A month ago I wrote a novel. The story I wrote is one I’ve wanted to tell for a long time, but I’ve never managed to get it quite right. I pushed myself to do it in a month because 1 – I wanted to prove to myself that last November wasn’t just a fluke, and 2 – the ideas and images just flowed that quickly.

For me there are a couple of tricks to writing that quickly. Key things I keep in mind that make the process fast, but not necessarily accurate.

First is that I try and plan out every scene before I write it. I sit down in front of the computer and I already have a rough sketch in my head of what happens in that scene. This isn’t quite the same as a full story outline, because I only do this kind of planning on three chapters at a time, and they’re based on what I’ve already written, not on what I plotted that I would write. Cuz even though I like a loose outline before I start a story, I have yet to stick to it completely.

Second is that if I still can’t write a scene, regardless of planning, I skip it. I write down my thoughts and notes on the scene where the scene goes, and I move on.

It makes for some really short drafts. This last one was only 40k words when I was done, but that’s because I skipped a lot. I guess that means technically I didn’t finish the novel, doesn’t it?

But I still call it a first draft, because it makes me feel accomplished. Now I’m going back and filling in all the notes, smoothing out the scenes that are too sparse, and posting it to my portfolio on writing.com (which is an amazing and fantastic place because I met many of my CP’s there, and because I can put password protection and other security around the story, so it’s not posted publicly pre-publication).

I’m posting this story a chapter at a time, as I finish this draft version 1.5. I can tell by the item statistics that it’s not getting a lot of fanfare, but there is one person who comes back day after day, checking for new chapters. And when the new chapters are there, they read them.

I don’t know who this person is, they’ve never told me, or sent me feedback, or said hi, or anything. But knowing someone is waiting makes it easier to push past the block and frustrations I’ve hit in the story. (because apparently, all those scenes that I skipped and just left notes on, are the last 8 chapters of the book). So I keep revising these chapters (or writing them) and grinning when they get read.

I so frequently see the advice that we should write for ourselves. That we shouldn’t worry about market, and trends, and etc. But I don’t think this is quite the same. The story I’m telling – I chose to write it because it’s the story I wanted to tell. I’ve wanted to see this come to life for so long now. But after I’ve gotten it out of my head, there’s no reason for me to polish it if no one wants to hear it besides me.

There’s no reason to throw it out there if the only people who read it do so out of a sense of obligation, and don’t actually enjoy the story.

So, yeah. I write for myself. To tell the stories I want to tell, and to see the worlds I want to learn more about come to life and become fully realized. But I still edit and revise for my readers, and for the dream and hope that one day that list of readers will grow beyond three or four. Because if I didn’t care what the world thought, publishing wouldn’t be a goal, right?

Do you write for yourself, or for others?