Blogger: Michelle Ule
Sitting in for the traveling Mary Keeley
In response to my post last week about “Plotting to Save Writing Time,” I mentioned in the comments that someone I knew had written an 85,000 word novel in 19 days.
I decided to ask her how she did it.
This post, therefore is a follow up.
The writer, Sarah Tipton, lives in Alaska with her husband and five home schooled children.
She’s also a runner.
In addition to the novel she finished last Friday, she wrote another one in November for NaNo–and that one took her 15 writing days.
Neither of the two projects have been extensively edited, Sarah explained, but the reworked opening chapter of the November project is a semi-finalist for the Genesis contest.
So, how does she manage such extensive writing with a busy family?
“When planning to write a novel in such a short time, I completely clear my schedule as much as I can. We homeschool, so I have the luxury of taking vacations when they fit our schedule. Also, my kids are older now—7-14 years old—so they’re able to help around the house. They already do their own laundry and each has a cooking day every week, so that frees up some of my time.
“Those are also things that we worked on as a family for months before I ever tried writing a novel in a month. My husband and I go to a 6 a.m. gym class year ‘round, and the kids’ have a gym class 3 days a week which I can’t clear off the schedule, so I run during that hour.
“My husband told me years ago, when I first started writing, that he liked spending time with me in the evenings. So I stop by 8 p.m. I also try to meet my word count in time for dinner, but I don’t feel guilty about working through dinner because it’s just 4 weeks. And I joined the kids during lunch and read to them then, so it’s not like I go into total hibernation.”
Sarah has a room in which to write with a door to shut out the noise–though she notes the Wii and a television are in that same room which means the kids don’t get to use it during her marathon writing sessions.
“I often play music through the surround sound speakers while writing, so that drowns out any loud noises from elsewhere in the house. Most of the time, the kids are really good about not interrupting. Because of that, I make sure we all go out to celebrate after I write “The End,” and I tell them that they helped make it all possible.”
It should also be noted her husband and children do the laundry.
What motivated her to write in such an intense fashion?
I decided to try writing a novel in a month because I’d spent almost 18 months not finishing a manuscript. My first manuscript was completed in 7 months—idea to agent submission—so I felt confident I could accomplish that, but what seemed to be getting in my way was to have only a couple of hours here or there to write.
With only 2-3 hours at most a day at my computer, I couldn’t make much progress because there’s always other writing related things to do too—emails, critiques, etc. So I hoped that by clearing my schedule and working on only one manuscript and no other writing related things, I’d find the focus and the word count goal would help me finish another manuscript.
And it did!
Since Friday’s post was about plotting to increase speed, I asked Sarah how much plotting she did before sitting down to write.
“I haven’t found a consistent plotting style that works for every manuscript. But for both the NaNo project and the more recent one, I wrote out a summary of each chapter before writing.
I did not write a summary for each chapter prior to starting the writing process though. Both times, I had only about half the manuscript thought out and summarized.
On the weekends, I’d look ahead in the story and prepare for another quarter.
For NaNo, my chapter summaries were pretty close to what I wrote and I only had to add-to on the weekends.
For the more recent project, I found the story didn’t progress at the speed I’d expected and I ended up rewriting future chapter summaries after the first week.
While the scenes rarely play out on paper exactly like they play out in my head, the goal and the plot don’t usually deviate too much. So I find taking the time to daydream the story and take notes on it helps the writing to go faster.”
The novel ideas, however, didn’t spring from her mind the minute she sat down. Sarah had been thinking about her stories long before she began to type.
“I spent months or years thinking about these characters and the story prior to doing any real work on it—plotting or writing. And another advantage to writing a novel this quickly is that you never really leave the story world. The plot, the characters, the emotions are always right there with you.”
It’s possible the genres Sarah chose made a difference in her ability to write quickly. The NaNo story was a contemporary young adult. Last week’s manuscript was a dystopian YA. An historical might have posed other issues that could have slowed down the writing.
The most important fact, to Sarah, was she was very familiar with her story worlds and characters before she started working on the projects.
She doesn’t stop along the way to fact check when she’s writing, “I did have to look at a calendar to figure out the timeline and weather while I was writing.”
Sarah used placeholders for items she needs to go back to during the editing stages.
