How many words do you average per day?

Way too few. I've been averaging only 1500 words a day and it makes me cry.

Here's an article I like that talks about gauging the time needed to finish a 100K word first draft. It helps keep things in perspective for me.

http://www.authorsden.com/visit/viewarticle.asp?id=6854

I'm working on my first novel, but for my short stories, I find that I spend about the same amount of time revising as I do writing the first draft. I tend to overwrite, so I do more deleting than adding during revisions.

You have to work at the pace that's right for you, whether you're a spill-it-out writer or a slow and steady, get it close to right the first time writer.

1000 words a day is a good goal to work toward. At that pace, you can finish a 90k novel in three months.

I've written everything from 0 words a day to 9k. But I'd say my average is probably around 500 words, or a couple of pages. I'm slow.

I try to hit at least 3000 a day.

If the first few paragraphs are rough, I know it's not my day so I usually take what I can get. (There are times when I simply quit and start again the next day; no use in trying to force something that's not there.)

On a good day, I'll try to go as fast and as hard as I possibly can. I can get 15-20,000 if I put in ten hour days and I'm going well.

I think it's important, especially for new writers, to work hard on the novel and take as few breaks as your schedule allows. The longer you draw the process out, the higher the risk of tiring of your characters or your plot. Of course, there are writers who work very slowly and write very well that way; but I try to get a first draft written in about two months and then move on to the next thing. Any longer than that and I start to worry that I'm not doing it right.

It varies widely, depending on my work schedule and whether or not I'm working off a firm outline, or reworking an outline my characters decided wasn't moving at the pace they wanted.

Some days I'm just deleting what I wrote the day before. Some days I can get 5 to 7K of good, solid stuff in, despite having a 9-5 job. Most days it floats between 500 and 2000 words.

jasperd said:

I have never written a novel or even a short story (just a picture book) so I'm wondering what I'm in for.

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There's no way that my answer or anyone else's could possibly tell you what you're in for. Every person writes at a different speed, depending on so many factors that any number we throw out is irrelevant.

Also, after you finish the first draft, does it take a lot less time to finish the following drafts or just as long as the rough draft?

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I take 2-3 times longer to do my revisions than my first draft.

1-5K per day, depending on how busy/motivated I am.

This is like the old computer programming metric we laughed at for decades. The bureaucrats needed to measure output and came up with lines of code per hour or day or some such. What they overlooked, or never understood, is that writing code isn't an uninterrupted linear stream. The whoses upstairs still try to make it mean something, but there are too many variables. Programmers are not, contrary to popular belief, monkeys.

Same for writers. The idea of setting a daily goal is good, but don't bash yourself for falling short. It's not a race, not even meaningful in the long term. In fact, a preoccupation with daily word count can take your eye off what does matter--the story. I've had 8,000-word days, I've had zero-word days. I don't pump my fist at the 8,000 and I don't kick the baseboards at zero. Life's easier that way.

I'd suggest starting yourself with a goal of maybe 500 a day. If you're hitting that easily and going over, up it to 750, or 1000, and so on. If you find yourself struggling to hit your goal most of the time, ease it back a bit. You should be able to find a limit that's workable for you that way.

Oddsocks said:

I'd suggest starting yourself with a goal of maybe 500 a day.

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I think 500 is much too low. I see a_sharp's point, that writing isn't a measurable contest where you "win" if you get so many words a day. God knows I've come out and done 5000 words that I had to totally cut the next day. (I actually started this morning by cutting about 3500 I wrote last night.)

BUT if you're not really trying to hit word counts, then I truly think you put yourself in danger of allowing the novel to beat you up. Again, let me stress that some writers work best if they measure their words (hello Thomas Harris!), draft slowly, leave word counts out totally and just write. But for me, I find that I need to get to that number. It's what motivates me. It's what lets me know that the story is working. If it comes fast, that means the people and their stories are clamoring to get out.

How many words do you average per day

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writing or speaking?

3000-ish. Once, in a never-to-be-repeated fit of insanity, 12,000.

