Sprint Writing . . . or how inserting a placeholder can improve your daily word count

First off, let's get this out of the way: if you are in any way a serious writer, whether plotter or pantser, then you must have a minimum daily word count goal.

Every writer is different, so discover what minimum daily word count goal works for you then stick to it. Also, don't pick something low-bar and lazy like a measly 100 words. Not only are you doing yourself a disservice but you are not pushing yourself as you should be doing.

Writing is actual work, and I often liken having a minimum daily word count goal to an indie movie maker having a limited budget. Hollywood blockbusters that have hundreds of millions of moolah to spend during filming aren't as constrained by their bountiful budgets and this doesn't force them to think outside the box, but some of the best movies are those with a vastly limited budget that forces the film maker's creativity into an unexpected area of new wonder, and having a minimum daily word count goal will help you to think outside of the box while writing.

As well, with time, you should try to increase your minimum daily word count goal, such as bumping it up by 50 or 100 words every now and again, though obviously this isn't an infinite application otherwise writers such as Stephen King would by now have an impossible minimum daily word count goal to achieve in the hundreds of thousands. Stevie-boi, BTW, has disclosed in an interview that he targets 2,000 words to write on a daily basis.

Point being: pace yourself, but also push yourself.

This is where I liken writing to lifting weights: no one is going to show up and lift the weights for you, just as no one is going to show up and write your book for you. You have to push yourself to improve yourself. And if you don't then you only have yourself to blame.

Eventually, after years of daily writing, you will reach a point where you steady off into a comfortable though respectable number as your minimum daily word count goal.

My minimum daily word count goal is 1,000; if I can get at least 1,000 words per day then I am a happy camper.

But I always surpass this 1,000 word benchmark because my average daily word count is 5,000. I don't always get those 5,000 words, mind, but when I do it's a pleasure beyond orgasmic, and sometimes I surpass even that into the 10,000+ territory when I'm on a hot streak of writing and have the time to pursue it through.

Again, every writer is different. Some of us have all day to write while others only have an hour or two per day at most. I typically write anywhere from two to six hours per day, depending on what life sends my way. You may vary.

And by 5,000 (or 1,000) I don't mean the same word repeated over and over, I mean usable words that you honestly believe (at least at the time of writing them) are going to hopefully make it into your final draft if they survive your meticulous editing after you finish the first draft.

A great way to ensure you always achieve your minimum daily word count goal is to use a placeholder . . . which means something you insert into your writing that you are going to return to later so you don't slow yourself down in the moment.

In journalism and printing, TK is an abbreviation for "to come" which indicates where additional material will be added to a manuscript before publication. It is used as a placeholder in article drafts to indicate missing information. TK is an intentional misspelling of "TC" to avoid confusion with final copy.

I prefer to use "???" as my placeholder. Don't ask me why, I just do. And I've done this for years before ever even learning of the TK placeholder rule so I keep to it as my trusty go-to placeholder.

And because I use Word (I'll never understand why writers use expensive writing programs when Word is cheap and simple), all I have to do is use its easy search function for "???" and it takes me right to where I need to be when I go back later to add the necessary description or whatever else is required.

For example, while you're writing and you come to a part where you know you're going to spend a few paragraphs describing, say, the physical outside of a haunted mansion your detective protagonist and Scooby crew just drove up to but you're unsure of exactly how you want to describe its appearance other than spooky, as well you're on a hot writing streak, instead of slowing down and spending the next twenty minutes pining over the haunted mansion's perfect description, just type "???: spooky mansion description" as its own paragraph then move on while knowing you will return to it later when you have the time to actually spend conveying said spooky description with much more detail and appropriate creative flair.

Same with characters . . . "???: tall waiter with a lisp" or "???: short, pudgy banker who sweats a lot" or "???: mangy mutt tied to a tree that barks nonstop".

I've even used this technique that keeps the creative ball rolling to placeholder entire scenes, and some writers also use it for entire chapters, though I don't recommend the latter because then you risk setting yourself up for gaping plot holes you might have no idea how to plug later because you've pantsed yourself into a corner you don't know how to plot yourself out of.

Inserting TK: (or ???:) is a great technique to keep you writing and ensure you not only hit your minimum daily word count goal but exceed it. Pair it with my #1 rule of writing productivity (Write first, edit last) and you'll speed up your writing in no time flat while achieving and increasing your minimum daily word count goal.

Sprint writing is fantastic when you are working on getting that pesky first draft done. You can take all the time in the world afterwards rewriting and editing it, but you can't rewrite or edit a first draft that doesn't exist.