“I have a few places where I just didn’t feel like thinking of names, so one character is [MUSICAL DIRECTOR] which will make the Find-and-Replace easier when I come up with a name.
One night I was tired and put [SOMETHING ELSE, I’M TIRED] instead of completing a sentence.
If it’s not going to affect the plot, I’m comfortable with writing a placeholder and moving on.”
After such an intense writing period, does she get tired of the story?
“Both times, I found myself sad when I was finished writing. It felt like I’d spent an intense three or four weeks hanging out with these really awesome people, and now they’ve boarded a plane and returned home.
Editing is more like emailing or calling them on the phone—no new, exciting adventures involved—and I find editing to be more tiring than writing. That’s when I’ll spend tons of time analyzing and agonizing over scenes and details.”
Speaking of editing, how much does Sarah anticipate needing to do?
“I have about 2 pages of content editing notes. Little things that occurred to me while writing or things a critique partner pointed out. (I had a critiquer reading what I wrote each day this last time because I wanted any story world issues that might affect the plot to be dealt with immediately.)
The NaNo project I spent a week applying those content editing notes and doing a light edit before sending it to a few critiquers for content critiques.
In about a month, after I see the Genesis scoresheets, I’ll be starting a deep edit on that project.
Since I’m back to only 2-3 hours a day to write—and that won’t be exclusively spent editing this manuscript—I anticipate spending 6 months on editing.”
How long did it take for Sarah’s adrenaline to slow down?
“I think I rode the high all weekend!
Knowing you’ve been successful carries on to the next time you are ready to write a novel in a month.
Then, of course, you’re hit with the “what if I can’t do it again?” fears, but you’ve got to push them down and face the new manuscript without any expectations, yet with the confidence that you’ve done this before and can do it again.”
She is exhausted when she finishes, and usually plans a week of vacation afterwards to recover before she returns to her normal homeschooling routine.
Sarah had one more additional point for writers to consider.
“One thing I wanted to add, especially to that article that you shared in your previous post, is to include God.
Pray about the writing every day, and praise him for meeting daily goals.
Honestly, I think it’s the prayer that made the biggest difference in meeting the write-a-novel-in-a-month goal.”
You can learn more about Sarah Tipton at her website:www.sarahtiptonbooks.com
Tweetables
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Sarah gets a book; her children get a sense of shared responsibility and a work ethic. A win-win for the mother/author and for her kids. I am impressed.
Sarah gets the beginning of a book–though I know I love the editing more than the actual writing–and escapes laundry.
That does sound like a win-win to me, too! 🙂
Thank you, Shirlee!
Congratulations on the Genesis contest, Sarah. 🙂
Thank you, Shelli!
That’s about the speed at which I write a first draft, and I learned early not to do extensive plotting. The stories I write are character-driven, and these fictional people who have reality deeper than my own take me to places I would never have imagined. I start with two protagonists and a premise, and the story grows from there. “Emerald Isle”, for example, began with “single guy does not want to take empty seats next to attractive woman on airliner”…why?
Since pain keeps me awake, I usually write in the still watches of the night. I find that there is magic there, and it affords me the opportunity to sometimes see the gegenschein, here in our high desert home. The dogs think I am quite mad, and perhaps they’re right.
Editing takes a long time, a year is not unreasonable.
Finally, I ran across an interesting way to improve writing…well, I hope it’s improved! Try to maintain a substantive thrice-weekly blog on a Smartphone to which your access is strictly limited by schedule conflicts. You can only see a line or two at a time, only typos can be corrected, and…well, I have to stop now, because Barbara is leaving for work and needs the phone!
Aargh. “…empty SEAT…”, not seats. The dude doesn’t need to buy two when he travels. Smartphone wins a minor point, again!
Ah, but we knew what you mean.
I’ve written in the middle of the night, too, but usually because I can’t sleep. The cat usually peers at me, rolls up again and snoozes through.
Madeleine L’Engle famously told a story of writing The Arm of the Starfish and 2/3 of the way through her hero woke up to find a strange man in the room. She had no idea who he was either, but further research about him meant she had to rewrite the whole book.
