Hit 500 words on my novel draft today - a tiny hack got me there

I was stuck at page 3 for like two weeks, staring at a blank screen after my opening scene. Then I tried just writing the worst possible version on purpose (I called it my 'garbage draft') and suddenly I hit 500 words in one sitting. It works because perfectionism shuts me down, but giving myself permission to write trash got the flow going. Has anyone else tried lowering the bar to get past a block?

2 comments

2 Comments

davis.emma4d ago

That garbage draft trick is genius because 500 words of trash can actually get rewritten, but a blank page has nothing to work with. Did you find it easier to fix the bad stuff once it was down?

andrewh954d ago

Fixing garbage is way easier than staring at nothing, @davis.emma, but you still gotta catch the worst parts first.