How to write a novel of indeterminate quality

When I talk about writing, the most common comment I hear from folks is either "How do you write a novel?!" or "I started a novel but I don't know how to finish." In either of these, there is a supposed qualifier of "good" - as in, "good novel." It might take a someone forever to write a good novel. But you can write a novel of indeterminate quality as fast as the words can come.

Before having kids, I had a daily word goal of 1000 words. Today that goal is half of what it was. Daily word goals are some Eleusinian mystery. Most people have them. I don't remember where I first heard the advice but I definitely didn't dream it. However, there is a secret sauce to word goals: never edit as you go.

Writing paralysis comes for me when I focus on writing quality. "This scene is terrible," I say to myself as I stare at my keyboard before eventually quitting. That moment is death. I won't return to the computer for weeks as I wait for inspiration. I find it is much better, faster and healthier to write bad scenes and keep going. That is my rule: I don't go back, I don't edit, I don't even correct spelling. Onward and upward until the first draft is finished.

If you do 500 words a night but every other night your 500 words comes from editing what you wrote before, it's a waste. No progress can be made. Not editing during the first draft is freeing. Decide that character is a girl, not a boy? She's a girl from now on; you'll fix all the pronouns up to this point in your second draft. Decide that character you just made up is actually the Big Bad? It shall be so; you'll clean up all the foreshadowing in the next draft. Just keep going, don't look back, lest you turn into a pillar of salt.

When I was first writing, I was rather legalistic about the 1000 word limit. As with everything, some nights the words came slow and some they came fast. On the nights they came fast, I still stopped at 1000. I believed that I was banking inspiration for future nights. Could I have written another 1000? Maybe. But maybe I end up with 2000 and hit a wall, making the next night harder to write. By stopping at 1000 every time, I usually had some assurance that I knew what I'd write the next night. Nights where I sat at the keyboard without a clue of what to type were seldom.

Things have changed with kids. Not only has my word count lowered, but I don't hit every night. I have moved to a "hot hand" philosophy - if the words are flowing and the kids are all asleep, don't stop. Keep going until the words run out or it's time to go to bed. I do this because I know that the words will run out at some point and now I take advantage of inspiration when it comes. Because there have been enough nights where I am inspired but derailed by someone sleepwalking, peeing the bed or throwing up (kids are rough).

However I think the most important part of "how do you even write a novel" is perseverance - at even 1000 words a night, every night, a novel takes months. Out of the three novels I've published and the three that sleep complete in my hard drive, I have 2 at 60k, 1 at 70k, 2 at 80k and 1 at 100k. The 100k book took 8 months and that was a really good pace for me.

How do you write a novel, good or bad? Don't stop to edit. Just don't stop, period.