He was the key. She just hadn’t heard of him before! 🙂
Wow! I’m Impressed! My 3 sons do their own laundry. The oldest 2 are getting pretty independent with it, but I have to stand near my seven-year-old saying things like: “seize that shirt, now lay it out, now fold it in half, line up those arms, fold it again.” I am working toward a future of laundry awesomeness, his brothers were the same way but they got it after a few years. We are making progress. But yeah, I completed NaNo for the first time this year (not officially, on my own but I made the 50,000 and finished the ms.) and it was such a freeing sense of accomplishment! I never thought I would ever complete NaNo. To have done so was a dream from oh like 14 years back. I love fast first drafts.
I’ve been mulling the laundry ever since I wrote this . . .
Many writers swear by the placeholder method. Once you’re on a roll, write as quickly as you can, you can make all the corrections later.
I suspect I use research as an escape from the work . . . let me go look that idea up . . . 🙂
Congrats on getting the NaNo done. November is too crazy a month at my house.
Congratulations on finishing NaNo, Kristen! And you can do it again 🙂
I loved reading this post. Way to go, Sarah! It’s fun to read about your writing process. I usually train my kids in a couple new chores each summer. I believe they will be cooking more without me and learning to run the washer and dryer. 🙂
I am pretty fast with my first drafts too. When I’m working on one in the summer, I don’t get a ton of time with the kids home. But I do make a deal with my boys: they give me 2-3 hours during the day with no interruptions, we get to do something extra fun on the weekends. It’s been a good incentive so far. 🙂
And the praying before writing? A definite first step in my daily process.
Amen on all!
Thank you, Jeanne! Cooking is a fun chore 🙂 So I bet you’ll have a fun summer. And something extra fun on the weekends is a great idea!
Well done, Sarah!!
We’re down to only 2 kids at home (from 4), so my workload has diminished greatly. Also, Hubs has decided he wants to do dinners. I’m FINE with that! After 24 years of making dinner, I happily walked away from that task.
Except holidays, the kids refuse to let me out of turkey dinners.
All that being said, I applaud your organizational skills and discipline to do all that you do! 5 kids and NaNo? I am impressed!!!
Well done on Genesis!
Thanks, Jennifer. Hubby volunteering to cooking dinner? Lucky you!
This is inspiring. As someone who homeschools three kids and writes, I find a lot of what the author suggests to be practical and helpful. I’ve written manuscripts both ways–NaNo-fast, and slow and steady. My current process is to write only 500 words a day. This is very different from the writing of my NaNo manuscript. I think a writer needs to stay flexible in order to find what works for her in the different seasons of her life–especially if she’s trying to write, mother, and be a decent human being, all at once!
Thank you, Hannah! You’re so right about flexibility being the key. The kids’ and family’s needs are always changing 🙂
Hannah Vanderpool » I agree and you’ll notice Sarah takes a vacation when she’s done! This post was designed as an example of what it would take to write as fast as was outlined in the blog post I wrote last week.
This came at a time when I’m trying build up to fast writing, so it was very timely for me. 🙂 Genius was when Sarah said: “While the scenes rarely play out on paper exactly like they play out in my head, the goal and the plot don’t usually deviate too much.” And, above all, including God in your writing daily.
Thank you, Voni! I know you can write fast 🙂
I really enjoyed this article. Nice to know I’m not the only one who prefers to write a whole project really fast. But it has to cook a long time before it’s ready to write.
Thanks, Dianne! And I’m with you on letting a story cook 🙂
I love this, Michelle and Sarah! I’m going to put some of these ideas into action this summer while my kiddos are home.
Let me know how it goes, Karen!
Karen Barnett » I’d start with the laundry, Karen. 🙂 You have your heroic story to tell about editing. Hmm. Maybe I should interview you next?! 🙂
Yay, Sarah! So proud of my wonderful critique partner. 🙂
I am NOT typically a speedy writer, but I’d kind of like to try this method with my current WIP. I feel like it would help to just really immerse myself in the story for a couple of weeks–if I could just figure out how to make that happen with everything else that is going on! Still, maybe I can find a way to give it a try. With prayer, as you said…thanks so much for reminding us of that key. 🙂
Thanks, Kiersti! Maybe see if you could clear half-a-day every day for a couple of weeks?
That’s a good idea, Sarah…I should pray about that. 🙂
Kiersti » Pray is always an excellent component!
