I Tried Stephen King’s Hack For Writing a Novel Fast. It Worked.
Power Through Your First Draft Without Stopping to Make Revisions
“I’m f****** impressed. Holy s****, bordering on jealous. My wife wants to be an author. Fourteen years of hearing about it. She hasn’t written a first draft yet.”
My friend’s profanity-peppered praise was not so much for my novel as it was for the fact that I’d written a novel. But why not? After all, writing your first book is an accomplishment in itself.
Too many would-be authors end up like my friend’s wife: they talk about how they’re going to write a book someday but never even start. Or they scribble out story ideas in fits of inspiration; but when they’re confronted with the mammoth task of turning those fragments into a complete novel, they lose motivation.
I’m just as apt to fall into those traps as anyone else. I was able to escape them thanks to a few deceptively simple insights I learned from one of the most successful novelists of all time, Stephen King.
I read King’s On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft about 10 years ago. It made such a deep impression on me that some of King’s principles were still top of mind when I finally decided to write a novel last fall:
- Write the first draft all the way through before making revisions
- “Shut the door” and commit to getting it done
- Make word-count goals and have a daily routine
Following these rules, it took me about six weeks to write 90,000 words, which came to about 340 pages as a Kindle eBook. I wrote between four and seven hours a day.
There was still a lot of work to do after that: editing, revising, and more editing. But the hardest part was over. Once you’ve completed your first draft, it’s like you’ve climbed to the top of a mountain, and you just have to make a comparatively easy hike down to the other side.
Write the first draft all the way through
“With the door shut, downloading what’s in my head directly to the page, I write as fast as I can and still remain comfortable. … If I write rapidly, putting down my story exactly as it comes into my mind, only looking back to check the names of my characters and the relevant parts of their backstories, I find that I can keep up with my original enthusiasm and at the same time outrun the self-doubt that’s always waiting to settle in.” — Stephen King
When I first read this passage in On Writing, I resisted the idea of motoring through the first draft. I was the type who liked to rewrite each paragraph 10 times before moving on to the next one.
“I’m a perfectionist,” I’d say as if it were a good thing. The result: I managed to write one complete short story and a lot of fragments (and I handed in a lot of last-minute papers in university).
Working as a news reporter forced me to change. You don’t have time for perfectionism, self-doubt, or procrastination when you’re writing under an ironclad deadline. The only thing to do is write what you’ve got — in plain language, as quickly as possible. You can’t listen to the nagging voice that says, “Wait, it’s not good enough yet!” You come to realize that it’s never as bad as you think, as long as you’re using clear language.
And once you’ve put words on the page, you’ve got something to work with: chop what’s unnecessary, fill in gaps, shape it into a more unified whole — and voila! You can hand your editor something decent —sometimes even good — before the deadline.
“It’s better done than perfect,” one of my journalism instructors liked to say.
Thanks to this experience, I knew Stephen King’s approach was the best way to ensure I’d (a) actually finish my novel and (b) do it as quickly as possible.
But why was I in such a rush? Because I knew that most debut indie novels sink like bricks. Don’t get me wrong: I was determined to do everything I could to make my novel successful, but I had to be realistic, too. If I was going to “fail,” I wanted to fail fast so I could learn my lessons and start the next novel.
So, when I got down to writing, I tried to follow Stephen King’s example.
- I kept in mind that goal #1 was to complete a draft, so it was okay that it wasn’t perfect. I knew I’d revise and edit later.
- I resisted the temptation (for the most part) to go back and read earlier scenes unless it was necessary. Gloating over what you’ve already written is bad enough, but it also leads to revising and editing before you’ve finished the draft.
It worked well, for the most part. Sometimes I sailed along at a good clip. Other times, it was like my boat had capsized and I was running underwater. But in those moments, I realized it was much like writing a news story: I simply had to write down what happened to my characters.
