How I Trick Myself Into Writing

As much as I love writing, sometimes I need to trick myself into doing it.

The reason? So I don’t take myself too seriously. Basically, I have to make it feel like I’m not tackling anything big, otherwise I’ll get into my head about it.

Normally, I write my novels in Scrivener. But when I first have an idea for a “book” (I’ll refuse to call it that to start, just in case), I write the opening chapter in Word or in the notes page on my phone.

“It’s just a goofy idea,” I tell myself. “It might not turn into anything.”

I do this for two reasons: one, it might not turn into anything; two, it might turn into a full-length novel, but I don’t want to eliminate that initial spark that got me writing when I haven’t fully formed the idea yet.

Once I’ve gotten to more than 20 pages down, that’s when I’ll move the story over to Scrivener, type out my loose outline, and start structuring chapters and scenes.

I’m neither a plotter nor a pantser, but a combination of the two. I like to start my first few chapters with “discovery writing” so I can establish my scene and characters—so I can infuse the fun in the story. Then, I create a short outline—often only a page of bullet points to start—of the main plot points and conflicts I expect to come up. I’m not married to my “outline”, and I will flesh it out more as I write, mostly only looking 10 chapters ahead in detail at a time. After that, it’s a matter of setting habits and writing goals, which will eventually (hopefully) turn into a 90,000-word first draft.

I’m curious whether any other writers do this, or what methods they use to “trick” themselves into writing more.