Here's the tricky part: sprints walk a fine line. Sprint too recklessly and you end up with a tangled mess that's harder to edit than it would've been to just think for a minute. But stop to analyze every choice and you've killed the momentum entirely. You're not sprinting anymore, you're overthinking.

The goal is to stay in that sweet spot: moving fast enough to bypass your inner editor, but thoughtful enough that you're building something coherent. Think of it like driving. You don't slam on the brakes every few seconds to check your GPS, but you also don't speed through with your eyes closed hoping you end up somewhere useful.

The good news is that most sprint problems fall into some recognizable patterns. Even better news? Once you know what kind of stuck you are, you can get unstuck with a quick gut check, not deep analysis, just a 30-second mental reset that points you in a direction so you can keep your fingers moving.

Remember: sprints aren't about perfect words. They're about getting raw material on the page. You can always edit awkward prose later. What you can't edit is a blank page or a scene so disconnected from everything else that you can't figure out how it fits.

This blog post introduces the Stoplight Method addressing story problems after a read-through, guiding you to focus on Red light issues first, followed by Yellow and Green problems, to streamline the editing process and make your next draft 100% better.

Ready to dive into editing your novel? Not so fast! Before you touch a single word, the most powerful step you can take is a no-edit read-through. This strategy lets you spot big-picture issues like plot holes and character arcs—so you can edit smarter, not harder.

Discover how to transform your story from good to great by navigating common pitfalls during the editing process