When Stephen King — You know what? I’m just going to go ahead and call him Steve —When Steve is asked how he writes, he answers: “One word at a time.”
“In the end, it’s always that simple. Whether it’s a vignette of a single page or an epic trilogy like The Lord of the Rings, the work is always accomplished one word at a time.” — Stephen King
Before we continue, some caveats. First, I used Jessica Brody’s Save the Cat! Writes a Novel to plot out my story, so I had a rough road map of where I was going. This made things easier, and I strongly recommend it.
Second, my experience of writing every day as a reporter undoubtedly helped. I refer you to another of Steve’s dictums: “Read a lot, write a lot.”
Shut the door
“The space can be humble … and it really needs only one thing: a door which you are willing to shut. The closed door is your way of telling the world and yourself that you mean business; you have made a serious commitment to write and intend to walk the walk as well as talk the talk.” — Stephen King
The closed door is a recurring image in On Writing. It’s a tangible symbol of your commitment to getting that draft finished. It reminds you that you’re shielding yourself from distractions — including anyone who might read what you’ve written so far.
“[If] no one says to you, ‘Oh, Sam (or Amy)! This is wonderful!,’ you are a lot less apt to slack off or to start concentrating on the wrong thing . . . being wonderful, for instance, instead of telling the goddam story.” — Stephen King
If you make the mistake of letting anyone read your story before a draft is finished, you’re starting the beta reading process prematurely. The person doing the reading will point out typos or ask questions that make you think more deeply about the story’s “meaning.” That should come later, once you’ve got the first draft finished.
In the early stages of working on my novel — from the market research to writing the first draft — I tried to avoid even telling anyone I was writing a book. This is because I’m aware of the danger of ending up like Mr. Wilkins Micawber from Charles Dickens’s David Copperfield. Mr. Micawber had a habit of talking about the successes he was going to have. He’d talk about them so much that he’d almost convince himself they were already a reality. At which point he’d kick back and celebrate.
I avoided this by shutting the door — metaphorically and often literally — until I’d finished the first draft.
Have a regular routine and set a daily word-count goal
“You need the room, you need the door, and you need the determination to shut the door. You need a concrete goal, as well.” — Stephen King
When Steve shuts the door of his writing room every morning, he has a goal. He must write 2,000 words. This gets him to 180,000 words over three months — “a goodish length for a book.”
If you’re going for the indie eBook market, though, that’s probably on the long side.
Although Steve’s 2,000-words-a-day goal is very achievable, he wisely recommends aiming for 1,000 words a day when you start.
I ambitiously aimed at 4,000 words a day, but I usually fell short of that target. I ended up doing 2,000–3,000 words on most days.
Bonus: Play rock music at full blast
“I work to loud music — hard-rock stuff like AC/DC, Guns ’n Roses, and Metallica have always been particular favorites …” — Stephen King
When I first read this I thought, “How could you possibly work like that?” Funnily enough, though, when I was writing my novel I often found myself blasting hard-rock music. Nirvana was my go-to; their aggressive, chaotic energy somehow helped me focus on writing. That said, I did have to pause it if I encountered some problem that needed thinking through.
Of course, you don’t have to play hard rock — or any music at all. Steve is just making a point here that ties in with the theme of closing the door. Loud rock music helps him (and me) shut out distractions and get in the zone of writing. For you, this might be accomplished by putting in earplugs or playing Mongolian throat singing music. Whatever works.
In conclusion
If you’re planning on writing a novel but you’re intimidated by the prospect — or you just want to get it done in a reasonable amount of time — consider trying Stephen King’s approach. It worked for me.
- Write the first draft all the way through without stopping to make revisions
- Close the door to distractions
- Establish a routine with a daily word count goal
Please keep in mind: this article focused on how to approach writing a novel, but of course, there’s a lot more to it than what we’ve discussed here. On Writing is filled with invaluable insight and practical advice about the whole process. I highly recommend picking it up and starting there.
