emily

hello! the true answer is hyperfixation and the absurd amount of free time college students have...

i do feel like i should note that before i ever publish the first chapter, i have the entire fic outlined scene-by-scene in excruciating detail (almost all dialogue, physical movements, emotional beats, etc), so by the time i'm "writing", all the hard work is mostly done! so it may seem like i write faster than i really am, because i'm basically cheating.

however, i do have a few insights that work for me:

make the aforementioned excruciatingly detailed outline.

making sure you deeply understand your character's mindset at that specific point in the story. i know that sounds like it should be a given, but once i started seriously focusing on grounding myself in my POV char specifically, i wrote so much faster. the less i have to stop and think about who is doing what and why, the better! i find making playlists for each of my characters (and then listening to them if i'm struggling to write their behavior) helps!

then, writing sprints! mine are typically 60 min on, 20 min off, but shorter "on" periods work just as well. in each sprint i do not reread a single line, stop to look anything up, etc. full-speed word-dumping. editing comes later.

once i've writing-sprinted for a few hours, i go reread everything. this is a good brain break and also lets me ground my characterizations/cut unnecessary word-dumping/refine prose.

rinse and repeat!

i can't emphasize how awesome writing sprints are. once you get in that zone, you are basically unstoppable.