How fast do you write? In words per hour?

[stranger]

Hi,

Two hours a day, right? But I'm just wondering how much the average writer gets done in that time. For the first draft. I find myself hovering below 800 words after 2 hours. 400 words per hour. I see other people mentioning figures like 2000 words per hour.

I'm not sure if it's absolutely a bad thing to be writing that slow. I'm thinking about the story, the characters, the word choice, etc. Hopefully this will mean that I have something worth polishing by the end of the first draft.

I haven't got a detailed outline, so I guess if I had that I'd have less to think about and would write faster. I also write faster when doing dialogue, and slower when writing description.

So, how fast do you write?

[William Haskins]

it depends on how long the words are...

[LloydBrown]

My goal is 2,000 sellable words per day. So in addition to that, I have to write stuff that'll be cut, do research, edit, and goof off, plus write things that I don't get paid for (I write a monthly column, write material for a D&D game I run, participate in a couple of message boards, etc.).

[Mike Martyn]

I seem to tick along at 500 words per hour. I don't outline so that's perhaps why I'm comparatively slow.

I do find now that I'm rewriting my first novel, I can go some what faster since I know the characters and I know the plot.

[aspiringwriter]

It all depends on how fast i'm typing...sometimes I write 3 to 4 thousand words per day...some more.

[scribbler1382]

When I'm in top form, I can write about 1,000 to 1,500 words per hour at the keyboard. I'm not particularly thrilled with what I end up with at that speed, though. If I write longhand, I can get about 500 an hour and I seem to be much happier with the outcome. For me, speed is not necessarily a good thing. Then again, I hate revision so that could have something to do with it.

[Lenora Rose]

It varies by day. I don't do anything consistently. Some days I only really add about 200-500 words to the story, some days, I just keep going, and end up with 4000 (Okay, right now, those are invariably days off work...). I have more days like the former than like the latter.

Every writer goes at a different rate. Every writer finds something that works for them. I know Uncle Jim recommends 2 hours, But I've seen other techniques that say write a minimum 200 words (Bcause that's easy to pelt out even if you're essentially stuck, or if you only have half an hour to squeeze in at lunch.)

[ChunkyC]

I do probably about 500 - 800 words in an hour. That means I can get in 2000 in as little as 2 1/2 hours. If that's your daily output, you've got a first draft in ten weeks while working less than 3 hours a day, 5 days a week. I think that's plenty fast. If you can do a greater quantity of quality work in a shorter period of time, fabulous! What really counts, of course, is the end product.

[NeuroFizz]

Don't count, and don't want to. As long as the file size grows each time I sit down, I'm happy. The results posted here are interesting, and I'm blown away (with envy) by some of the numbers, but it's kind of like lifting weights in a gym. No matter how large (or slim) one gets there will always be someone larger (or slimmer). For some, comparisons can be frustrating, and that's something we don't need in this writing business. Running word counts should be so low on our priority lists that we only check them out when we type "the end" on the first draft. Am I the only who feels this way?

[LloydBrown]

Running word counts should be so low on our priority lists that we only check them out when we type "the end" on the first draft. Am I the only who feels this way?

Yes.

Kidding.

As a freelancer, word counts are the other half of word rates. Writing 100 words a day for a dollar a word pays the same as writing 1,000 words a day for a dime a word.

I have written nearly 15,000 sellable words in a day. I was trying to average out a long-term, reliable number above, which counts out for those horrible days when you just cut, cut, cut--thus undoing much of your previous work. It really depends on what you're writing, too. Technical work? Slow. Novel manuscript? Much quicker.

[brinkett]

Don't count, and don't want to. As long as the file size grows each time I sit down, I'm happy.
I'm the same way, except sometimes the file size shrinks, and I'm fine with that because the shrinkage always results in improvement. As long as I feel I've accomplished something, I'm happy.


It varies by day. I don't do anything consistently.

Same here. Some days I write a lot, some a little, some not at all.

[alaskamatt17]

I average 1000 words per hour. Sometimes I go faster, sometimes I go slower. My record is 20,000 words in two days.

[Jamesaritchie]

About 450-500 words per hour longhand, 750-1,000 per hour at the keyboard. Writing isn't typing, or shouldn't be, so speed isn't all that important. Steady progress is what matters.

