my 24-hour writing weekend
fast drafting, revising, and losing my mind during the 24hr novel challenge
Last week I joined the “24hr novel challenge” hosted by @24hr_novel on twitter to get a jump start on drafting family mart wip. This post is all about how much I managed to write, how it felt, and whether I want to do this again!
If you just want the stats and my suggestions for how to survive this ordeal, scroll right on to the end of this post!
the challenge
Basically, the idea is to write a total of 24 hours over a single weekend (3 days), either continuously or split into sessions (eg: 12/12, 8/8/8), with the goal of completing a 50k novel. In 2023, it was set for June 17-19, but I went from 16-18.
Obviously, this is pretty difficult, and I didn’t go into it with aspirations for writing 50 thousand words. For one, I’m pretty sure my typing speed and brain speed simply would not be up to it. Instead, I set my sights on finishing act 1 of family mart wip, as well as revise poppies.
my preparation
Looking back, I can say with confidence that it would not have been possible if I hadn’t outlined pretty extensively, since I find it difficult to plot on the go.
Outlining, of course, takes up quite a bit of time (I have a post on my outlining process), but thankfully I already had the beat sheet, query, and synopsis for family mart wip filled out by the time I decided to do this challenge.
In the week leading up to the challenge, I made detailed scene outlines for act 1. They were basically rundowns of what needed to happen and looked like this:
DESCRIPTION OF A STREET IN TAIPEI; THE HEAT IS INSUFFERABLE.
EMILIA CHECKS HER PHONE—SHE’S GOING TO BE LATE FOR CLASS LATER. SHE JOGS ACROSS THE CROSSWALK TO TELL HER COUSIN [DESCRIPTION + SOME BACKSTORY] THIS.
EMILIA: *DIALOGUE*
COUSIN: *DIALOGUE*
I didn’t flesh out the exact logic of how conversations would go, etc, but if inspiration hit me (a particular backstory that could be delivered here or a line of dialogue that would work there) I slipped it in to save myself work.
I ended up outlining 8 out of the 11 scenes I’d planned in act 1, and had a brief note on how the final three scenes should go.
On the revision side, I also had the outlines of poppies act 3 written down, though I didn’t go into the text itself to make notes.
The other preparation I made was booking a hotel, because otherwise I’d be beholden to my family’s weekly dinner and my cats’ whims. So I got a hotel from the night of the 16th to the morning of the 18th, foisted one cat on my dad, and got a friend to take care of the other one (they don’t get along).
In addition, before checking into the hotel, I picked up food for that night’s dinner (instant noodles and fruit) and snacks (granola bars, nuts, dried plums) to last me through the weekend.
day one: hot garbage
Friday was a work day (sigh) but, despite the travel time (the hotel was in the mountains around Taipei) and a quick dinner, I got started at 8:15pm and dove into the first scene of family mart wip using the pomodoro method (25 minute sprint, five minute break, repeat).
I was immediately reminded of how terrible drafting is. After working on revising poppies for the past year, the characters of family mart were total strangers to me. Everything felt fake and contrived.
If I hadn’t been undergoing the challenge, I would’ve probably mulled over the first scene all weekend. I would’ve gone back to the drawing board, and write some character backstories. But this was a challenge, the whole point of which was to get a lot of work done in a short amount of time.
So I took on the attitude of “I pretend I do not see.” I ignored logical inconsistencies, described things poorly, did not let the two side characters talk, and tied up arguments prematurely just to puppet my four characters to where they needed to be.
It was hot garbage. Truly terrible stuff. But within an hour and a half I had finished two scenes. Again, they were bad, but they were done and it was honestly really fun to let loose and just type without thinking too hard.
Writing is revision, etc.
I rounded up the night by rough-revising a scene of poppies (I used bolded words to annotate required changes but left it at ADD EMOTIONAL RESPONSE HERE if I couldn’t think of a good wording), and went to bed at a little past 12.
