Here to learn? You’re in the WRITE place!

Do you listen to music? What are the songs you keep coming back to savor, over and over again, no matter how “dated” they may be? Whatever your musical taste, there’s a reason to plug in those headphones (or turn on that hot new stereo system you just bought): music enriches your writing.

I’d go so far as to say the ultimate muse is music.

How long does it take you to write a sentence? Or a paragraph?

If you’re like me, you start writing a sentence, pause after a few words, stare at your computer without typing, write a few more words, pause, look around, write a few more words, pause, write, pause, write. Five minutes later, you finally finish writing that one sentence, but then you have to re-read the sentence you just typed and edit it for mistakes for another five minutes.

Perhaps there’s a way to write faster, with more joy and fewer pauses.

Writers research like fiends for their magazine features, novels, and how-to books. We often feel the need to travel great distances to get the facts right when we are wending a story. Writers seek grants, chunks of time away from family, vacation time from day jobs, and retreats, thinking where they are, living their routine lives, adds nothing to the spice they seek for a good tale.

However, sometimes we get the best details just going outside and sitting in the rain.

The other day I learned some exciting news. Beasts of No Nation—a novel written by my friend Uzo Iweala—is going to become a movie starring Idris Elba! The new development broke my 10-day streak of complete consumption by uncreative thoughts related to my day job.

Finally, I was inspired!

What if, one day I not only completed my novel—but then it became a movie?! Shonda Rhimes could write the script and I could make the career of an up and coming actress when she is cast as my protagonist. But how would I do it? To answer that question, I conducted some research. Below, my friends, are the steps to writing a novel that will one day become a movie: