What do you think of Book in a Week?
Many of us have heard of the “Book in a Week” idea where you sit down and pound out the pages for a week or two until you have a finished rough draft. It’s scraggly, it’s ugly, but by golly you now have 300 pages or so of something to work with.
I think that only works if you know what’s going to happen. If you have the storylines all mapped out, the major turning points in mind, you can blast through it. But what if you don’t have a clue where you’re going? I don’t think it would work then. That’s my problem. I’m at the stage where I’m beginning to get a better grasp of pacing, to know that–for a 400 page medieval, I need to have a subplot, and the conflicts have to keep sharpening all the way to the end. But the strangest thing is, the more I write, the more I realize that I don’t need as much plot as I think I do.
Emotional plotting is a whole ‘nother animal. Taking two people who have no reason to love each other and getting them to the point where they can’t live without each other, takes 200 pages in and of itself. My early books had way too much plot. My newer books have less plot and more emotional intensity. But I still feel like I’m not quite there yet.
There’s also pacing of emotions. When I wrote my first book, my hero and heroine were lusting after each other on page 60. Ouch. Now, I’m trying to stretch that out, but in order to make it real, I have to have more emotional conflict. In short, the more I know, the more I realize how LITTLE I know. Sometimes you get it right, out of instinct. Other times, when you try to apply a formula–e.g., they won’t kiss until page 150, it just doesn’t work. I think the key is when you lose the author distance and you can get inside their heads. When you’re not just making up the story, but LIVING the story, that’s when the magic comes.
Then you sit back and think, how in the world did I write that? 
Michelle posted in Writing @ 6:33 am | Viewed 1276 times
Bonnie Ferguson Says:
I’ve never tried book in a week but if it gets something on the page to work with I think it could be a useful exercise
Sometimes characters are attracted the moment they meet and other times it takes longer. I guess if the attraction is early then there might need to be reasons why they can’t act on it so that it grows and builds until they can’t deny it anymore. But yes, each story is different and what works in one doesn’t in the other and so on
gena showalter Says:
I wrote the rough draft for my current book, Awaken Me Darkly, in two weeks. I have to write quickly or I obsess about the story.
katie Says:
Love the magic!:typing: That’s what writing is all about! Well, part of what it’s all about.
LauraP Says:
I know a story’s really working when I wake up in the morning from my heroine’s dreams. Kind of spooky sometimes.
Crystal* Says:
Yes. Yes. Yes. I don’t write well when I HAVE TO. I do so much better when I’m in the zone. Things just sort of come to me. And it’s GREAT!
Book in a week? There’s too many outside variables to take this seriously for me. Sometimes it’s almost as if I get a “click” when I’m on the right track. Odd, but true.
Grins*
Caro Says:
Maybe not “book in a week”, but if I write hard and fast and do “book in six weeks,” I’m often amazed at what happens — for some reason, the emotional plotting seems to work best if I don’t stop and rethink.
Suzanne Says:
I don’t ever do book in a week. But immersion, that’s another thing. I like that!
Margery Scott Says:
Book in a week doesn’t work for me. I revise as I go. But sometimes, when I’m in the zone, when I’m doing nothing more than channelling the characters, I go with it and don’t even think about revisions, pacing, anything. Just let the story play out. That’s the part of writing I love.
kacey Says:
Well, if I have the basics in place. Know the turning points, black moment, resolution…then I do like the total immersion thing like I have going now. I already had the proposal finished (3 chapters and the synopsis), but I think it’s going to take me about 3 weeks to finish up the book. I’ve even done some revisions as I go along. I’m so INTO the story this way.
Rene Says:
I’ve done BIAW’s a couple of times. I’m not out with a goal of finishing a book, but rather I use it to make myself accountable for a certain number of pages a day. I failed miserably at last week’s BIAW I participated in, but I did one in March that was great. I also did a BIAM in April and while I didn’t finish the book or get the 50K words I was looking for, I did get 27K solid words on the page.
Mary Says:
I could write a book in a week, but then I would have to spend 2 years fixing it.
Michelle Says:
I’m amazed at the folks who CAN do it. With two little ones, it’s almost impossible for me. But in the summer time, look out!
Steph T. Says:
I’ve done the book in two weeks thing - it’s the only way I can write most of the time. It’s the immersion thing Suzanne mentions - I find that if I’m on a really good roll and then, for whatever reason, I can’t continue the roll, I stop and tend to futz around and don’t get the rest done.
That’s not to say that the book is anywhere near finished copy, but the main parts are down and then I can dig into the dreaded revisions.