How to write a whole book in 2 months?

Week 1 & 2 – The Plan

Timeline’s Summary
Chapters 1 to 3 will take you up to 14 days.
Try to write Chapter 1 in 2 days if you can.
- The faster you finish the 1st chapter, the more motivated you’ll be to write the rest of the book.
Take 4 days for Chapter 3.
- It is your 1st Crisis chapter
- You may be blocked on the 4th day when you’ll have to finish it
- Finish it nonetheless
- Chapter 3 is the 1st Barrier to the Completion of your Book
Chapters 4 to 6 will take you up to 14 days.
Take up to 4 days for Chapter 6.
- It is most likely the peak tension of your book
Chapters 7 to 9 will be written much faster than the rest of the book since you have reached peak writing velocity.
You may still take 4 days to write Chapter 9.
- It is a critical Chapter and the transition to your epilogue.

Characters

Main Characters (day 1 & 2)

Start with at least 3 Characters.
Create Relatability 1st.
And with yourself before anyone else.
How to love your Characters?

Protagonist (up to 2)
Define the character’s Goal through her Name.
Display her 1 obvious strength in the 1st Chapter.
- Protagonists are generally designed to be likable
- Her strength will often be a desirable character trait
Display her 1 obvious weakness in the 1st Chapter.
- Protagonists are generally designed to be likable
- Her weakness will be amusing or relatable
Give her a 1 Quirk/Accessory.
- Most common : Hairstyle, Item, One-Liner
What’s her Initial Relation to the Antagonist?
- Friend, Ally, Enemy, Foe
What’s her Initial Relation to the Support?
- Friend, Ally, Enemy, Foe

Antagonist (up to 2)
Define the character’s Goal through her Name.
Display her 1 obvious strength in the 1st Chapter.
- Antagonists are generally designed to be unlikable.
- Her strength will often be an undesirable character trait
Display her 1 obvious weakness in the 1st Chapter.
- Antagonists are generally designed to be unlikable
- Her weakness should still be relatable at this stage
Give her a 1 Quirk/Accessory.
- Most common : Hairstyle, Item, One-Liner
What’s her Initial Relation to the Protagonist?
- Friend, Ally, Enemy, Foe
- The Antagonist will often be responsible of the 1st crisis of the Story & create disruption in general
What’s her Initial Relation to the Support?
- Friend, Ally, Enemy, Foe

Support (up to 4)
Define the character’s Goal through her Name.
Display her 1 obvious strength in the 1st Chapter.
Display her 1 obvious weakness in the 1st Chapter.
Give her a 1 Quirk/Accessory.
- Most common : Hairstyle, Item, One-Liner
What’s her Initial Relation to the Protagonist?
- Friend, Ally, Enemy, Foe
What’s her Initial Relation to the Antagonist?
- Friend, Ally, Enemy, Foe
Supports can either ally with Antagonists or Protagonists

2ndary Characters (day 3 & 4)

Add up to 8 other support Characters with predefined Roles.
These are 2ndary Characters.
These 8 Characters can be used in all of your stories.
All you have to do afterwards is switch goals, behavior traits & quirks.

Sponsor/Supplier
Define the character’s Goal through her Name.
What are the Resources allocated by the Sponsor?
What Counterparts does she ask for?

What’s her 1 obvious strength?
What’s her 1 obvious weakness?
What’s her Quirk/Accessory?
- Most common : Hairstyle, Item, One-Liner

What’s her Initial Relation to the Protagonist?
- Friend, Ally, Enemy, Foe
What’s her Initial Relation to the Antagonist?
- Friend, Ally, Enemy, Foe
What’s her Initial Relation to the Support?
- Friend, Ally, Enemy, Foe

Rival/Protector
Define the character’s Goal through her Name.
Both the Rival & the Protector have a strong support function.
They Challenge the Protagonist.

What’s her 1 obvious strength?
What’s her 1 obvious weakness?
What’s her Quirk/Accessory?
- Most common : Hairstyle, Item, One-Liner

What’s her Initial Relation to the Protagonist?
- Friend, Ally, Enemy, Foe
What’s her Initial Relation to the Antagonist?
- Friend, Ally, Enemy, Foe
What’s her Initial Relation to the Support?
- Friend, Ally, Enemy, Foe

Arbiter/Advisor
Define the character’s Goal through her Name.
Display conflicts the Arbiter will have to judge.
Show the Consequences of these judgements.
The Advisor will be there to help the Protagonist to solve conflicts.
She will not solve them in her place.

What’s her 1 obvious strength?
What’s her 1 obvious weakness?
What’s her Quirk/Accessory?
- Most common : Hairstyle, Item, One-Liner

Example of Arbiter/Advisor Behavior:
2 strengths – Equitable & Empathetic
2 weakness – Detached & Determined

What’s her Initial Relation to the Protagonist?
- Friend, Ally, Enemy, Foe
What’s her Initial Relation to the Antagonist?
- Friend, Ally, Enemy, Foe
What’s her Initial Relation to the Support?
- Friend, Ally, Enemy, Foe

Enticer/Soul
Define the character’s Goal through her Name.
The Enticer & The Soul help the Protagonist to Discover the World.
The Enticer through Excitement.
The Soul through Contemplation.

