Novel Shortcuts: Ten Techniques That Ensure a Great First Draft

Proven techniques for writing a high-quality first draft fast

Novel Shortcuts shows you how to quickly write a first draft that's also rich and engrossing. (It's really possible ) Through detailed instruction and valuable exercises, award-winning novelist Laura Whitcomb addresses everything from premise development to foreshadowing to tone and beyond. You'll uncover shortcut strategies and tools like:

A four-step approach for crafting stronger scenes

Plot-planning devices, including plot webs, timelines, and plot menus

Guidelines for building your story around essential crosshair moments

Comprehensive checklists featuring quick fixes to common story gaffes relating to plot, character, voice and style, setting, description, and more

Plus, learn how to stay committed to and enthusiastic about your project as you develop it from a new idea to a complex and realistic story. Novel Shortcuts is your roadmap to a smooth and expedient writing process

Novel Shortcuts gives you a unique take on speed depth in fiction writing, showing you how to write a fast first draft that's also rich and engrossing (it's really possible ). With examples from published works and detailed instruction, this helpful guide addresses everything from premise development to scene building to tone and much, much more.