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How to Write and Edit a Novel in 120 Days

It’s not too late to check this one off your resolution list.

Shaunta Grimes
The Write Brain

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Photo by Christin Hume on Unsplash

Anyone who knows me, knows that I’m all about going slow and doing it right — when it comes to writing. Not about much of anything else. But writing? Definitely.

I do have a method, though, for writing and editing a novel relatively quickly and I thought I’d share it with you today. If you follow these guidelines, you’ll be able to write a novel and edit it in 120 days.

The basic steps are these:

  • Understand plot.
  • Write every single day.
  • Write toward your climatic scenes.
  • Do not edit until your first draft is done.
  • When you do edit, edit in layers.

I like 120 days because it’s fast, but it’s not insane. You’ll be able to actually do this. Let’s get into it.

Understand Plot

I don’t care who you are or what your method is— if you want to write quickly and actually write well, you need to understand how stories are put together.

In a novel, there are essentially four acts — Act I, Act II (which is divided in half at the midpoint of the book), and Act III.

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