But I write five hours per day. Burnout is a bad thing, but so is setting a daily wriitng time that's too short.

[mollythemagnificent]

You have to do what's right from you. Some people write naturally faster than others, and the quality of a day's work can vary wildly from writer to writer, too.

[Euan H.]

I have a spreadsheet where I plug in how many words I've done each day, and how much time I spent writing, so I can tell you 'zackly how much I write per hour: lowest on this WIP was 571 wph, fastest was 1007. I write until I've added 2,000 reasonable words a day.

[Mistook]

I've never kept count. All I know is it depends on what kind of scenes I'm writing, and how much I've been able to think them through beforehand.

[arainsb123]

2,000 words an hour isn't difficult for me. My typing speed's increased a lot since I switched to Dvorak.

[HConn]

If I know what I'm going to be writing, 1K to 1.2K an hour. If I'm struggling, it's 500/hour or less.

[Mistook]

I'm with HC. The nightly progress depends on where I am in the story, and how well I've thought it out beforehand. Some nights I just sit there writing lines and deleting them again, then staring at the cursor, searching for the words.

Other nights I'm on fire. It just depends.

[gina]

I write about 500 words an hour. On a good day I can get 1,000 words fiction wise and another 500 - 1000 nonfiction wise. I am another that keeps track of word counts by plugging numbers into a spreadsheet each day. Helps me keep track of progress. I've started writing more since I began keeping track a couple of months ago. I'm a slow writer, so any improvement in word count is good for me.

[Kayla]

I'm with HC. The nightly progress depends on where I am in the story, and how well I've thought it out beforehand. Some nights I just sit there writing lines and deleting them again, then staring at the cursor, searching for the words.

Other nights I'm on fire. It just depends.

Same. If its going smoothly, 800-1000 an hour. If not, 500 or less.

[ChunkyC]

It is interesting to see how many words you average in a given time, but for me the important one is my daily goal of 2000 words when not working at the day job, 500 words when I am at the day job and can only write on lunch hours. If I don't hit the target, I don't beat myself up. But having that target helps get me motivated to write in the first place.

[scarletpeaches]

When I'm in the zone, about 1500 words an hour (typed of course)! This means I can complete the first draft of a novel in about a month, a month and a half. The first draft's about story, the second about style. The second draft always takes longer. For me, that is.

[mdmkay]

With me it all depends on the day and what I'm writing sometimes I get as much as 4,000 or more words out and there are other days I'm lucky to get 500 but there are other things I have to do that also have to do with writing. On days I'm researching, working forums, or leads, I may not get much written if any but I may wind up with a very productive day. I usually count my writing in hours not wpm.

[NeuroFizz]

Don't count, and don't want to. As long as the file size grows each time I sit down, I'm happy. The results posted here are interesting, and I'm blown away (with envy) by some of the numbers, but it's kind of like lifting weights in a gym. No matter how large (or slim) one gets there will always be someone larger (or slimmer). For some, comparisons can be frustrating, and that's something we don't need in this writing business. Running word counts should be so low on our priority lists that we only check them out when we type "the end" on the first draft. Am I the only who feels this way?

Yeah, I know quoting yourself is tacky, but all this got me wondering, so I took a couple of counts. I'm happy to say I'm right in there with most of you. One day, just over 500/hour and the other nearly 1000. I type fast, but I daydream--about the story. Also, I have to get up and pace when it do it (blasted metabolism). Now that I know I'm in the ballpark, I'll go back to not counting again.

[triceretops]

In the humor forum we have a thread called THE WEEKEND PROGRESS REPORT where we proclaim our progress and weekly word counts. It's become a habit of mine to report there (religiously) every week and fess up. What it has done is drive my word totals way past my expectations. If we fall short we get zapped by the cyber taser. A lot of us like getting buzzed, but that's another story. We support each other, give kudos where kudos is due, showering roses and tickertape, but the important thing is that it fosters in us a type of discipline. Sometimes we make up silly stories, and each member amends to them. This is all in the name of humor, irony and support. The fact is, it works, and many of us (like me) take it seriously.

