Whether I’m standing in front of a room full of young writers or I’m sitting at my desk penning an article, my goal is always to give my audience something meaningful, something helpful, and something fresh.

I find the most honest way for me to do that is to share what I’m learning as I work to establish myself in the publishing industry. And yes, five books in and I’m still working toward that goal. I wonder if I’ll always be hoping for a bit more stability, a bit more guarantee, a bit more control.

Probably, right? That just sounds like the correct answer.

One of the things I’m having to learn right now is how to get my books drafted much more quickly. Partially it’s because my deadlines require it, but also it’s because my life is very full. While writing is a passion of mine and incredibly important to me, it’s not the only important thing I do.

This season several things have crept up to demand my attention, and still the deadlines, and still the need to move my career, and my stories forward. It’s not a complaint. I’ve wanted to be in this place for a long time. Now, my skills must grow to match the opportunity.

As I grow, I’ve leaned into a trick I learned a long time ago:

Writing in layers.

To some extent, I’ve always done this. Especially when I get stuck. But, of late, with my head in and out of my manuscript more often than I’d like, with distractions buzzing right and left, it’s been difficult to keep up my momentum.

Every time I sit down at the computer, it feels like the water has gone cold on me. I have to reacclimate myself to the story and the task day after day, and while it’s so much easier to get your strokes in if you never leave the pool, that hasn’t been my reality. Every single writing session requires me to decide: Am I going to ease myself back into the story inch by inch, or am I going to dive in and hope my body adjusts?

My deadlines have required the later.

“But how do you do that? How do you just start writing?”

For those who plot their novels out painstakingly, this might be a bit easier, but for a discovery writer like me it’s difficult. Difficult but not impossible.

I just turned in the sequel to WINTER, WHITE AND WICKED, and in the end, I decided to address the book one scene at a time. Before I started drafting each scene, I asked myself two questions:

1. What action(s) must happen in this scene to move my plot forward AND
2. What emotions must be provoked in my protagonist to keep her growing/changing?

Once those questions were answered, I let myself stew on the who, what, when, where, how, and why of the scene. If the scene was big and complicated, I’d jot down the answers so I could reference them as I wrote:

Who: Who’s in this scene? Are they already on the page? If not, when/how should they enter?

What: What should be happening in this scene? Keep it simple to start. Ex: Sylvi is fixing the truck.

When: Does this scene take place immediately following the previous scene or is there a time jump? Perhaps it’s a flashback? Knowing this helps you with the opening paragraph.

Where: Considering the answers to questions one and two up there, which location best suits this scene?

How: I’m a discovery writer, so I write to understand HOW those two questions are answered. If you are a plotter and you know exactly HOW you’re getting there, maybe jot down a few guiding points.

Why: The reason this scene is important is because of the answers to questions one and two. As I write, I must be diligent to keep the WHY of the entire scene in my head. If there’s no why, it’s a throwaway scene and should be cut.

These questions aren’t the only important questions–I’ll likely ask myself a few more when I’m editing–but once answered, they were all the shove I needed to cannon ball into the great task of drafting my scene in layers.

Obviously this is just a tool, and if you choose to write in layers, you can start with the layer that makes the most sense to you. For me, especially if I’m lost, it’s almost always dialogue. If I can get my characters talking, their voices start to push through the void for me, and suddenly I, the author, don’t have to carry the scene on my own. The characters help.

First layer: Dialogue

In my first drafts, I’m not nearly as particular about my dialogue. In fact, the only goal at this point is to let the characters shine a bit and push the story toward its climax. That’s why I usually start here. By letting my characters talk to one another as they move the plot forward, I’m able to tap into emotional possibilities and quirks unique to each one of them. Those possibilities and quirks can be adjusted if necessary, but oftentimes they inform the scene and the development of both the plot and the emotional arc of the story.

Dialogue Tips:

1. Keep the answers to your questions in mind, but just write. The faster the better at this early stage. Consider setting a timer and not letting yourself edit what’s on the page until it goes off. You’re leaning into your instincts now.

2. Dialogue tags will help (ex: he said, she said, bob asked, susie asked, etc). When you’re just dumping dialogue onto the page, it’s easy to lose track of who’s saying what, especially if you have more than two characters in the scene.

3. If you have some idea of where the action of the scene will go, by all means give yourself a sentence or two to guide you later, but don’t stress it. You can add that on your next pass.

Second layer: Action

Once in a blue moon, I start with the action of the scene. Especially if the scene is action heavy. For example, I have the equivalent of a car chase in my next book, and since the action informs all the dialogue, I started there. You may choose to start here every time.

