No Plot? No Problem!

Writing a 50,000-word novel in one month is no problem, according to Chris Baty, founder of National Novel Writing Month (www.nanowrimo.org), as long as you lower your standards. All it takes is 1,667 words per day and most average typists can dispatch that in an hour and a half, which makes it doable even for those with jobs and families. The secret is to shut off your inner editor and write whatever comes into your head. The first two weeks you'll write rubbish, but eventually you'll tap into astonishingly rich reserves of imagination, he suggests. 'The central problem of writing is not a shortage of inspiration but an overwhelming surplus of it,' says Baty. He advises writers to play their favourite music as they work, and to treat themselves to a favourite snack each time they finish a paragraph.