So try your hand at using a placeholder (whether TK: or ???: or your own unique version) and see how much more productive it helps you become while sprint writing that first draft on the daily.

Good luck!

Your Own Writing Phrase Book . . . or why it's good to steal from better writers!

I try to always keep a notebook by my side whenever I'm reading, and I suggest you should too. Because you never know when you're going to discover a hidden gem of a word or phrase or even an entire sentence that really strikes an inner chord and that you'll want to remember so you can later implement it into your own writing.

But don't make the mistake I did... at least originally.

Years back, I would either literally underline the piece with a pen and/or dogear the page while attempting to fold the tip of that ear so it pointed to the proper place. At the end of the week I would spend an hour or so struggling with keeping the book open in my lap while writing down all of the specific words or phrases or sentences by hand. This eventually left me with a big pile of papers which contained a random collection and no semblance of order whatsoever to reference them without wasting valuable writing time.

Since then I've wised up and now try to keep a notebook on hand so when I come across a particular something that tickles my fancy I pause and write it down. I've also categorized my notebook so later, when I'm writing, I can easily look up the appropriate word or phrase or sentence.

The specific categories are up to the individual writer, of course. Something like "eyes" or "sad facial expressions" or anything else you prefer to make referencing them fast and easy so you only have to pause briefly before continuing writing.

Now, let me get this important point out of the way: do not plagiarize entire passages!

The reason for making and keeping your own notebook of hidden gems is to help elicit better writing from you, not to copy and paste stolen material from other writers while falsely claiming it as your own.

For instance, the sentence (concocted off the top of my head just now): "He leaned closer by impulse, inhaling the intoxicating scent of her lilac perfume while captured by the mesmerizing allure within the dusky smolder of her beautiful eyes."

Writing this entire sentence into your notebook of hidden gems for later reference provides you a bounty of references:

"He leaned forward by impulse..."

"...inhaling the intoxicating scent of her lilac perfume..."

"...captured by the mesmerizing allure..."

"...the dusky smolder of her beautiful eyes."

Any of these examples extracted from that single sentence can be used in a variety of ways depending upon the scene in which you implement them. Perhaps you only like "...the dusky smolder of her beautiful eyes" and so use that bit to describe a character's eyes while disregarding the rest of the sentence.

And that's perfectly fine!

There are plenty of Writers' Phrase Books available for purchase for this very purpose, though I've found creating your own provides you better reference material, especially so for novice writers because you will be taking the bits and pieces of your hidden gems from your own favorite authors whose writing styles and voices you wish to emulate.

Sometimes we have trouble saying something the way we want to but we can't spit it out the way we need to.

So let better writers help do it for you!

Having a notebook of hidden gems helps to remove that word or phrase or sentence from the tip of your fumbling tongue and place it upon the page.

And there's no rule that you must use the exact phrase, either. In fact, don't. Instead, use what you like, and change or disregard what you don't like.

"He leaned closer by impulse, inhaling the intoxicating scent of her lilac perfume while captured by the mesmerizing allure within the dusky smolder of her beautiful eyes."

This sentence depicting two potential lovers locked in stare and possibly about to kiss can easily translate into an uncomfortable opposite situation of:

"She leaned away instinctively, repulsed by the overwhelming odor of his cheap cologne while alarmed by the intensity within the cruel stare of his lecherous eyes."

Now we have a woman attempting to avoid the unwanted advances of an unattractive man who is obviously making her feel uncomfortable and possibly unsafe. That's a big difference between the two, and all from just changing a handful of words.

Never forget: the translations and applications of your hidden gems are entirely up to you.

Maybe you're reading a fantasy novel and come across the sentence "The wizard cast back his hood, revealing a lined and troubled face" which you, who also happens to be writing your own fantasy novel, thinks such a sentence would provide the perfect descriptor for one of your characters, but yours is a female sorceress so you change it to "The sorceress cast back her hood, revealing a lined and troubled visage."

See what else I did there?

Not only did I swap genders and occupational titles (wizard to sorceress), I also replaced 'face' with 'visage' to give it a little bit of personal flare from my own writing voice.

You can also use this technique to help you improve your skills as a writer.

We take the sentence "The air was charged with ancient power" and, applying my Never Use The Word Was 99% rule, we improve it to "Ancient power charged the air."

This is a stronger and more active sentence now that we've removed the word Was ('was' is passive poison to 99% of every sentence it infects, excluding dialogue) and did a little bit of a switch-a-roo to the remaining words, and it could describe the immediate proximity of your sorceress as she whispers a dangerous and powerful spell, perhaps.

