0 - 1000 in sixty seconds

popmuze · Apr 3, 2009

When I used to write a weekly newspaper column, I generally wrote 1,000 words in 2 hours.

Now when I'm writing fiction I find I go at just about the same pace.

I don't really find that the speed of the writing detracts from the finished product. In fact, sometimes the fastest sections I've written are the ones that have been able to survive draft after draft.

Lady Cat · Apr 3, 2009

I know exactly what you mean! When I was doing Nano I would have these bursts of speed writing and those were always some of my better words.

Maybe it's because I don't dwell on what I'm doing as much :Shrug:

Whatever it is, I wish it would happen more often!

DMarie84 · Apr 3, 2009

I need to devote an hour or two just cranking out the words again and not focusing on how it sounds. I used to be able to get nearly 1000 in 45 minutes--especially if I was involved in a word challenge with my sister

And I've found that there's a great deal of writing in those sections that are better than ones I've spent 3 or 4 hours on.

ChaosTitan · Apr 3, 2009

DMarie84 said:
And I've found that there's a great deal of writing in those sections that are better than ones I've spent 3 or 4 hours on.

I've found the same thing, actually. I think it may be that I'll spend more time on certain sections because they're the hardest scenes to write--the emotional revelations, the game-changers. And because they're the hard scenes, I'm rarely satisfied, no matter how much extra time I spend.

Wayne K · Apr 3, 2009

I type anywhere from three to four words a minute, so you lost me early Pop. I do get diligent though, because when I write I sit there for twenty hours without a problem

KTC · Apr 3, 2009

I know exactly what you mean. I get in a zone when I'm writing fast. It's when I do my best work. It actually feels like I'm not even thinking. I watch the screen and see all the words flying into place and I feel connected without actually having to trouble myself with thinking. When I'm writing marathon-style, it's like this. 50,000 words in 48 hours. And the result is okay. Then I start working on a novel in real life time and I work on it for about a year at a snail's pace and I hate it and it feels stilted and jarring. I have come to count on the fast writing.

scarletpeaches · Apr 3, 2009

This afternoon I did 2,544 words in two and a half hours so that's 1k an hour without even trying. In fact I kept stopping to get something to eat, make a cuppa, read a few pages of a book.

I've said before that freeing myself from the internal editor and writing fast gets me in the zone easier and a lot of the 'fast' writing is better than the shit I agonise over.

Someone said to me the other day that he was amazed I can write 5k in one day. When I go for a word binge, that's my minimum. When I'm really feeling it I can do 8k or thereabouts. When I speed up I can hit a thousand words in half an hour and when I get to that stage I don't want to stop.

Barber · Apr 3, 2009

I can totally relate to this thread. My last book (about 70K) I wrote in two weeks, and 50K in, I realized 3rd person wasn't working, so I stopped writing for three days to edit the narration into 1st POV. It makes me believe I would've written the entire thing in ten days had I started properly.

There weren't too many things to fix in the revisions either--which is according to me and my Betas.

My aim was between 5 and 10K a day. Obviously I have no life whenever I'm writing a novel.

Wayne K · Apr 3, 2009

scarletpeaches said:
read a few pages of a book..

My wife thinks it's strange when I take time away from writing to read.

scarletpeaches · Apr 3, 2009

I call it "topping up my creativity batteries".

Judg · Apr 3, 2009

Very interesting stuff. Thanks you guys. I've been a little blocked lately, so maybe I just need to give myself a speed challenge.

Adam · Apr 3, 2009

I find limiting my time can help tremendously. A little while back a Twitter buddy and I had a race to see who could write the most in the next hour. I hit just under the 1k mark and she hit about 700. I don't know what the quality of her work was like, but I felt mine came out well.

Methinks I should do it more often!

C.M.C. · Apr 3, 2009

I can write faster than I do, but I don't like the result. Speed only seems to simplify and dumb down what comes out, which is the antithesis of what I'm looking for.

Judg · Apr 3, 2009

I can't do long-term speed stuff. While I am eternally grateful to NaNoWriMo for giving me the kick in the butt that I needed when I needed it, it's not something I can do regularly. If I start having problems writing, it's because I have issues with the story that need to be worked out. Right now, I think I have to write through those issues. Somebody kick me.

NeuroFizz · Apr 3, 2009

I applaud everyone who can crank out prose at such high rates. But for all of those who work at a slower pace, this writing business is not a race that goes to the swift. It goes to those who write a damn good story, regardless of the time it takes to write it.

KTC · Apr 3, 2009

NeuroFizz said:
I applaud everyone who can crank out prose at such high rates. But for all of those who work at a slower pace, this writing business is not a race that goes to the swift. It goes to those who write a damn good story, regardless of the time it takes to write it.

Yep. But I don't think it was suggested that there was a right and wrong way.

scarletpeaches · Apr 3, 2009

Except your way, which is always wrong.

dancingandflying · Apr 3, 2009

I am a slow writer for longer pieces. Short stories I can crank out in a half hour - maybe forty-five minutes. It depends on the piece. The quality of the writing depends - when I write slow it turns out as good as the faster pieces because I need the extra time to make it good.

d&f.

TheIT · Apr 3, 2009

Judg:

I find that I tend to write faster when I've rehearsed the scene in my head before I sit down to write. That way I know what points I need to make, so it's a matter of transcribing what I've already hashed out and making it flow properly. There's always room for the scene to change, though. Sometimes I think I have everything sorted out, but when I'm writing it down, something unexpected occurs.

popmuze · Apr 3, 2009

I think I got through the first 30,000 words so quickly precisely because I had it all mapped out.

Today I accounted for about 200 words. It's not that I don't know what has to happen in the scene, it's just that I haven't mapped it out in my mind.

Often this takes place away from the computer, in dreams, or underwater. I get a lot of my best free associative moments while swimming laps.

I have a feeling the next 30,000 words (which would take me close to the end of the book--a YA novel) will come a lot slower. That's when the climax happens, and all the deep emotional reveals.

Judg · Apr 3, 2009

Swimming laps? That's interesting. I do it best, strangely enough, lying down.

Matera the Mad · Apr 3, 2009

I don't have a speedometer. My eyes are always on the story and I have no idea how fast the real world is rushing by. And I don't give a toot-berrry

0 - 1000 in sixty seconds

popmuze

Last of a Dying Breed

Lady Cat

DMarie84

I wish I had a time machine

ChaosTitan

Around

Wayne K

KTC

Stand in the Place Where You Live

scarletpeaches

Barber

Timing is everything...

Wayne K

scarletpeaches

Judg

DISENCHANTED coming soon

Adam

Not dead.

C.M.C.

Archetype

Judg

DISENCHANTED coming soon

NeuroFizz

The grad students did it

KTC

Stand in the Place Where You Live

scarletpeaches

dancingandflying

Is it tea time yet?

TheIT

Infuriatingly Theoretical

popmuze

Last of a Dying Breed

Judg

DISENCHANTED coming soon

Matera the Mad

Bartender, gimme a Linux Mint