D1 tally: 3 hrs 45 mins - 2 scenes drafted (3695 words) - 1 scene rough-revised
day two: endangered sanity
It has to be said that I don’t think I’ll ever be able to write for 12 or even 8 hours straight. I simply can’t concentrate for that long, and tackled day two in sessions.
session 1: 9:10am - 2:45pm (5 hrs 45 mins)
After breakfast, the first thing I did was wrap up the poppies scene I’d rough-revised the previous night (because I’m incapable of leaving things unfinished). Then I switched around to drafting and continued to produce grade A drivel.
At this point I realized I needed to switch between the two stories frequently, to balance the sense of “do I even know how to write” by working on a polished manuscript, and to balance “I’m exhausted of nitpicking every word” by entering mindless keyboard smash mode.
I wrapped up that session by revising one of my favorite poppies scenes, so that left me in a fairly good mood and I took a break to get a decent lunch and a quick walk.
session 2: 4:20pm - 6:30pm (2hrs 10 mins)
Back to drafting. By then the plot had gotten going so it didn’t feel as terrible (though it was still terrible). Maybe some of what I wrote is salvageable.
At this point the physical fatigue was catching up with me; I raced through 2 more scenes and then took a break to finish rereading Gideon the Ninth.
session 3: 7:00pm - 8:25pm (1hr 25 mins)
I cried a bit for Gideon Nav (I’m tooooootally mentally okay) and revised another poppies scene. Then I took another break to catch dinner (instant noodles again).
session 4: 8:50pm - 11:55pm (3hrs 5 mins)
I sprinted through 2 more scenes of family mart wip and felt fairly pleased with myself because I’d offed most of the side characters (it’s a horror, okay) and juggling less characters is always easier. I moved on to revise one more scene of poppies.
Right after that, the mental exhaustion hit me like a brick wall.
I’m unsure whether it was simply about time, or if it was because I checked out the next poppies scene and realized “wait I need to significantly rewrite this one” and lost the will to live. Either way, I entered a fugue state of “fuck this” while rough-revising. Like I knew I’d have to reevaluate all of it the next day.
So, yeah, it was time to call it quits for the day.
I spent some time facedown on the bed groaning why am I doing this and I’m so tired. My partner, who is also a writer but tackled the 24hr challenge with more chill, said, quite reasonably, you know you don’t have to write the full 24 hours, right?
Which was very rude of him. It’s a challenge!! I shrieked. I am perfectly mentally okay!!!!
I’m totally okay. Why do you ask?
D2 tally: 12 hrs 15 mins - 6 scenes drafted (10017 words) - 4 scenes revised - 1 scene rough-revised
day three: finish line
Not gonna lie, I woke up and wanted to curl up and never do anything again. But I got some breakfast in me and told myself I’d just outline the final 3 scenes of family mart wip’s act 1 before checking out of the hotel, then really go for it after we got home.
session 1: 9:20am - 10:50am (1hr 30 mins)
I found I didn’t really need an outline because the final scenes were pretty solid in my mind, plus I got to write some gore and creepy monsters and that rejuvenated me.
I drafted one scene and did the opening of the next, then it was time to check out of the hotel and go home (we stopped along on the way to get sushi.
session 2: 1:05pm - 8:05pm (6 hrs 30 mins)
At this point I just wanted to wrap up the challenge in time to get to relax for a couple hours before bed. So, no more long breaks!!
I sprinted to the end of family mart’s act 1—there was some real word-spew there; I did not give a shit about presentability by then—which took me to ~3:00 pm.
And then I let myself go. I didn’t want to hold myself to doing as much as possible with regards to poppies, and I could probably have done more, but working on that rewrite scene from the end of day 2 and the next (fairly easy) one used up the rest of my time.
By the final two hours, I’d lost objectivity, and was having all sorts of doubts. Had I left gaping plot holes? Was I accounting enough for the backstory changes? Was the introspection too melodramatic? I had no idea. I just knew I was following my outline.
But I survived and rewarded myself with Indian for dinner, and also started the new Mario Kart tracks (I did spectacularly poorly on all of them).
overall stats
Over 7 sessions ranging from 1 hr 25 mins to 6 hrs 30 mins, I wrote for 24 hours from Friday night to Sunday night.
