Without the help of AI, this author is able to finish a novel every week. Here, she explains how she does it and encourages you to give it a try.

by Alison McBain

While some authors are naturals at getting words onto the page at lightning speed, writing quickly is a skill that can also be learned. When I first started my career, I thought at the time I was a fast writer—I wrote most of my books in two to three months (editing took longer). But I managed to supercharge my natural talent with practice, preparation, and confidence. And you can too.

First off, there are several key elements I had to learn to build my confidence:

• No first draft is ever perfect. Trying to make it flawless as you’re writing is an exercise in futility. Shut your inner editor into a deep, dark dungeon and just get the words out. Doesn’t matter if they’re good or bad. You’ll fix them later.

• No author is ever “in the zone” every day. There are times you’ll struggle more than others, and that’s okay. If you wrote 5,000 words in a day, don’t beat yourself up if you don’t do the same the next day.

• Writing is a muscle. You have to train it, nurture it, and feed it. Expecting to run a writing marathon without any practice or preparation is setting yourself up for failure. Success comes from working on that muscle until you’re The Flash. It might seem supernatural, but it’s not an overnight process.

Next, I learned that preparation is the key to writing quickly. I used to be a “pantser,” writing by the seat of my pants. But I learned that if I build each book the same way, no matter what genre I’m writing, then I’ll be able to sit down on day one of each week and knock out a book in seven days.

It took a number of years before I could knock out a novel a week, but now I have a cool party trick: I can write very quickly.

Here’s what I do:

• To start, I write a two- to three-paragraph summary (or a list of six or more elements I want to include in my book). This should include the protagonist(s), the antagonist(s), the central conflict, the beginning, middle, and the ending.

• I expand this summary into a chapter-by-chapter outline. Since I average 2,000 words per chapter, this will give me a good estimate on how long the book will be—and allow me to add more subplots (or subtract unnecessary ones) before I start writing. This saves me time later when I get to the editing phase because I’ve hopefully worked out most of the problems ahead of time.

• As I’m writing my chapter-by-chapter outline, I also create a character sheet. This includes the basics of appearance, the character’s backstory, their likes and dislikes, how they react to stressful situations and conflict, and their goals and motivations.

• Most of my books require research of one kind or another. I keep a separate file of notes and research as I go, so if I’m looking something up and need that info again later on in the writing (or editing) process, I can go back to the original source material. For example, if I’m looking up acrylic painting techniques because my main character is an artist, I want to make sure that what I write about his or her artwork stays consistent throughout the book. I might bookmark a YouTube video and go back and watch it before writing each art scene. That helps keep the characters and situations feeling authentic.

During the writing process, I have few tricks that keep me going every day:

• I never end my writing session/day at the end of a chapter. This is a natural stopping point, but it makes it much harder to get started the next time. If I end in the middle of a scene, I’m excited when I start the next time because I want to finish the scene. But if I have to start from scratch at the beginning of a chapter, it’s much harder to get started the next day.

• I set a daily writing goal (but don’t beat myself up if I don’t hit it). I also like to switch this around so I don’t feel as if I’m stagnating. For example, on Monday I might make the goal four chapters. On Tuesday, my goal might be 5,000 words. Then on Wednesday, my goal might be sitting at the keyboard for five hours. As long as I hit my temporary goal for each day, I get a sense of accomplishment to keep me going.

• I’m not a “jump around” type of writer. I like to write a linear story, but sometimes it can be helpful to write pivotal scenes and connect them later on down the road. It’s like pushpins on a map—you know the big cities you want to visit, and how you get there is the fun part.

The last piece of advice that has helped me: practice. As I mentioned, I didn’t start out writing a book a week. But I practiced and started out my writing career working on short stories, essays, and poems. Eventually, I wrote a book. Then another one. It took a number of years for me to be able to knock out a novel in a week, but now I have a cool party trick and can write very quickly.

Just … don’t expect to do it tomorrow, especially if you’ve never written anything before. But if you’re already writing longer projects and are considering a career as a novelist, these tips and tricks might be helpful to move from amateur to professional. If you want to make your living as a writer, it’s good to have a structure so you can meet your deadlines on time—whether that’s to write a book in a week, like I do, or tackle a longer time frame.

If you have any questions or would like more info, I have a step-by-step video guide about each aspect of writing a book, from character development to hook to marketing your book after it’s finished. Just follow along at my website.

Alison McBain‘s novels are the recipients of over thirteen awards, including the Foreword INDIES. Her latest novella, Dual, was longlisted for the 3-Day Novel Contest. When not writing for herself, she’s a ghostwriter who has penned over two dozen books for clients, as well as an award-winning editor who has worked with both celebrity and New York Times–bestselling authors. She’s currently pursuing a project called “Author Versus AI,” where she’s writing a book a week over the course of a year, using no AI at all (fifty-two books total). When not writing, Alison is associate editor for the magazine ScribesMICRO and draws all over the walls of her house with the enthusiastic help of her kids. She lives in Alberta, Canada.