WRITING A BOOK IS SIX TIMES HARDER THAN RUNNING A MARATHON.
"YOU MUST WRITE THE BAD WORDS BEFORE YOU WRITE THE GOOD WORDS."
That isn't an insult. It's arithmetic. About 70% of people who train for a marathon finish it. Only about 12% of NaNoWriMo writers reach the finish line. The difficulty isn't in your legs. It's in your head.
There are a hundred books about craft for every handful about process. Writers will happily upgrade their sentences and then guard their broken process like a lucky rabbit's foot. That's backwards. Process can be trained, and Superdraft is the training plan: eight steps from a blank page to a finished draft.
WHAT'S INSIDE THE BOOK
THE CREATOR AND THE CRITIC
Meet the two voices in your head. Most writing problems come from hearing the right voice at the wrong time. Learn when each one gets the microphone.
THE EIGHT STEPS
From the Braintrust to the Rewrite, this is a complete, ordered system that works for plotters, pantsers, and everyone in between.
SUPERDRAFTING
Draft fast under the rules of improv. No backspace. No rereading. You'll be surprised by what shows up when the Critic is locked out.
THE 1-3-2 MOVE
Write Act One, then Act Three, then Act Two. It's the most controversial idea in the book, and it may save your saggy middle.
DEADLINES WITH TEETH
Learn the deadline formula, the written contract, and the enforcer who makes sure you actually finish.
FEEDING THE CREATOR
Walking, dreams, and "epiphany incubators." You can't hunt for lightning bolts, but you can farm them.
ABOUT
THOMAS DEAN DONNELLY
Thomas Dean Donnelly has spent 30 years as a professional Hollywood screenwriter, and projects he has written have grossed more than $1 billion worldwide. He sold the first feature he ever wrote in a three-studio bidding war. Since then he has survived pitch rooms, weekend reads, and a writer's strike.
When the 2023 strike shut down Hollywood, he turned to novels and found the indie publishing community. Superdraft grew out of teaching that community the system he uses himself. He writes, mostly by dictation, while walking the beaches of Los Angeles.
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