in my pocket, and use them throughout the day. When I return to my office, I can toss the important ideas and notes into my inbox for later review and filing. They’re non-sequential. The problem with using notebooks for note-taking is that all notes are in sequential order, whether or not they make sense that way. With index cards, I can rearrange insights and ideas into any order that makes sense later. I can also file them in any order that meets my needs. They exist in real life, not just virtually. While I use apps for some note-taking purposes, I’ve discovered that it’s easy to lose track of an insight or idea later, because there’s no physical reminder in real life. They live somewhere in a database, but unless I look for them I’ll never find them. An idea on an index card is a physical reminder of the circumstance that led to the idea. One of the coolest gifts I’ve received was from a gentleman at an event in Ottawa where I was speaking. In my talk, I professed my love of index cards, and he approached me afterward and said he had something for me. It was a leather wallet with room to place an index card on the front, and a stash of blank ones in a pocket on the back side of the wallet. Now I simply slip this card wallet into my back pocket when I head out for the day, and I’m fully stocked with a fresh stash of index cards for my research and meetings. While I love (LOVE!) new technology, I’ve discovered that my best insights are often the result of my use of decidedly low-tech tools. Give it a try!” Today’s lesson came with two great hacks:
Also, I want to let you know about a new course I’m working on, called The Productive Writer. After years of working with highly successful, prolific writers, I’ve developed a great system that will help you finally take control of your life, get your writing done, and not die without ever reaching your goals in life. I’m excited to share it with you for the first time, and I’ll be sending you more info on that soon. Until then! Tim P.S. I write an average of 1,000 words an hour. When I tell most writers this, they can barely believe it. In the next lesson of Hack Your Writing, I’ll share my exact process for getting so much writing done in a short period of time. Some of the tips will surprise you. This is the one I cringe about sharing. I talk about social media a lot. And 99% of the time, I’m talking about its negative effects.
But then Michael Bunker, bestselling author of Pennsylvania and Brother, Frankenstein, comes along and changes it up. Here’s how he uses Facebook to increase his productivity: “Give yourself the opportunity to divert from procrastinating into work! No matter what kind of writer you are, you’ve probably suffered from writing avoidance. Call it what you will ... procrastination, writer’s block, fear of failure, whatever. We all suffer from an intermittent lack of motivation at times that can be founded in fear, doubt, anger, preoccupation with the cares of the world, just about anything. Heck, I get dragged into Wikipedia and can disappear for hours with no problem at all. I am one of those rare and blessed creatures who gets to write full time for a living—which means that I don’t have a boss telling me what I have to have done and when. Every so often, I’ll have to work on a deadline, but not usually. This means that, if you’re like me, whole days can pass without my doing any really substantive writing ... if I’m not careful. I can easily fall into a black hole in the internet, following some YouTube, Facebook, or Wikipedia rabbit trail, and not surface until a day has gone by without my working on my next novel. Here is how I shortcut that tendency to not write ... Before I do any of my internet “stuff,” I shrink down my web window and pair it on my desktop with an open window showing what I’m supposed to be writing. I find that when I have the writing there before me while I’m surfing the interwebs, I often gravitate over to the work side of the ledger, without even knowing I’m doing it. I see that page sitting there when I’m waiting for a Facebook reply or a Tweet from someone, and I get drawn into writing or editing. Sometimes I didn’t even intend to do any serious writing, and I’ll find myself 2,000 words into some new stuff, without even realizing it! You’d be surprised at how many words I knock out without even really realizing that I’m working during my breaks from procrastinating. Try it for a few days. I think you’ll find it works for you too!” So there you have it. A tip from a successful, prolific writer who embraces his procrastination instead of fighting it. While that may work for you (and Michael), I still want to give you a few hacks that can help beat procrastination for good. Soon I’ll be sharing one of my favorite apps that keeps me on task and writing. To your word count! Tim P.S. Did you know that not every writer uses apps and electricity-sucking devices to be productive? Crazy, right? In the next lesson, I’m going to share with you one writer’s favorite non-tech productivity tool. In the first lesson, we talked about a hack that keeps you moving forward in your writing.