Session 1 (3:45): 2 FM scenes (3695 words) + 1 poppies scene (roughly revised)
Session 2 (5:35): 2 FM scenes (3139 words) + 2 poppies scenes (1 cont. from s1)
Session 3 (2:10): 2 FM scenes (3630 words)
Session 4 (1:25): 1 poppies scene
Session 5 (3:05): 2 FM scenes (3248 words) + 2 poppies scenes (1 roughly revised)
Session 6 (1:30): 1.2 FM scenes + the start of another (2714 words)
Session 7 (6:30): 1.8 FM scenes + 2 poppies scenes (1 cont. from s5)
Total tally:
🏪 11 FM scenes / 19735 words / act 1 drafted
🌸 6 poppies scenes (10343 words) revised
would I do this again?
Overall, this was a challenge that yielded a lot of words written, and it’s definitely something I want to do again—but certainly not any time soon. Once every half year is probably my limit. And next time I’ll try a 8/8/8 split, since day 2 really drained me.
I am thinking of doing a lite version of the challenge, such as 12hrs every other Saturday, in order to fast-draft family mart wip, since the main benefit of the 24hr challenge was allowing me to draft shamelessly. I’ll end up with a first draft that will never reach alpha readers, but…I’d nitpicked every word while drafting poppies, and by now only maybe 2 original sentences remain, so does it matter?
So I guess this is my announcement that I’m going to view this draft as a means to check if major elements (the beats, the general character arcs) work, instead of dwelling on the blow-by-blow details. I have no idea how this will turn out!
suggestions for survival
I don’t have tips for actually “reaching” 50k within 24 hours, because I don’t think I’ll ever be able to do that in my life. But here are some things that helped me successfully write to the end of the challenge without giving up or completely losing my sanity:
Switch between multiple wips!
This is obviously not optimal for “finishing” one novel, but I think it’s very difficult to maintain passion for one story for 24 hours straight. I’m not sure how drafting two things at a time would feel, but I liked moving between drafting and revising and using different parts of my brain. The optimal combo for me might be a combo of drafting/dev revisions and line edits.Give yourself breaks!
Continuously writing will make you lose your grip on reality. When revising, I often don’t allow myself breaks, and during the final bit of the final session, that contributed to my state of “I hate this book.” I prefer 25 minutes on - 5 minutes off to decrease the likelihood of being stopped mid-thought.Change position frequently!
Aside from stretching during breaks, I moved between the desk, the bed, and the hotel’s communal space just to have a change of environment. It kind of rebooted my brain and made me feel more ready to start the next sprint.Prepare food and snacks in advance!
I allowed myself real lunches on both Saturday and Sunday, but having quick meals on hand helped pack in the writing time and prevented me from sinking into “rest mode” that I’d have to wake myself from. Snacks to gnaw on during sprints kept me awake and focused, and helped bridge me from meal to meal.Outline! Outline! Outline!
Having a framework to follow helped me decrease the amount of time spent starting at the screen going uhhhh….what happens next? As mentioned, I convinced myself creating word-spew was okay because the point of it was only to quickly put my outline to the test; if I didn’t have an outline, I suspect I would’ve felt it was all a waste of time and given up. (Which is not to say that pantsing is bad or a waste of time! This is just how my brain works.)Go to a new environment if you can!
Simply being in a hotel reminded me in every waking moment that I was there to write. I had spent money to write. It had to be done that weekend. If I’d stayed home, I might’ve given in swiftly to fatigue or thought “let’s try this next week.”
And that’s how the 24hr novel challenge went for me! It was definitely an interesting experience that yielded a lot of words, more than I thought I’d be able to write. I’m glad that it’s helped me accept imperfection, and I’ll be back to deliver the verdict on whether drivel-drafting is helpful or not.
So glad you shared this. I’m in revision hell now and doubting every word I write/rewrite. This might be one way to force myself to power through!