Figuring Out What Works: Bringing It All Together – Analysis of the First 10 Methods

It’s interesting to see how this project has taken shape over the course of the past few weeks. Going in, I had no idea how many writing methods I’d end up with. But seeing it all spread out before me now, I can see I have a lot going for me that I didn’t before, especially back when I was starting out as a new writer.

With all these options, I should be able to leverage some of these in order to reach my goal (finish my novel). But, in true geeky fashion, I need to analyze these methods and see how they stack up so I can figure out how to best help guarantee more writing productivity in my life.

I mentioned in the previous post that the methods either got me back to writing or kept me on-task. I’ve also mentioned that I need to nudge my writing speed away from “tortoise” and more toward “hare”. Given that criteria, here’s my analysis of the first ten methods:

Method #1: The longer I don’t write, the more guilt and frustration builds up inside of me.

Type: Helps get me back to writing my manuscript.

Speed: Tortoise.

Analysis: This is the LAST RESORT. The safety net. If I’ve been procrastinating long enough for this method to trigger, I should feel ashamed of myself. It’s no fun letting guilt and frustration well up inside of me until it’s ready to burst.

On the plus side, it’s an automatic mechanism that requires no effort from me, and I’m glad it’s a phenomenon in my life. But I don’t want to fall back on it ever again if I can avoid it.

GOAL: Use other methods to make sure this method never has to trigger again.

Method #2: If an unproductive pastime has managed to seduce me, I either have to find reasons to get jaded, steel myself, or burn myself out on it (Law of Diminishing Returns).

Type: Helps me get back to writing my manuscript.

Speed: Tortoise.

Analysis: Some hobbies can be real rabbit holes. And unfortunately, it’s inevitable that something is going to come along and divert my attention for awhile. Ideally, I’d like to be able to steel myself from this every time. However, I’ve come to accept that I can’t avoid this aspect of my personality.

The good news is, as I’ve gotten older, the “Law of Diminishing Returns” has had an increasing effect. I’m able to steel myself or talk myself out of diversions far more often than I’ve ever been able to before.

GOAL: Steel myself against fluff distractions as they come. Prioritize writing as often as possible.

Method #3: Being unproductive makes me cranky, whereas being productive makes me feel accomplished.

Type: Keeps me on-task.

Speed: Hare.

Analysis: Writing regularly keeps me feeling energetic and happy. This is more of a frame of mind than anything, with a built-in consequence.

When I put this method to work, I’m not letting guilt and frustration build up inside of me like #1, and I’m more pleasant to be around. I know being productive makes me happier, so this should be part of my daily routine.

GOAL: Write every day, reminding myself that being productive just plain feels good.

Method #4: Figure out what I’m doing each day that’s less important than writing, and stop doing them (or minimize them).

Type: Keeps me on-task.

Speed: Hare.

Analysis: Removing distractions helps me buy back precious time. I’ve found ways to minimize most of the distractions in my daily life outside of work, which has given me more free time to do more important things like spend time with my family and write. And when I’m bored, I’m far more likely to go find something productive to do.

GOAL: Ensure I’m spending at least some of my newly-found free time writing on a daily basis, and figure out ways to “buy back” even more time. Also, remind myself of #3 (crankiness factor) next time I find myself bored.

Method #5: Don’t fall into the trap of researching too much and writing too little.

Type: Keeps me on-task.

Speed: Hare.

Analysis: The Law of Diminishing Returns has set in here, too. I’ve learned enough about writing that I’m starting to hear a lot of repeat information, and it can take hours of info hunting before I come across new knowledge worth adding to my toolbelt.

Actively writing is a more time-efficient teacher than taking courses or reading books on writing ever was.

If I do come across a tutorial that interests me, I need to try and view it at a time when I’m unable to write. I don’t want tutorials eating into my writing time anymore.

GOAL: Stop reading and watching how-to-write tutorials, trust that I have enough knowledge to continue, and let the writing experience itself take over as my teacher.

Method #6: Listening to audiobooks can somehow make me visualize my scenes.

Type: Keeps me on-task.

Speed: Hare.

Analysis: This is by far the quirkiest writing quirk I’ve learned about myself, and I definitely want to put it into action as often as I can. What can I say? If it works, it works.

In the past, I’ve listened to audiobooks while doing chores (such as going to the gym or grocery shopping) and I’m forced to rush back to a computer or pull out a smartphone to jot down reminders.

But I wonder what would happen if I listened to an audiobook while writing? I’ve never tried that before, and I can’t help but think it could be a game-changer in boosting my productivity.

I’ve been gathering a library of audiobooks (largely books I’ve already read or books I felt were boring), so I’m ready to give this a try. Of course, I’ll let you know when I try it and share the results with you here.

GOAL: Listen to audiobooks more often, and try it while writing.

Method #7: Let myself get angry over bad writing, and use that frustration to write.

Type: Helps me get back to writing my manuscript.

Speed: Hare.

Analysis: There’s no reason to be afraid of exposing my writing to the world these days, no matter how rough it may be. We live in an age of poor grammar and social media spats, an environment where unpolished manuscripts get published and poorly thought-out stories get made into movies.

I make it a point to learn from both bad writing and good, and despite what you’ll hear online, you don’t have to like everything. But I don’t want to waste my energy arguing about it online. I’d rather channel a little of that anger and frustration to fuel my passion to create something better.

GOAL: Waste less time arguing about bad writing online (goes back to #4 – minimizing distractions), and channel that energy into my manuscripts instead.

Method #8: I break stories into smaller, more manageable components and tend to think in terms of scenes chronologically.

Type: Keeps me on-task.

Speed: Hare.

Analysis: Breaking down huge tasks into smaller, more manageable tasks just makes sense. That’s why you’ll find this advice everywhere.

It’s tempting to walk away from a project when I get stuck, but I shouldn’t waste time and should immediately start breaking the task down into smaller components to muscle my way through the rough spots.

GOAL: Keep writing in scenes, and be more proactive in breaking scenes into smaller components whenever I get stuck.

Method #9: I write large projects using coding software so I can “collapse” (and move around) scenes.

Type: Keeps me on-task.

Speed: Hare.

Analysis: Not much to say here. This is just a quirk of mine that I’ve found works well. I don’t think I can improve it, but I’m definitely going to keep using this technique.

GOAL: None.

Method #10: To keep third-person limited voices consistent, I tend to write in throughlines.

Type: Keeps me on-task.

Speed: Hare.

Analysis: This is another technique that just works well for me. Aside from the plusses of keeping character voices more consistent and seeing character arcs more clearly, it feels rewarding when I’ve completed all the POV scenes required by a book for a given character. For example, if I have a character that only has the POV for around five or six scenes, it still feels good setting that throughline aside as a complete character arc, making me feel closer to project completion.

GOAL: None.

This analysis is taking longer than I expected, so I’m going to have to split it up into multiple posts. Hopefully the conclusion will be worth it!