I average between 10,000 and 15,000 words a week, sometimes topping over 17,000. I get a full week to pump those numbers. Today I have to report in, and thus far my numbers are way up there again. So anybody who would like to keep a running log of their progress is encouraged to join. I can go back in the archives and actually see my own books from start to finish, along with the dates, and how I was feeling back then. Very nostalgic, when you can track a member's progress from beginning to end.

Try it, you might like and see your numbers climb like mine did.

Tri

[NicoleJLeBoeuf]

In the humor forum we have a thread called THE WEEKEND PROGRESS REPORT where we proclaim our progress and weekly word counts. It's become a habit of mine to report there (religiously) every week and fess up.Y'know, I thought what with the thread being in the humor forum, that it was specific to humor writing, so I've never poked my head in there. Should I?

One of the main reasons I wrote my own blog (http://www.nicolejleboeuf.com/journal/) widget, rather than installing a ready-made one like MT or Blogspot or whatever, was so I could custom design the code to do things like have each blog entry show what progress I'd made today. Each entry has to be linked to a manuscript, and the code goes out to my manuscript/market/submissions database and grabs the current word count and, if available, "hours of revision logged" stat for that manuscript. Geeky, totally anal, but it keeps me honest--I'm not allowed to blog unless the entry will show some progress on one of my WIPs.

Of course, this also gives me a lot of web design/database management to procrastinate with, but I try not to go there until after I've blogged for the day. Which can only happen after I've written for the day. Etc.

I'm ashamed to say that there are too many recent entries showing less progress than I'd like--less than 2 hours of BIC, less than 1000 words added to the manuscript. But yesterday I think I finally got through the part of the chapter 7 rewrite that corresponds on the micro level to "mid-book crisis", and pushed right into the micro version of "end-book action yeah!". Total gold: more than 2000 words in my 2 hours. So now I'm really looking forward to hitting that manuscript after I get home this afternoon, maybe pushing the rewrite all the way up to the big Part I finale at the end of Chapter 9. W00t!

[triceretops]

Hi, Nichole. Yeah, it threw for a loop when I first saw the Humor thread months ago and didn't know what it was. I thought, "gads, I'm not a comedy writer", so I don't belong. I had to go in there and find out what's what. Turns out that it is a weekly report given in a humorous or colorful fashion, and that certainly is not evident from its placement on the board. Hence, a lot of people gloss right over it without knowing what it really is. Yeah, check it out.

Tri

[NicoleJLeBoeuf]

Thanks, Tri. I might just do.

[Lost-Android]

I find this topic interesting...and I'm a bit shocked...just today I decided to test my typing speed for the first time...I never thought I was all that fast, but apparently, under the right conditions, I can type at about 1300-1400 words per hour... is that possible? I never type using traditional means (I never took a typing class/ never position my hands or fingers properly) so I don't quite get it. Of course, this counts only if I'm writing stories on the computer. My brain formulates words fastest that way.

[sirensix]

I'm very erratic. Once I wrote 40,000 words in two weeks. That doesn't sound like much until I tell you that in the end they needed very little revision (even according to a pro). I've never topped that since.

[Jamesaritchie]

I find this topic interesting...and I'm a bit shocked...just today I decided to test my typing speed for the first time...I never thought I was all that fast, but apparently, under the right conditions, I can type at about 1300-1400 words per hour... is that possible? I never type using traditional means (I never took a typing class/ never position my hands or fingers properly) so I don't quite get it. Of course, this counts only if I'm writing stories on the computer. My brain formulates words fastest that way.



Well, I'm not a touch typist, either, but I can type close to 5,000 words per hours. But typing and writing are two very different things, or should be. I can't write publishable fiction at anything like this rate. Typing faster than you can write well never made any sense to me. I'd rather write pubishable fiction at 500 words per hours, or less, than non-publishable fiction at 5,000 words per hour.

[DivaNicoletta]

Probably about anywhere from 0-4000 depends on how inspired I am.

[PeeDee]

I usually manage at least 2,000. On really inspired days when I'm in the zone (those are the days when I walk away from the computer trembling with my vision a little blurry from concentration) I can manage a cool 10,000 words.

Usually, it's serviceable stuff that just needs cleaning and a bit of trimming.

Those are such nice days.

