It's November, and many writers around the world have chosen to challenge themselves to write a minimum of 50,000 words in 30 days. During November, the writing community often finds ways to come out of random hidey holes to write in groups, both online and offline. To some, the whole challenge is a daunting task. But for many people who have never written before, embarking on the challenge can be freeing. And for those who have been writing for a while, such a challenge forces us to examine our writing habits—and sometimes, reset our routines.

Every year, I share my thoughts about how aiming for the high word counts shouldn't be your ultimate goal. In my opinion, the challenge to write 50,000 words in a month is about developing writing habits that will carry you through into your future writing career.

With that in mind, we need to address certain practices that will help you write fast now, but avoid the editing hell later.

The Pure Bred NaNoWriMo Philosophy

The 50,000-word-in a month challenge started with NaNoWriMo back in 1999. The main organization has had some significant issues in recent years, with many writers walking away (including myself), but the ideas and concepts of getting the butt in the chair to write still hold.

With a word-count goal imposed to win the prizes, many have developed habits to barf on paper. They will never use contractions (even though contractions are an important part of dialogue within fiction). The typos take pride and place, and repeated words fill the page.

The traditional philosophy behind NaNoWriMo is to just sit down and write. ALL editing is attended to in the final stages. You never delete, you just duplicate and enhance.

While the pure-bred philosophy behind NaNoWriMo writing does help you to get the story down on paper quickly, editing hell soon follows.

I will grant you that traditionally the challenge was about getting that all important first draft written, which the world at large will never see. However, as you develop your writing skills, you will find that certain practices lead to more work in the long run.

Tricks to Writing Fast Without the Editing Hell

Here are a few of the tricks that I employ within my own writing practices that makes it easier to edit later.

1) Keep an outtakes file on hand.

There will be scenes that start to play out in one direction, but as you write them, you just know that they either aren't working or are the things made of fluff-n-stuff. Everything that you has value, even if it's just to inform you of the world that your imagination is creating, but for editing purposes, that scene needs to be flagged as remove.

You have two choice: either highlight it, so you can easily find it to remove later, or remove it right away and put it into an outtakes file.

For those using Scrivener, this is easily done by creating a folder in your main manuscript folder called Outtakes — and stuff that scene in there. This means the removed scene will still be readily available when you want to compile for word counts, but it will be easily moved out of your manuscript folder. For those working in Word (or a similar program), you'll want a separate file.

In fact, having an outtakes file or folder is a good practice to have. All those scenes were written for a reason: you needed to write them so you would understand your world. However, those little outtakes might come back into your writing at some other point, or you can use them as teasers for your published works (a bit like the added extras on movie DVDs).

2) Write the off-screen scenes if you need to.

There will be scenes where the main character is hearing only half of a conversation (like overhearing a person on the phone). Sometimes, to write those scenes, we need to write the other half of the conversation from the perspective of someone on the other end of the line. There will also be those moments when you struggle to see how a scene needs to play out, but by shifting the scene to the perspective of another character, suddenly the little details come to the foreground.

You might need to edit and rewrite that scene later, but until the full manuscript is written, you often don't know what perspective will work best for your story. Maybe you actually were writing a multi-POV story, but didn't know it. Or maybe you starting writing one character's story, but were actually writing another's.

If you need to, write the scene directly into your outtakes file/folder, so you don't need to remove it from your main manuscript later.

Don't be afraid to add the odd line from another character's perspective in that initial draft. It happens. Just move on.

This practice helps with the editing hell, because you fully understand the setting and the characters. It might be iceberg stuff (the things that your readers will never see), but as the writer, you need to understand ALL of it. This is a vital component to developmental editing (the aspect of editing that I specialise in).

3) If you don't know what narrative you would like to use for a story, use third-person in that initial draft.

Often new writers will turn to using first-person, because they incorrectly believe that it's more intimate (or it's what we have to do). However, unless you are comfortable with working in deep perspectives, you will likely fail to hit the nuances necessary for first-person narratives.

Working in third-person is always a safer option. You can work to deepen the perspective later, but third-person is more forgiving to things like head-hopping (where POV suddenly changes to another character without warning) and to light perspectives.

Changing a manuscript from light-perspective, first person to third person is a long and cumbersome process. Best to avoid it if you can.

SIDE NOTE: For certain genres, the norm is first-person narratives, particularly within the YA category. Be familiar with what is expected for the manuscript you are writing, but also be prepared to defy the norm if it works better for your brain to actually write it.