Action Tips:

1. Keep your goals in mind when deciding what actually happens in a scene. You’ve already decided where the scene should take your characters in a very generalized sense. Work to get there.

2. Remember that action can be caused by those inside the scene, but also by forces outside it. Your characters can be both acting and reacting. All of it makes for good movement.

3. The genre conventions of the book you’re writing will help you determine the pacing of the book. Should your scene be moving at a fast clip, or is it a quiet, more leisurely moment?

4. If you’re layering action over dialogue, consider replacing the majority of your dialogue tags with action beats. (Ex: Instead of: “You’re wrong and you know it,” Sylvi said. Try: “You’re wrong and you know it.” Sylvi threw the wrench.)

5. If an action is boring, you don’t have to show it. Very rarely do you need to show the uninteresting parts of a character’s life: brushing their teeth, using the restroom, walking from one side of the room to the other. Use your on-page moments to move the plot forward. Readers assume your characters do the other stuff off-page.

Third Layer: Characterization

Very simply, characterization is describing your characters. Now that you have the basic action of the scene down on the page, you can go through the scene and either add or refine your characters’ movements and responses to what’s happening around them.

I say refine, because you’ve likely added some characterization as you’ve layered action into the scene, and that’s great! Every time you reread a scene you get to adjust and refine it. As the story unfolds and you get to know the characters more fully, you’ll continue to perfect their presence on the page.

Tips for characterization:

1. Consider the inner journey of each individual character. Where are they emotionally? Are they moving from chaos to order, from happy to sad, from rigidity to flexibility, from stasis to growth? Very few characters remain stagnant, and it enriches your story when you reflect the character’s inner journey as you describe their actions and reactions within the scene.

2. Characters do not need equal time on the page. Some need lots of description and some just a sentence or two. It’s okay for this to vary.

3. How does the background of each character contribute to what they look like and sound like? Where are they from? How were they raised? Without beating your readers over the head with these details, remember them as you draft.

4. Watch for repetitive description. We were watching a golf tournament the other day, and as the coverage moved from one golfer to another, it was apparent the commentators knew very little about a certain gent. Every time he showed up on the screen, they gave his name and repeated the phrase “the 48 year-old golfer.” That’s it. Nothing else. Just his age. Surely, there is more to this guy than that!

Fourth layer: Setting

Ideally, you decided the setting of the scene when you considered the who, what, when, where, how, and why. As you’ve drafted the dialogue, action, and characterization layers, the setting has likely started to emerge. Now, you get to color it in.

1. Tap into all five senses: sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch. We often describe what things look like, but the other senses can be just as powerful and descriptive.

2. If this scene’s location has already been described earlier in the book, you likely don’t need to go overboard here. Consider adding details that show off why the location looks, sounds, smells, or feels different this time. Has the plot altered this setting?

3. What might be added to this setting to suit the needs of the plot and your characters a little more fully? Do you need a door that can slam? Or maybe a tree to show off the gusty wind? It’s okay to add things as you go. You can address changes when you edit.

Writing in layers, oftentimes using word sprints to move quickly, has helped me immensely as I’ve worked to draft my books faster. While faster isn’t always better, sometimes it’s necessary, and if I’m honest, quick drafting gets me to the stage where I really thrive: editing.

There’s also a little magic in working this way. When you draft in layers, you revisit the same scene over and over again, bringing new insight and knowledge with every touch. Attention like that can’t help but improve the story. And with any luck, one scene will throw you into the next. Pretty soon, you’ll be trucking toward the end with a manuscript full of fleshed out scenes just waiting to be edited.

Tell me, have you ever drafted in layers? Did it work for you? Any tips for those trying it for the first time?

Shannon Dittemore is an author and speaker. Her books include the Angel Eyes trilogy, a supernatural foray into the realm of angels and demons, as well as the fantastical adventure novel Winter, White and Wicked. Its sequel, Rebel, Brave and Brutal is due out January 10, 2023.

Shannon’s stories feature strong female leads grappling with fear and faith as they venture into the wilds of the unknown. She’s often wondered if she’s writing her own quest for bravery again and again.

It’s a choice she values highly. Bravery. And she’s never more inspired than when young people ball up their fist and punch fear in the face.

To that end, Shannon takes great joy in working with young writers, both in person and online at Go Teen Writers, an instructional blog recognized by Writer’s Digest four years running as a “101 Best Websites for Writers” selection.

For more about Shannon and her books, please visit her website, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.