It used to take me ages to get anything on paper.

In the process, I doubted myself, revised, researched, edited, cursed myself for sitting down to write, and wasted precious time.

Now, I write most stories in less than 30 minutes.

It sounds complex, but getting there is simpler than expected if you have a few tricks up your sleeve.

Here's how you can, too, write a story in less than 30 minutes.

Start with a headline

Seems obvious, right?

But it isn't about creating one on the spot when you're supposed to write. It's about preparing several ones in a swipe file you can rely on.

When I started writing, I thought I'd go "with the moment" and develop a headline whenever I was supposed to write.

Bad, bad idea.

Coming up with a headline on the spot eats up precious time and creativity, which you could use to write better texts.

The solution is simple: split up headline-writing and story-writing.

I write my headlines in the evenings and my stories in the mornings. This helps me let the headlines simmer in my unconsciousness and easily start writing when needed.

When doing this, you're already miles ahead of most.

Then, do this.

Set boundaries

We fight the idea, but we often write best within certain limits.

Short stories are a great example, but writing in planes is even better. Why?

Because you don't have mobile data (or Wifi), few other things to do and to wait until it's all over. Most write their best stories there because of these constraints.

You can apply the same principle to your everyday writing. Here are the constraints I use to fast-track my writing:

phone on airplane mode in a different room
writing only on my laptop (no external monitor)
giving myself 30 minutes to write the first draft of a story
allowing myself to operate in Typeshare and Typeshare only

That's it.

These constraints help me focus on what matters most: writing.

I don't allow distractions during this time, and my GF knows I'm unavailable in the morning. But there's one last thing most newbie writers get wrong and lose their minds about.

Although it can be easily avoided.

Write first, edit later

My brother and I have some different approaches to life.

Once, I was preparing a cake while he was standing next to me in the kitchen. As I poured the flour and then the milk into the bowl, something spilled over and landed on the countertop.

He laughed and asked me why I hadn't made sure to avoid spilling it in the first place. I simply said, "Why? I can wipe it up later. Now's the time to have fun and mess around a bit."

The same goes for your writing, too.

Don't ever start editing your text while writing.

Instead, mess around, have fun, spill words here and there, write what comes to your mind, and let your fingers do the magic.

Then, let your text breathe (like a good dough), and return a few hours (minimum) or days (my favorite) later to edit.

You'll see how more of your texts will turn out tasty.

Finally, remind yourself of the following.

Ship, when it's "good enough"

There's no such thing as the perfect story.

Even if there were, you wouldn't get there if you wrote without any feedback. Legacy writing is dead.

You need feedback from real life, aka your readers, to improve your writing.

Don't make the mistake of overediting your story and deleting all uniqueness because it might sound better.

Instead, ship faster to get the necessary feedback to improve in future stories.

That's the framework I've used for the last couple of months, helping me write most stories in less than 30 minutes.

Try it, give it your own twist, and let the magic unfold.

Thank you for reading.

What has helped you stop wasting time when writing?

Let me know in the comments.

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Here’s How You Write a Story in Less Than 30 Minutes

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