4) SHOW the story.

There will be heaps out there on the internet about the merits of show vs tell, and finding that balance between the two is not an easy task. Even writers who have written for years still struggle with this balance—hence, why there are a significant number of articles out there about the topic.

In that first draft, it's okay to write the stage directions for the characters. Describe your surroundings to the nth degree if you have to. I always recommend trying to restrict the descriptions to just a few sentences, but still put them in. If you struggle to see the little details, or to know what details you should put in, make what notes you can. If you have to embellish those descriptions later, or remove them, that’s okay. However, for the sake of your story, the essence of your settings needs to be present in some form.

Believe it or not, it's actually easier to turn show into tell, than it is to turn that tell into show. To save yourself from editing hell, err on the side of overwriting. BTW, in general, show adds more words than tell.

Don't forget to encapsulate all five senses in your show.

5) Keep a list of character names and their traits. The same goes for settings.

You don't want to be in a situation where you have multiple characters using the same name, or have your reader become confused with the constant changing eye color (unless this is actually a plot point... umm... Twilight... Gold/black/red hell...). To save your sanity, keep a working list of character/setting names and their traits.

Within Scrivener, each character or location sheet can be kept at your fingertips, so you can add details to them as you write. For those working in Word... I don't have an easy solution for you. There's a reason why I use Scrivener for my personal writing.

6) Use a placeholder character string for details that you don't know when you're writing.

When writing, you will likely come across some random detail that you don't know (like the type of gun that a character might use). Instead of getting caught up in the research rabbit hole, insert some sort of identifiable character string to remind you to fill in the details when editing.

I use xxx or XXX. If I can't work out what a character would actually say in response to a particular situation, I actually write, "Blah blah blah." However, I do have to be careful with that one, as sometimes, my characters actually do say, "Blah blah blah."

When you start your editing, you can easily search through your manuscript for your personal character string — and off down the research rabbit holes you go. At least the story is written and you know more about what it is you need to find and why.

7) Make notes of scenes you don't see.

If you are struggling to write the details of a given scene, make notes about what it is that you do see directly into your manuscript, along with your placeholder character string. With the notes present about what you had intended, you won't be looking at that vacant scene wondering why it was there or what you intended to write.

This is a good practice to have if you don't have a lot of time, but you want to get the scene down before you forget it. Yes, you will need to fill it in, but you can do that at a later date, even if it's the next day. If you don't see the full details right way, move on.

(This particular practice is one practice that I developed during my first NaNoWriMo and still use today. It's often the action scenes that I struggle to see in detail, but I'll know the outcomes, and will be able to carry on to the next scene in my story.)

8) Use contractions in your dialogue.

I know that writing "you are" or "can not" adds to your word counts, but unless you're deliberately writing a character that uses formal speech, the lack of contractions in your dialogue WILL become editing hell.

To help you develop what your dialogue should be, say it aloud as you write it. You'll hear the cadences of the speech and will be able to capture it.

9) Re-read your work after a break.

Whenever you have taken a break from your writing, even a toilet break, re-read over the last passage you wrote when you come back. I'm not saying edit. NO! I'm saying re-read. If there is anything that stands out as Huh?, correct that section right away. Remove the "the the" and correct the glaring typos.

This light editorial pass is only there to help you remind yourself of where you got up to, and to help you correct the little things that will confuse you to no end when you come to edit properly.

It's this last point where I will disagree with the hard-core NaNoWriMo participants. Perhaps I've edited a few too many barf-on-paper stories to know that you need to develop certain practices to help your early drafts become much cleaner sooner.

10) Give yourself permission NOT to write.

Believe it or not, it's this last point that many writers struggle with, especially during writing challenges that focus on word counts. We have a goal to obtain, so we have to keep writing, but sometimes, we just need to take the day to curl up and watch TV or read a good book. Our characters and stories will be there in the back of our minds — brewing. Taking that break often helps recharge the batteries and gets the writing juices flowing again.

You will find countless other blogs talking about looking after yourself while you write (sleep, food, and exercise). These are all good too, and yes, I subscribe to those theories too. It's the editing nightmares that I now strive to avoid.

Let's hope that some, or all, of these tips help you in your future writing sessions when drafting. By using these techniques, you might find yourself writing a better first draft — one that you would love to share with the world AFTER you have properly edited it.