Friday’s Findings: How to Write Fast

Some writers imagine the writing process as slow and meticulous. They take their time composing that first draft, lingering over it for months, maybe years. These writers are tortoises and they don’t mind.

However, in How to Write Fast by Sean Platt and Neeve Silver, the writing process is the hare, not the tortoise. They are part of a group of full-time writers who make quantity a priority. They are most concerned about writing speed, how many words they can get out in a day.

They review their principles of fast drafting in How to Write Fast, and make no apologies. How this affects quality doesn’t matter. The idea is to get the first draft done as fast as possible. The concept of making passes over the draft, over and over, is explored. One thing is for sure: Platt has published a lot of novels.

To be honest, the ideas presented in the writing craft book motivated me. It’s a short read, so whether I agree or disagree with their methods, I didn’t use up much time reading it. I liked how they simplified the fast drafting technique and I understand their points about just getting it down on paper. I figured it couldn’t hurt to see what they have to say and I definitely took away some writing principles from it that I’m going to practice.

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