I do suggest once you use a hidden gem in your writing that you mark it with an asterisk so you know for future reference that you've used it before as well how many times.

Having your own writing phrase book will do wonders for your writing. Just be patient, because making one isn't a sprint but a marathon. It should take you years to create and your writing career to maintain, not weeks or even months. Remember not to sit and read with the intent of jotting down every other sentence. The magic of this trick is to only jot down a word or phrase or sentence if it pops out at you while you're reading, something that really strikes an inner chord and makes you take admiring pause.

Also keep in mind that context matters. There'll be plenty of times you'll jot something down in the moment because it gripped you by the feels then later, perhaps weeks or even months, when you come across it in your writing phrase book, it doesn't elicit the same emotional response.

That's okay.

Don't get rid of it, instead try to make it something that grips another reader by the feels when they come across it in your book.

Good luck!

One Measly Hour Per Week . . . or the Easiest way to become an Author!

So you wanna be an author.

Great!

But you don't have the time to become an author.

Single sad Indian tear rolling down upon they cheek.

Or maybe you're just lazy.

Fine.

Or maybe you have absolutely no idea what to actually write about.

That's okay, too.

Because I'm going to let you in on a quick little secret: anybody can write a book, no matter who you are, and no matter how busy or lazy you are.

The #1 surefire easiest way to become an author is to . . . (drumroll please) . . . write a blog!

And it doesn't even matter if anyone reads your blog posts because that part is completely irrelevant.

What does matter is that you write it consistently.

Pick something you love or are interested in and write about it.

Conspiracy theories . . . gardening . . . lifting weights . . . doesn't matter!

So long as you are passionate and knowledgeable about it.

The sole requirement is that you must set aside one hour per week to write.

That's it!

The average person types 40 words per minute.

That's 2,400 words per hour.

Obviously you won't be writing at that speed continuously, so we'll cut it down to less than half, resulting in 1,000 words in one hour.

If you spend one hour per week writing a blog consisting of 1,000 words, with each of your blog posts possessing a common subject that ties them together, then after one year you will have a 52,000+ word book ready for publishing!

I say 52,000 PLUS because almost certainly you will write more than 1,000 words during many of your weekly writing sessions across an entire year.

I've done this myself with my book 'On Writing Well' which is a collection of my writing advice blogs, though because I also write plenty of other books, I only have the time to post one blog per month.

But you will bump up that frequency to once per week since you do no other writing.

One measly hour per week.

1,000+ words per hour.

52 weeks a year.

Equals a 52,000+ word book.

Now just gather all of your blog posts at the end of the year, arrange them however you see fit, then go the cheapest and easiest route and publish them at no cost to you through someone like Draft2Digital.

Draft2Digital, by the way, is fantastic and far superior to Amazon KDP, in my humble opinion. Amazon KDP is more restrictive to authors, especially its KDP Select program that locks your ebooks into exclusivity with Amazon for 90 days at a time if you choose to enroll your books, meaning you cannot offer them for sale anywhere else or Amazon will block your book if not ban your account if they find out you violated their terms of service.

Draft2Digital, on the other hand, is not exclusive, as well they provide you a plethora of affiliate publishers upon publishing (Barns & Noble, Kobo, Apple, Tolino, Vivlio, Smashwords, Gardners . . . as well as Libraries such as through OverDrive, Odilo, Bibliotheca, Baker & Taylor, Hoopla, BorrowBox, Palace Marketplace . . . subscription services similar to Amazon KDP Select's Kindle Unlimited such as Everand and Kobo Plus . . . and yes, even Amazon itself).

The great thing about publishing through Draft2Digital is that upon publishing your book you simply checkmark any of the boxes of their affiliate publishers and Draft2Digital does all of the submission work for you through its affiliates! The one drawback is that Draft2Digital has no cover creator, but this is easily remedied by using other methods such as Canva, which you need to pay for but is definitely well worth the cost.

With this tried-and-true method anyone can write and publish one book per year for the rest of their life with little effort involved because their book practically writes itself as they blog.

The easiest place to start is writing about your favorite hobby.

Do you love poetry?

Write one poem per week for a total of 52 poems to publish at the end of one year!

Do you love cooking?

Post a recipe blog once per week and after one years' time, voilà, you now have a cookbook!

I could go on and on but you get the point.

It doesn't matter how busy or lazy you are. So long as you have one measly hour per week to write about something you're passionate about, you too can easily become an author without even breaking a sweat.

Good luck!

Holy Hollywood, Batman! . . . or breaking down the general screenplay plot formula

Since some of you are aspiring screenwriters, and because I like to change the pace of these writing blogs every now and again, let's talk screenplays for a moment, shall we?

