Rebecca Yarros didn't start out fast. Her advice for other writers leans less on talent and more on habit: show up on the nights you don't want to, and pay close attention to the cost of the pace you're keeping.
Show Up Even When You Don't Feel Like It
Yarros started writing seriously during her husband's third deployment to Afghanistan, when she was home alone with young kids and, by her own description, felt disconnected from everyone her age. She committed to a page a night, after the kids were in bed, regardless of how she felt.
I started writing a page every single night once I put the kids to bed, no matter how tired I was.
Rebecca Yarros, on writing her first manuscript
A year of that habit produced a full manuscript. It didn't sell. She's called that outcome a normal part of the process rather than a reason to quit, and kept writing, which is how she'd already published more than a dozen novels before Fourth Wing ever reached a shelf.
Protect a Sustainable Pace
The advice that gets less attention is the one Yarros learned the hard way. After years of 12 to 15 hour writing days across Fourth Wing, Iron Flame, and Onyx Storm, she's said plainly that the pace wasn't sustainable and that she's working to bring her hours down. Her point for other writers is a practical one: a pace you can't keep up eventually breaks, and a writer who's broken doesn't finish the next book either.
She's also said she plots before she drafts, working out her plot, character, and romance arcs ahead of time so each chapter has a job to do. For writers chasing her drafting speed without that groundwork first, it's worth remembering the outline came before the sprint, not after. See the full Rebecca Yarros writing routine for how the two fit together.
Think Carefully About a Pen Name
Asked for her top piece of advice for new authors after Fourth Wing's success, Yarros has pointed to something practical rather than craft-related: consider publishing under a pen name. The reasoning traces back to her own experience with the scrutiny and loss of privacy that came with going viral under her real name. It isn't advice about writing better sentences. It's advice about protecting yourself before you need to.
What You Can Steal
- Commit to a page, not a mood. Yarros's first manuscript came from a page a night, whether or not she felt like writing it.
- Expect the first book not to sell. Hers didn't. She kept going anyway, and that's the part of the story that actually explains the later success.
- Plot the shape before you sprint the draft. Her fast drafts happen inside outlines she's already built.
- Think about privacy before you need it. A pen name is a boring, practical decision right up until the week you wish you'd made it.