How I wrote my first draft in 65 days

And it was easy.

My wonderful friend told me she was using Alan Watt’s 90 day novel book to write her first draft and was gunning through it. So I bought it, too.

WHAT’S INVOLVED

For 30 days you just plan and think about your novel. There are prompts every day. I did the prompts for half an hour and then I thought about character and location and did research so that when the 30 days were up I could splurge.

So I splurged and then some. Alan suggests 750 -1000 words a day for 60 days but some days I was easily writing 2-3k and I just couldn’t stop. I also wanted 2 weeks off writing over the Christmas break which was an added incentive. So I did it in 35 days.

THE RESULT

It’s a mess at 58,101 words.

It’s not coherent.

The scenes are just sketches. I have put things like [insert description here] in tonnes of places, there are lots of notes in the margins and there are loads of things that won’t make the 2nd draft because the point is just to push on.

But I am pleased with it.

IT’S ALL ABOUT THE PROCESS

This is what I love about Alan’s book it’s all about the process.

I did worry that it was crap but, on the whole, there were more moments where I felt exhilarated and inspired and couldn’t wait to get back to writing.

And that’s what writing should be about.

I believe that if you feel good creating something other people will feel good too because you’re putting that good feeling into the work. I don’t know how it’s done but that’s how it works.

I also think the book is effective because you’ve sort of done a lot of the work before you start writing.

Part way through writing the draft I found an excerpt from author Stephen King talking about his writing process during an interview with BDN. He talks all about the process being the thing.

“The finished books on his shelves are like dead skin,” Stephen says. “They’re things that are done. But I love the process.”

I love that bit. It’s the joy of creating we live for. Who cares if they end up selling millions or not? 🤫

[Stephen King calls this masterpiece dead skin. Lordy!]

What else can I say about Alan Watt’s book?

DON’T TAKE THE BOOK TOO LITERALLY

He tells you this himself—do what works for you. I started writing scenes during the plotting stage but funnily enough, I didn’t cut and paste these scenes into the subsequent draft but it’s all about getting stuff out so you can uncover the gold.

DON’T BE AFRAID TO LOOK AT OTHER BOOKS FOR INSPIRATION

I feel the book might be a little tricky for complete beginners—especially when it comes to character arcs. I’m an experienced writer (drama) and even I found myself dipping into other resources to help me nail this and I haven’t quite. There are still some big plot holes as to what my protagonist’s job is but I’ve always had that problem ever since I thought up the novel idea and funnily enough he talks about this very problem on day 76. I also read other novels for fun and made notes of anything that inspired me.

I love this quote from him “Writing a story is a war of attrition. Oftentimes we inch towards our hero’s transformation.”

DON’T BE AFRAID TO ‘GO THERE’

He does try to push you emotionally and it was kinda scary. I’m dreading re-reading those bits. But scary is good.

CONCLUSIONS

If you hate writing first drafts like me and want to bang it out quickly and with joy. This book is a godsend. I’ll definitely be using this method for all my first drafts.