I’m an overwriter, and my writing process took me to 140,000 words in 10 weeks—way too long for my genre. Here’s what I learned.

What if the pre-drafting phase of the writing process could make or break your novel? Here’s how it turned mine into my strongest first draft yet.

Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple Computers, once said, “If you're not embarrassed by your first product, you're not advancing and...