What’s her 1 obvious strength?
What’s her 1 obvious weakness?
What’s her Quirk/Accessory?
- Most common : Hairstyle, Item, One-Liner

What’s her Initial Relation to the Protagonist?
- Friend, Ally, Enemy, Foe
What’s her Initial Relation to the Antagonist?
- Friend, Ally, Enemy, Foe
What’s her Initial Relation to the Support?
- Friend, Ally, Enemy, Foe

Settings (Day 5 – 9)

Start with at least 3 Settings.
They will represent the 3 Phases of the Story.
Whatever the Scale you’ll need to find the same elements in each of them.
A place to Rest.
A place to Fight.
A place to Prepare/Converse.

Design a City.
Design a District.
Design a House.
Design a Room.
There you have template for every scale.
Make 3 other Districts.
Make 3 other House types.
Make 3 types of Living Room, Kitchen, Bathroom & Bedroom.

Create a Place to Start.
Once you’ve started, the Story will write itself more easily.
This Place will allow you to display events.
It will allow your characters to meet each other.
Every Room, every setting is a place of representation.

What you need to describe?
Atmosphere – Climate, Light, Colors.
People – Quirks, Daily Conversations, Daily Life.
Organizations – Goal, Hierarchy, Leaders.
Landscape & Landmarks – Animals, Symbols.
Keep it at 1-2 sentence for each.
Develop only if necessary.

Story

Start with the End.
Imagine up to 10 Different endings.
What are the Differences?
How did the characters came up to them?
Why did they happen?
Are the Outcomes consistent with the rest of the Story?
Do they fit the Character’s behavior?

Every new crucial element added or removed from an outcome changes the ending.
It can be the acquisition/loss of a Key item/character.
It can be a change in the Way of obtaining/losing this Object.
You can also change the Role/Function of the Object.

Pick your Favorite Ending & Create a Matching Introduction.
Now you have the 10th & 1st chapters you need to plan chapters 3, 6 & 9.
Chapters 3, 6 & 9 are Crisis chapters.
Display critical changes in these chapters.
Critical Wins: New Ally, new Estate, new Status.
Critical Losses: Death/Destruction/Disappearance, Betrayal, Madness.

Week 3 & 4 – The Discovery

Chapter’s Structure

Atmosphere
1. Colors,
2. Climate,
3. Light.
People
1. Introduce characters (if any).
2. Display Character’s evolution
3. Display Relationships’ evolutions
Setting.
1. Where are the Characters?
2. Why are they here?
3. What are the Focal Points of this Setting?
Issue.
1. Who/What caused the Issue?
2. Why/When did they caused it?
Outcome
1. How is the Issue Solved?
2. What is Won?
3. What is Lost?

Characters Evolution

Protagonist
Did the Character’s goal change?
Did she abandoned it to pursue a new goal?
Present 1 strength to hone to reach her goal.
Unravel 1 hidden weakness that may change the Public point of view on the Character.
Did her Quirk/Accessory change?
- Most common : Hairstyle, Item, One-Liner
What’s her New Relation to the Antagonist?
- Friend, Ally, Enemy, Foe
What’s her New Relation to the Support?
- Friend, Ally, Enemy, Foe

Antagonist
Did the Character’s goal change?
Did she abandoned it to pursue a new goal?
Present 1 strength to hone to reach her goal.
Unravel 1 hidden weakness that may change the Public point of view on the Character.
Did her Quirk/Accessory change?
- Most common : Hairstyle, Item, One-Liner
What’s her New Relation to the Protagonist?
- Friend, Ally, Enemy, Foe
What’s her New Relation to the Support?
- Friend, Ally, Enemy, Foe

Support
Did the Character’s goal change?
Did she abandoned it to pursue a new goal?
Present 1 strength to hone to reach her goal.
Unravel 1 hidden weakness that may change the Public point of view on the Character.
Did her Quirk/Accessory change?
- Most common : Hairstyle, Item, One-Liner
What’s her New Relation to the Protagonist?
- Friend, Ally, Enemy, Foe
What’s her New Relation to the Antagonist?
- Friend, Ally, Enemy, Foe

Repeat the Process for 2ndary Characters.

Settings, Relationships & Conditioning

Distance, position & Relationships
Are the Characters facing each other?
Are the Characters next to each other?
Are the Characters in the same room?
Are the Characters around the same table?
Are they close/distant?
Are they looking to get closer/more distant?
Do they hide a certain part of their body?

Define the limits of each Setting.
Who/What belongs to which setting?
- Which character will ever be present in this setting?
- Which element will ever be present in this setting?
- Which character will never be present in this setting?
- Which element will never be present in this setting?
What defines the Setting?
What are the Physical Limits?
- Are they natural?
- Are they Artificial

Make the Setting interesting with Focal Points.
Why are your characters here?
What attracted them to this Place?
Why do they remain in this Place?
What can be found in this Place?
- Surprising objects?
- Disproportionate objects?
What are the Focal Points on this Setting?
- Is it a source of Danger?
- Is is a Shelter?
- Is it a place of Rest?
- Is it a place of Merriment?
- Is it a source of Excitement?
Which items or individuals translate this Aspect?
- The Personnel?
- The Furniture?
What are the adjacent location?
- The Neighborhood?
- The District?
- The City?
- The Country?

