Get That Story Out of Your Head Fast: Writing a Fiction Story in a Week

“Write a short story every week. It’s not possible to write 52 bad short stories in a row.”

That is a quote from Ray Bradbury that I live by, ok that I try to live by. While writing a story for weeks in a row can be difficult, but finishing a story in a week? That is possible! Now, you’re probably thinking, “But I don’t have the time to jam a book out with that crazy deadline!” Chances are, you do. Consider the time used on social media, on tv, or other less productive activities. This isn’t a guilt trip on having time-consuming hobbies. This is a call to stop those for a week if you absolutely want to walk away with your book finally completed.

To complete this wild goal, there are several steps, one for each day that you need to follow.

Photo by Green Chameleon on Unsplash

Day One: Planning your novel

Planning your novel starts with getting down to the basics. What genre, your intended target audience, and goal word count. For a week I usually goal for 20–30k, but this really depends on your typing speed more than anything. Now onto the meat of the first day. Character. Most notably, your protagonist. Who is your protagonist? What is their goal? What’s stopping them? (Usually, the antagonist is the answer to this, but it could be more than just that.) Ask yourself these questions and be sure to write the answers. Having those three questions answered you can pin down the plot points. Starting point, changing/turning point, rising climax, climax, and ending. Just writing a sentence or two for each of those subjects creates a general outline. How your characters get from point to point is up to you, but with that made all you have to do is connect the dots.

Day Two: Act One

Writing your first act. The curtain opens, what’s going on that your story begins? It’s time to write about the action or event that takes place. What sends your protagonist spiraling down into his/her journey in the first place? When you begin writing, don’t stop and look over your words and think. Just write! Do you find that you stop often, and aren’t able to get very many words down per minute? I recommend you try the most dangerous writing app, Squibler.io. With this app, you can set a time to write within, and if you stop writing for so long it deletes all your writing. If pressure is your motivator, this app definitely helps make one write faster. Make sure to save the text to a document with each completed session though.

Day Three: Act Two

We’re into the real heart of things at last. Now, with the baseline introductory scenes written. It’s time to ramp up the tension and start the middle! Add more driving factors that push your protagonist forward. Towards the rising action, to the climactic decision, or final pushing action. Make sure to build suspense, or hint at upcoming things, don’t pull a random plot twist out of nowhere. Make sure it makes sense with the story and isn’t just for the surprise factor.

Photo by Thom Milkovic on Unsplash

Day Four: Act Three

Wrap it up! Writing the end. You’ve made it this far, it’s time to reign it in. Resolve the plot. What outcome do your protagonist’s actions lead to in the end? Does your story continue after the plot is resolved? Or does it end with the hero achieving their goal?

Day Five: Read it

This step is the most painful. You finished your first draft! Hooray! But wait… You look back at your writing… You might be asking yourself “Did I write this?” The first draft is a steaming pile of crap. Read through it, yes the whole thing, and remember to reference your plan sheet when reading. Highlight or mark anything that you like, dislike, think is important, or think needs to be removed. But don’t add or remove anything yet! You’re setting yourself up for tomorrow’s goal!

Day Six: Revision

Time for the revision. Today is the day for going back and fixing your story. Using the highlights and selections you made while reading it, it’s time to polish it up. Fix grammar errors. Change descriptions to be more elaborate. Make sure the main plotline flows, and even consider working in a subplot. Spend this day to add detail to your work. Like adding the final touches to a painting, it’s time to wrap it up. By editing the draft and polishing it to perfection, you should reach your word goal if you didn’t in the drafting stage.

Day Seven: Final Day

So your book is finally complete, give yourself a pat on the back! Now you can use this final day to fix any small blemishes- if you feel there still are some. Now you can choose to develop a book cover, description, and start consider plans to publish it as an e-book. Or keep the glory to yourself and live with the satisfaction of completing your story at long last. Either way, you now know your abilities as a writer.

If you’ve completed a story in a week, even if it isn’t as good as you wanted it to be. Be proud of yourself. You set yourself a goal and achieved it. Many writers struggle with writing for years and you managed to push through and complete a story in a week. Keep using this as a practice exercise, or way to pump out e-books and you’ll find it gets easier and easier with each try.p