I hardly cry at all on those days.

:e2bummed:

[travNastee]

I do between 1,200 and 2,000 words a night, ninety percent of which are probably publishable. I don't really pencil in time or force myself to write for a certain amount of time per night. I just typically write until the passion is exhausted for the evening, most of the time it's around two hours, late night.

[blacbird]

I agree completely with Neurofizz. I don't start worrying about word count until editing time comes along, and even then it isn't a high priority for me until time to put a submittable copy in shape. I think it's completely irrelevant, and even maybe counterproductive to get concerned with it when writing initial stuff.

caw.

[SusanR]

I write every day, Monday through Friday. I write a minimun of 500 words, and a really good day gets me 2000.

I have to discipline myself like this, because I am in the middle (muddle) of my novel and I feel so over my head that it would be easy, easy, easy to "forget" to write on any given day.

I cannot WAIT to get over the hump of the middle and see the end in sight. I figure I have maybe three or four more scenes between me and the peak. Argh.

SusanR

[L.Jones]

Running word counts should be so low on our priority lists that we only check them out when we type "the end" on the first draft. Am I the only who feels this way?

Nope. Right there with ya in the "just write" club. It's very interesting to see how others work and how they keep track of that kind of thing. Don't take a systematic approach to anything about writing myself. Don't have a daily page count or word count. Besides, the way I do things I could deliver those XX number of pages or words one day and wipe them out the next. It would make me nuts to keep track because I'd have to do math.


Annie
Luanne Jones
Heathen Girls (available now)

[Jamesaritchie]

I do try to hit a certain word count on a daily basis. It's the only way I know to actually finish a novel before I'm too old to care. Hitting my daily count usually isn't difficult, and the five hours I set aside for writing is nearly always more than enough time. When it isn't enough time, however, I keep working until the daily goal is done.

I do think some sort of daily quota is important, be it time put in, word count, page count, whatever. Most writers have trouble getting enough work done to matter without some sort of quota.

[TheGaffer]

I can do usually about 2,000 words in an hour. A lot of it needs to be edited, but that's what editing is for. Usually in the progression of writing, I go back, review some pages, and redo some of it, or make major adjustments based on what's going on. But there's always re-write -- to me, its most important to get the ideas down on the paper first, and worry about constructing the perfect sentence second. Sometimes, it's all flowing like waterfalls, and I can look back and remain satisfied with it. Other times, it's a struggle but I just push past it, is all, and fix it later. The first version of anything written is never good enough anyway.

[Shadow_Ferret]

Theoretically, 4200 words per hour, if you consider a 70 WPM pace.

Practically, I've never achieved that nor have I ever calculated how much words I've typed in a per hour span, merely per sitting, which varies greatly depending on many factors, such as how much coffee I've had, if the kids are awake or asleep, if the dog needs to go outside, etc.

[Tienci]

For me, 0-1500 per hour. I say this because I had emailed the document to myself one day (I title those e-mails by word count) and the day after, I wrote for two hours and at the end of it I was 3000 words higher. That was a good day when things were flowing- I'm not too sure what my average is whenever I do manage to do the BIC. My guess is about 1000 though. But like I said, my problem is BIC (writing, instead of net-surfing etc).

I'm glad to hear about that weekly count thing in the humour section! Sounds great! *goes to check it out...

[PeeDee]

I agree completely with Neurofizz. I don't start worrying about word count until editing time comes along, and even then it isn't a high priority for me until time to put a submittable copy in shape. I think it's completely irrelevant, and even maybe counterproductive to get concerned with it when writing initial stuff.

caw.

Spot on, and I should add that I don't especially worry about it. I have my times-of-day when I do better writing and am less distractable than other times, but between jobs and family, I don't have a solid two hours-or-more to devote to the BiC method. I just write when I can. If I can do about 2,000 to 3,000 words, then I can go to bed without feeling like I've wasted my day. I dont' force myself to write to meet a word count, though.

I write until I've stopped writing, and then I'm done writing, unless I'm not.

[DreamofClouds]

Per hour?
Heck there are times I'm lucky if I get a word a day written.http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/images/smilies/emoticoncry.gif

[PeeDee]

*ahem*

....."The."

There. I'm going to go play video games.