2k to 10k: Writing Faster, Writing Better, and Writing More of What You Love by Rachel Aaron
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This is the second book I’ve read recently about how to greatly increase the volume of your writing. I note with some irony that both books have been very slim.
I was surprised that 2K to 10K had so little overlap with 5,000 Words Per Hour, so in a way the two books complement each other nicely.
Rachel Aaron offers some very specific advice that can be distilled down to two words: plan everything. And two more bonus words: track everything. She strongly advocates outlining a novel before diving in as the key to being more productive in your writing and boosting your daily word count. Unlike Chris Fox’s book, Aaron draws repeatedly from her own work to illustrate her tips, and it works to good effect, while also adding a more personal touch to the advice.
Like Fox, she is clearly enamored of her methods and the success they have brought her, and that enthusiasm is just as infectious here as it is in 5,000 Words Per Hour. You want to immediately dive in and follow the approach she advocates.
The second half of the book is a bit more of a traditional how-to, covering (and endorsing) the classic three-act structure, going over techniques on editing–here I find it interesting that she doesn’t let her beta readers look at her story until she is done with it, arguing that it’s not fair to have them offer feedback on what is still a work-in-progress.
There are no exercises here, unlike 5,000 Words, so the expectation is to take the advice and run with it.
Overall, a quick read and well worth it for both new writers or those who find themselves struggling with the process of simply getting words down in a regular, consistent manner.
