I'm about to reveal the greatest trick I ever learned for finishing a novel at a decent rate. You all ready for this?

It's called <get there>.

Usually I'll have an idea of what a chapter involves, and it's the exciting stuff. The fights! The angsty conversations! Something exploding! And it's pretty common for events to take place across a variety of locations in a single chapter, especially if you're combining scenes.

And many times, a conversation or dialog will end in location A (say, planning a prison break), and then everyone goes to location B (the prison for said prison break). And when I'm writing this, there is an immediate desire to tell EVERYTHING between the two.

Because when writing that dialog plotting the prison break, for example, you're in a character's head. You're zoomed in nice and close, detailing reactions, fears, and giving intricate details to make the upcoming action feel real and pre-planned.

But that level of 'zoomed in' is usually NOT what you want when transitioning over to the next big scene (unless your story is really, really heavy into the world-building and treating the location much more like a travelogue - no advice is one-size-fits all)

So when happens to me is I'm giving lots of dialog and detail, then need to move the whole group to a new set piece, and there's an immediate desire to describe the locations they pass, some dialog and banter between people, etc.

All of this is delaying the stuff I, personally, want to get to a writer and storyteller. And it's also filler. It's me feeling like 'something needs to go here'. And that stuff is also...kinda hard. Imagining the buildings. Describing them, while also not wanting to sound dull.

So many times I'll have a nice head of steam, the words are flowing, and then it's like "oh crap, um, ok so now they're going here, and then here, and then turning down this road, better describe some people they're passing by, maybe reference a landmark...ugh, what goes there?"

But now? My big trick? My permission to you, even, if you feel you need it?

<get there>

That's it. That's the magic trick.

Jack: "all right, everyone clear on the plan? Awesome. Let's go raid that prison."

<get there>

Jack and Bob lurked in the shadows, watching the prison guards loop the grounds.

Once I finish a novel, I'll then do a search function for any < in the documents, which is how I put notes in for myself. If I can't remember someone's eye color, I just type "their <color> eyes" and figure it out later. And inevitably I'll have like 10 or so <get there> to fix.

And half the time, those <get there> don't even need anything beyond a little asterisk/special symbol marking a change in time, and then the next section immediately starting. The transition I would normally write *isn't necessary*.

Because once you pull back from that intricate, personal mindset from the surrounding scenes, and look at things structurally, it just becomes obvious. If nothing happens between point A and point B...the reader doesn't need to see every step between point A and point B.

The times I don't straight skip, I'll need to write maybe a single paragraph connecting the scenes. And during the drafting flow, that paragraph might have slammed me to a halt and taken twenty minutes or more to figure out (and likely ended up being multiple paragraphs).

During editing? Like, two minutes and move on.

By the way, you can do more with notes like this beyond just <get there> even if <get there> is the most common one I use. Not feeling up to writing the fight scene you know goes in a chapter?

<fight scene>

Know that characters need to argue about a plot detail but not sure how exactly to do it, and you're getting frustrated?

<the two argue about X, then leave>

I think a lot writers hear constant advice about how "rough drafts are rough", and that "you can fix it in editing", but don't quite realize how freeing that can truly be. When I tell you your rough drafts can be rough, I mean *rough*.

Even for me, I'd hear "rough draft" and think something that was, honestly, 95% finished and mostly needed an editing pass for spelling errors, plot details, inconsistencies, etc.

It doesn't mean that to me anymore.

Now it means my rough draft will have sentences like (to use my current WIP):

"The <magistrate?> is dead. Time to go."

It was just the two sisters in the mansion. Their father had plotted a triple-kill for the night, Arn and Acheron taking out another <magistrate> while Cyrus would take down the most public of the targets, a <example>.

I'll admit, it does mean my editing phase takes longer than it used to take. But it also means I have far, far less instances where I am slumped over at my computer desk, glaring at the screen, refusing to skip any scene or write ahead.

I mean, hell, there were times I'd get stuck for five/ten minutes because I needed to name a new character, and naming new characters is the worst. Now?

"Hey there," said <name>. His <desc>. "What's up?"

So there you go. My big secret to powering through chapters even when I don't feel like it, or ensuring I don't get stuck on trivial details and interrupt a good flow.

Make Future You do all that boring crap during the editing phase.

It's their problem now.

(okay because my editor will probably be mad at me if I don't, if you think I sound like I actually know what I'm talking about, you should totally grab Soulkeeper. It's got explosions and sword fights and a cute sidekick living flame named Puffy: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07CWQPGSF/ )

addendum: I wish I'd tossed this in sooner, proof that I do indeed walk the walk I'm describing...and it doesn't always mean smooth sailing and stress-free times. https://twitter.com/thatdalglishguy/status/1222944060828192774?s=20