Story & Dialogues

Use Language Levels to characterize.
Formal.
Informal.
Casual.
Vulgar.
Create a dialogue between 4 characters.
Each of them using a different Language Level.
Observe the contrast.
Reiterate with other dimensions.

Define the Characters’ Habits & Manners.
Habits define your character’s progression.
- Habits define the role, the archetype & the goals of the character
- Habits are long-term scaled & rigid
Manners allow you to introduce your character easily.
- Manners define the role, the class & the beliefs of the character
- Manners are short-term scaled & flexible

Reactions & Obsessions
What are your Characters’ Goals?
How does these Goal translate into the dialogues?
How do the Characters React?
To what do they react?
What do they consider to be an agression/infringement?

Crisis & Change
Which crisis occur in each chapter?
What’s the outcome?
What did each character do to reach this outcome?
How did they contributed?
How did they thwarted the menace?
How did they solve a problem?
Why did they fail?
What change does it cause in them?
Is this change definitive?
Can the character still progress?
Can the character still regress?

Week 5 & 6 – The Deepening

This is the Phase of Relationship Deepening.

Friendship

How did the 2 characters meet?
Do they have a best friend?
Can they have Friends?
Cant they have more than 1 Friend?
What’s Friendship?
How does the Character consider bonds she forms?

What will the Character do for a friend?
Will she die for a friend?
Will she kill for her?

What Improvement does the relationship bring?
Are they Competing with each other?
On which topic do they disagree?
On which topic do they agree?

Enemyship

How did the 2 characters meet?
What is an Enemy?
Do the character have a nemesis?
Can she have enemies?
Is enemyship a waste of time for her?
Cant they have more than 1 Enemy?
How does the Character form bonds?

How did they become enemies?
Were they friends beforehand?
Are they part of the same organization?

Team & Organization

Your characters may have created an Organization.
What is the purpose of this Organization?
With who did she built it?

What is her Team like?
What skills do they need?
Do they take trainees?
Do they train people?

Are they pursuing an activity she enjoys?
Where are they living?
Does they enjoy this place?
What type of activities do they perform?

What are the Goals of her team?
What’s their Destination?
How do they identify as a Team?
Do they compete with other teams?
Do they train often?
When do they meet?

What are their Symbols/icons?
What are the Strengths of the team?
What are the Weaknesses of the team?
Do the team members have Quirks related to their function?

What are their Habits?
What Situations are they exposed to?
How do they manage Crisis?
How do they relax?
How Comfortable are they with each other?

Week 7 & 8 – The Conclusion

The Ending?

The Unexpected
What is the Public not expecting?
An antagonist that suddenly change sides?
The Revelation of an Antagonist?
The Behavior of the Antagonist?

A Final Crisis
What’s the outcome for each character?
Did they reach their Goal?
Did they find a new one?
Did they break relationships definitively?

Epilogue
A New Story?
The End of this Book may not be the end of the Story.
Did you plan a sequel?
Did you plan a Trilogy?
Did you plan a Saga?
Did you think about new Characters?
Did you think about new Settings?

Completion Phase

Keep up to 3 days aside to read the Book with your Team.
Ask what worked well & what did not.
Issue will not always be clear.
Your Book is still a prototype.
Readers will often forget what worked, because it worked.
We notice anomalies more easily.
Ask for issues & corresponding solutions.
How would they enhance Consistency?
How would they make a Character more Relatable?
How would they make an Environment more Immersive?

Start Writing from the 1st day if you can.
The sooner you let the story unfold, the more ideas you’ll find.
The sooner you begin to write the sooner you’ll notice the issues.
In the early stages you’ll probably have multiple endings, branched scenario, and still be indecise.
The sooner you begin, the sooner you can choose.

Each Chapter will take you up to 4 days to write.
If you write for 30′-40’/day you can write up to 5 pages.
Each chapter will be 10-15 pages long, for a 100-150 pages book.
If you write for 60′-90’/day you can write up to 10 pages.
Each chapter will be 20-30 pages long, for a 200-300 pages book.

The Making of a World

Process over Results.
You have to create a habit of writing.
That’s it.
The habit, not the results.
Qualitative results do not matter in the beginning.
Do Your Best, For Yourself.
Focus on the Process.
And People will come.

10 pages a day.
90 to 120′ a day on your Main Project.
This translate to 10 page every day.
We recommend you not to do more.
As obviously you shouldn’t do less.
Writing 10 pages a day helps you to detach progressively from willpower dependency.
It creates Automatism.
You will end up writing 10 pages every day.

Focus on the Quantity.
10 pages a day translates into 300-310 pages a month.
Writing a define Volume the most important action you need to take.