Welcome, February, the month romance authors love—because kissing books, of course—and loathe—because of all the stupid “hot takes” written by so-called literary experts who’ve never read a modern romance novel, question why we can’t kill off the lovers at the end, and always mention 50 Shades of Gray and Fabio. Reader, this willful ignorance, misogyny, and disprespect wears on a romance writer’s soul.

Then again, we bring in the lion’s share of fiction sales, so we’ll just boo-hoo all the way to the bank.

It’s time once again for the Insecure Writers Support Group blog hop. The IWSG is a place to find support and solace from your fellow authors in the writing trenches. Come join us! Click on the image to learn more.

Join the IWSG monthly blog hop here: http://www.insecurewriterssupportgroup.com/p/iwsg-sign-up.html

The awesome co-hosts for the February 2 posting of the IWSG are Joylene Nowell Butler, Jacqui Murray, Sandra Cox, and Lee Lowery!  Be sure to check out their posts.

I’ll skip today’s optional question about supporters we’ve lost. Only three years into my publishing career, I haven’t yet lost any mentors or author friends, thank goodness. Instead, I’d like to share a writing technique that’s been helping me, a Lawful Plantser trying to become a plotter, to increase productivity.

You non-plotters know the feeling: you see The End glimmering on the far horizon, but you’re stuck up to your armpits in quicksand, unsure how to get from Act I to Act III. And that internal editor! Mine’s a real tyrant.

Some tell us to just write the first draft without stopping to research or edit–but how? That’s just not how my brain is wired.

Here’s a weird mind trick that’s helped me increase my writing speed and ease. I didn’t create this–in fact, I’ve heard the term “Zero Draft” in several writing workshops. Perhaps it’ll help someone else.

Step One: Detailed character bios for the two protagonists, including each character’s love language, astrological sign, scent, vehicle, occupation, education, family, romantic status, appearance, current situation/outlook, wound, internal conflict, external conflict, inner goals, outer goals, false believe/coping strategy, greatest fear, greatest strength, etc. I love this part. Even more fun–I fill a Pinterest boad with pictures of my characters, their homes, their prized possessions, settings, etc. This helps me tremendously in writing descriptions.

Step Two overlaps Step One. As ideas come to me for possible scenes or even snippets of scenes, I write them down on 3X5 cards and arrange them on my white board, where I’ve written the main story beats. I’m a kinesthetic learner and often get insights by physically moving the cards around. Plus, it’s fun playing with colorful little magnets.

Step Three: On a Word document that also contains the story beats (courtesy of Gwen Hayes’ Romancing the Beat) I start writing a very messy “zero draft” meant for no one’s eyes but mine. Basically a detailed outline, it contains a good bit of dialogue, notes to myself about details to fill in later or research, and questions to ponder as I write the first draft. I type my zero draft in various colors, perhaps 300-500 words per scene, so it’s somewhere between an outline and a draft. As I incorporate the ideas on the index cards, I crumple those suckers and toss them into the trash bin with a victory cry. So satisfying!

I find it so much easier to iron out plot wrinkles in this messy outline/draft hybrid than in the actual first draft. And once it’s done, writing the actual scenes goes so much faster! I just copy/paste each colored scene outline onto a new document, then delete the colored bits once I’ve fleshed them out into proper prose. So much easier than starting with a brief outline and a blank page!

There you have it. I’d love to hear any tricks you have for speeding up the drafting phase.

I wish you happy writing in February, lots of love, and your favorite Valentine’s treats.