But what about those procrastinators among us who can’t seem to make ourselves type the first word? How can you make yourself sit down and immediately start writing? The following advice may sound a little odd, but if you embrace the weird and give it a try, it’ll work for you. I do my writing first thing in the morning. I only have an hour to get my words down so I need to make sure I get started quickly. Of course, what delays my writing more than anything is my fear of getting started. The first sentence is always the hardest. I fidget and decide to make coffee. Sit down with my coffee, fidget some more, and decide I need to use the restroom. After that, I decide to check Facebook just one more time before getting started. To break that cycle, here is something I’ve learned: Make writing the first sentence automatic. I have a system for breaking the delay on getting started. You’ll have to set aside three hours one day but once it’s done it will save you enormous amounts of wasted time in the future. Here’s my system:
That is what this exercise will do. If you do this for a solid three hours, it will become normal to sit down to write and immediately start typing. I told you it was weird, but I promise it will make a big difference in beating your procrastination. Give it a try and let me know what you think! Tim P.S. In the last email I told you about an author that uses distracting himself with Facebook to increase productivity. While this goes against everything I believe about social media, I’m going to share it with you anyway in the next lesson. Welcome to Lesson #1 in the free Hack Your Writing course!
I’ve met a lot of writers. A few of them are prolific. But nobody has quite compared to Hugh Howey, mega bestselling author of Wool and many other books. No author I know can write the amount of words he can in a day. A couple years ago, Hugh participated in NaNoWriMo, the yearly event where writers try to complete an entire 50,000 word novel in just 30 days. Hugh finished in 13 days. That’s 3800+ words a day. So if Hugh gives advice on getting your writing done, I take it! Here’s what he says: “I have a funny little writing habit. Well, I have a bunch of them, but one is this habit of writing BOOKMARK anyplace I need to come back to the text to clean something up, add a scene, or pick up with tomorrow’s writing. That way, I can just search “bookmark” and find the next thing I need to work on. When I get into the last phases of a project, I can jump to the top of a document, do this search, work on that bit, search again, and keep doing this until I reach the end. Inevitably, I’ll add one or two BOOKMARKs for every one I clean up. Which means the last few weeks of revisions and edits will see a dozen or more of them. When I get to the end, I can jump back and find that I still have a lot of work to do. I whittle away; the draft improves; I move on to the next BOOKMARK. Until I do a search, and I see this screen. Not Found! And then I know I’m just about done. -- I do something similar in my own writing. Whenever I need to come back to something in the text I add: [NOTE: whatever the note is] In one of the novels I am working on, I added: [NOTE: Put this earlier in the story for foreshadowing.] The goal here is to keep writing forward. During first draft you don’t want to constantly stop to go back and fix stuff. We all know the true cause of editing while writing… FEAR. Fear you’ll forget something or it’s not good enough or whatever. So this one little hack allows you to bookmark it, assure yourself you can fix it later, and move on to finishing your first draft. -- Now if you’ve read anything I’ve written in the past about social media, you’ll know I’m not a huge fan of it for authors. Which is why it pains me so much to share a Hack Your Writing tip from an author that uses Facebook to increase his daily word count. Oh man, I hate to even share it with you, but I will soon in an upcoming lesson. Stay tuned for that! May you prosper and your word count be ever climbing! Tim P.S. I’ve got this really nutty thing I did to train myself to get more writing done. I’m warning you, it’s really weird, but I promise it works. I’ll tell you about it in the next Hack Your Writing lesson. Free Course: Hack Your Writing The Tips, Techniques, and Apps Productive Writers Use To Increase Word Count and Get More Done Ever wonder how some writers churn out their books while you are constantly slogging through? The Hack Your Writing course will teach you the tricks productive writers use to hit their word count goals every time. In This Course, You'll Learn:
"I just signed up for this totally free course. I've gotten the first two lessons by email and they have really good information and tips!" |
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