A typical modern Hollywood screenplay ranges from 90 pages to 120 pages.

1 page of screenplay = 1 minute of screen time.

There are 24 plot points, or major events, in a movie.

Thus each plot point averages 5 pages.

ACT 1: Six Plot Points = 30 pages/minutes long

ACT 2: Twelve Plot Points = 60 pages/minutes long

ACT 3: Six Plot Points = 30 pages/minutes long

In movies there is something that’s colloquially known as the “10 minute rule”. The idea is that after 10 minutes the viewer will generally have a good idea of whether they’ll enjoy the rest of the movie or not and wish to continue watching or abandon it for another one.

The reason it’s called the 10 minute rule is because that’s when the protagonist usually receives their first inkling of the events (a.k.a. the Inciting Incident) that are about to unfold: 10 minutes in.

Usually the 10-minute mark falls conveniently on a point where something exciting or dangerous or intriguing happens and will convince the audience to keep watching in order to find out what happens next.

This important moment of interest, which is meant to evoke immediate viewer curiosity, is also why a plethora of movies open with a prologue-esque action scene (almost always without the protagonist but about the protagonist; for example in Horror movies the 'monster' attacking an innocent victim so we can get a taste of what the ignorant protagonist will later be up against) while relaying a bit of backstory interwoven with a hint of the story’s impending central conflict, and usually consisting of somewhere around 3 to 7 minutes of runtime.

Most commonly the Inciting Incident takes place in movies as either plot point 2 or plot point 3 to ensure it either ends or begins the 10 minute rule of audience interest, though understand the Inciting Incident can take place in any position of plot points 1 thru 3 and this all depends upon your particular story and how you wish to tell it as well if you include a prologue scene.

So how does this all break down?

Each half of an Act is 3 plot points, with the "third" plot point of that half of an Act being its culmination. Think of these 'series of three' plot points as mini-movies that are all interconnected yet each possessing a climax of its own and you get the point.

Typically . . .

The first half of Act 1 culminates with the Inciting Incident.

The second half of Act 1 culminates with the Key Event.

The first half of Act 2A culminates with the Pinch Point.

The second half of Act 2A culminates with the Midpoint.

The first half of Act 2B culminates with the Punch Point.

The second half of Act 2B culminates with the Anchor Point & Rubicon.

The first half of Act 3 culminates with the Highest Stakes Achieved.

The second half of Act 3 culminates with the Climax & Resolution.

*Please note that variables exist, such as the placement of the Rubicon (which typically happens immediately after Act 2B's Anchor Point but not always); my Stomping Kittens companion piece, 'The Great Fiction Cheat Sheet', goes into detail on this specific point with examples, as well explains the important differences between the Inciting Incident and the Key Event in greater depth), or the Act 3 Climax happening sooner so that the aftermath of the Resolution can have more focus applied (all depending upon your particular story), but in general these are the average placements of the general screenplay plot point culminations.

Dicey Trix . . . or Yet Another 1d6 Creative Writing Method

A simple 1d6 (one six-sided die) is all you really need to spice up the creativity of your writing, because you ask it a Yes or No question then roll for result:

1. No, and...

2. No

3. No, but...

4. Yes, but...

5. Yes

6. Yes, and...

For example, let’s say you are a private detective investigating a murder scene and you’re searching for clues about the killer’s identity, so you ask the question, “Do I discover any clues about the killer?” Then you roll your trusty 1d6 for the Yes or No answer:

1. No, and...

The answer is “No” with an added negative twist; you don’t find any clues about the killer, and you realize the bumbling rookie police officer who arrived before you mucked up the crime scene while haphazardly taping it off and scaring away any potential witnesses.

2. No

The answer is a simple default “No” without any added twists or factors; you don’t find any clues about the killer at the crime scene.

3. No, but...

The answer is “No” with an added positive twist; you don’t find any clues about the killer, but you do discover a potential witness lurking nearby.

4. Yes, but...

The answer is “Yes” with an added negative twist; you find a clue about the killer, but it might have been tampered with or could be a possible red herring planted to lead you on a wild goose chase.

5. Yes

The answer is a simple default “Yes” without any added twists or factors; you find a clue about the killer at the crime scene.

6. Yes, and…

The answer is “Yes” with an added positive twist; you find a clue about the killer, and it narrows down the list of suspects to a specific age or race or gender.

You can use this fantastic method of sparking unexpected creativity for practically any situation while writing on the fly. Just pause, ask a Yes or No question, then roll for result!