Superdraft – How To Write Better and Faster – with Thomas Dean Donnelly (EP#566)

Screenwriter and thriller author Thomas Dean Donnelly joins the SPA Girls Podcast to explain Superdraft, his evidence-based approach to the writing process. Learn how to separate your Creator voice from your Critic voice, beat writer’s block and imposter syndrome, use flow states to write faster, and apply the 1-3-2 drafting method to fix a sagging second act. Essential listening for indie authors and self-published writers who struggle to finish a first draft.

In this episode we discuss:

Why the 2023 Hollywood writers’ strike pushed a 30-year screenwriter into self-publishing

What screenwriters get wrong when they first write novels (hello, head hopping)

Why there are hundreds of books on writing craft and almost none on writing process

The marathon comparison: 70% of marathon trainees finish, but only 11-12% of NaNoWriMo starters finish a novel

The Creator and the Critic — the two voices in every writer’s head, and why they’re mutually exclusive

Why you have to write the bad words before you can write the good words

Iteration versus inspiration, and why you need both but never at the same time

Which stage of writing belongs to which voice: brainstorming, outlining, drafting, editing

Critic Trick #1: research — plus the IOUZ placeholder system and timed research sprints

Critic Trick #2: rereading yesterday’s pages — and the voice memo workaround