Sarah did mention her critique partner as performing an important role in this venture, but I cut that paragraph out to keep the blog post under 1500 words! I can send it to you if you’d like. 🙂
Actually there are four of us critique partners in the group Sarah and I are part of–plus I know she has other crit friends too. So it’s not just me. 🙂 I love how much writing can be a community and friendship-building endeavor. 🙂
I can totally appreciate how efficient you are at writing. And needless to say you are pumping out work. I was feeling really proud that I am one chapter away from completing my second novel in five months….and then I read this! But I have to say, I wouldn’t want it any other way. My stories are single novels with new everything…and I enjoy the process of getting to know my characters and learning their story lines. To go faster would only take way my own pleasure of writing and creating.
You should be proud, Elizabeth! Congratulations on being one chapter away from “The End!”
Elizabeth Torphy » You bring up an important point. Every writer writes differently and their speed can alter depending on variables. After spending nearly 14 months on my WWI novel, I wrote the last 20,000 words in five days.
And have been told not to change the ending because it’s near perfect.
Reading through Sarah’s interview, I physically could not sit at a desk for such long periods of time. My hands, for one, would not allow for it.
OTOH, 85,000 words divided by 19 days works out to “only” 4400 words a day.
I probably could do that if the ideas flowed fast enough.
I wanted to share this story as a way of demonstrating the type of commitment–from an entire family–required to pull this off. As Sarah herself has pointed out, however, she estimates 6-12 months required to edit. That’s also an important number to take into consideration.
So, enjoy the story. Marvel at the Tipton family, rejoice with Sarah and accept that God may very well have wired you and your family differently.
He certainly did me. 🙂
sarah is not real … Sarah Is Not Real … SARAH IS NOT REAL! That’s my mantra to avoid comparing myself to this awesome-speederiffic –YA novelist. This girl is just good at what she does. Period. And now that she’s sharing her secret, I’m listening. So, along with having competence, one should also: 1) farm out laundry and cooking 2). Put up a “do not disturb” sign 3). Pray through the process (that’s your Super Power). Got it! Thanks for sharing, C-peep!
Haha! Thanks, Sandra!
Lol. Love you, friend. 🙂
That was supposed to be “friends”–plural. Missed the “s” somehow.
Great interview, Michelle and Sarah! 🙂
Thanks, Rachel!
What a great post, Sarah! I loved reading about how you crank out your books. It’s encouraging to read that a busy, homeschooling mom can write books, lots and lots of books! Very cool 🙂
Thanks, Preslaysa! Yes, you can homeschool and write 🙂
Thank you for such an insightful and encouraging post, Michelle and Sarah! My obstacle to writing is a 52 hour work week (those pesky bills keep coming), however, this post has inspired me to figure out where I can carve out some extra hours to finish my current WIP.
Thank you!
You’re welcome, Melinda! I hope you can carve that time. 🙂
I know what you mean, Melinda. Including commute, I was working 50 hours when I wrote my first novel. I started the first draft in late September and finished it on December 23. There were two big things that helped me do that. My kids are in college, and my husband is retired. He makes most of the evening meals (he’s the king of the crockpot – you should taste his green chile stew). I could start writing right after dinner and work almost five hours before bedtime. If I was really on a roll at midnight, I kept writing. There were many nights I went to bed between 1 and 1:30. I’m blessed with a body that sleeps deeply and doesn’t need many hours in bed. That let me get up at 6:15 for work without suffering. Those late-night hours were the most productive. Something turned on the creative juices about 10:30. If you’re a deep-sleeping night owl, maybe my schedule would work for you.
Great post!
A lot of my favorite writers produce 1-2 books a year. One of them can make it up to five. This is incredible! I met him at the last book fest https://nolabookfest.org and he told me that he wrote or read 8 hours per day like a real office work.
I’m not normally a speed writer, nor do I manage to hit a word count. I write when inspired, and that can be anywhere from 3,000 to 15,000 words in a day. My fastest novel was 49 days for just over 100,000 words, but my previous novels were closer to eight months (the longest being 122,000 words). I’m retired, and live alone, so I can write any time of day or night. I also don’t really outline; I create my main characters, get an idea in my head of where I want to go, and write. WilI I win literature prizes? Probably not. But I am getting better with each subsequent book. (I guess you could call my books’ genre ‘semi-dystopian character-based adventure’–if one has to label it).