However, I'm in the throes of editing right now. So I'm lucky if I wade/glide(?) through 500...

I shoot for about 1,500 on average (roughly 5 pages of prose). But I agree that it's often the first 500-1000 that are the hardest to get through. Once I spend an hour or two getting the juices flowing, it gets much easier.

In other words, it might take me an hour or two to go from 0-1000 and then a half hour to go from 1000-2000. There's always the occasional 4000+ word day, but those are hard to come by...

I average 1,500 words a day, but I write seven days a week, which adds up to about 45,000 words a month. I've never written more than 3,000 words in any one sitting, but rarely less than 1,000.

Like mentioned, you have to do what works for you.

I'm a slow writer (that self-editing as you type will slow you down every time) but I'm happy if I get a 1000 words per day that I am happy with.

My first novel, I averaged about 2000 words a day and finished it in two months. I'm convinced it's crap and I'm dreading the rewrites. With the second book, I'm aiming for 1000 "tighter" words a day. I don't let myself get up until I've reviewed the day's writing at least once and cleaned it up a little.

I've been writing about 2,000 to 3,000 words a day, but that's only because I take part in the National Novel Writing Month competition, and I have to finish 50,000 words by the end of the month.
Until I found out about NaNoWriMo, I was barely at 1,000 words a day for my work in progress. I hope to keep up my new-found rhythm when I return to my WIP next month.

But then of course once the first draft is written, editing will become even more important than just 'how many words did I write today.' Quality will win over quantity.

1500 words on a novel, 500-1000 for a short story. 0-? For a piece of fun story for my self.

200-300 words day, so a chapter takes maybe a month - 6 weeks

I do about 1k a day, but that's only recently, because I have a new wip I'm crazy about. Sometimes I only wrote a paragraph, on better days I wrote a few pages, but if the paragraph was good I'd still feel better than after ten pages of crap.

My advice would be not to worry - take your time and find your own pace. There are people who write a first draft in two months and spend an year revising; there are others who write slowly and take an year for an already polished result. If you need something to motivate you, you can start small (500, but I know people who try for 250 and do well - if you're busy/a slow writer, anything can go as long as you write every day, or regularly). That way you won't get discouraged if you know you can't reach your goal on a specific day, and you can always write more than your goal anyway.

Another way to do it would be to write until the scene ends. That's why I don't like wordcount pledges: my goal may be about 1k, but if the scene is done and I feel like I'm done for the day, don't have the energy and time to get started on the next, I'll stop there even if the wordcount is terribly low. That doesn't mean one scene a day, it just means following the pace of the book. Or another well-known strategy is taking a time for writing - say, two or four hours a day - in which you sit at the keyboard and type or do nothing. No alternative. It depends on what kind of person you are.

Revision time depends a lot on whether you outline or not, whether your story changes on the way, on how solid a first draft you write and if you tend to write too wordy or the opposite.

Best of luck with it. We've probably scared and confused you big time, so join in the fun.

Well, with my current NaNo, I usually write 3k in 2 hours. I usually don't write for more than 2 hours a day. I get tired.

The worst thing you can do in the gym is compare yourself to others. There will always be someone who is bigger, tighter, stronger. But, if you ignore what weights they use and concentrate on your own workout plan, you'll make progress that is appriopriate for you.

Checking the daily word-count function is like measuring your dick every day. Some days it may hang lower, some not so low, but knowing its average length and daily variation probably won't get you laid any more often. And the only use I can see in doing it is to brag to others (or to become frustrated--see comparison comments above).

What is really important every time you sit down to write (and what you should be in for) is realistic progress on the story. Some days that could be a single sentence, but if that sentence really advances the story, it is worth more than 1,500 words that may be edited out later on. So, look in the mirror after each writing session and ask if you advanced the story today. If yes, put the ruler away--there is no need to take the measurement.

jasperd said:

I have never written a novel or even a short story (just a picture book) so I'm wondering what I'm in for.

Also, after you finish the first draft, does it take a lot less time to finish the following drafts or just as long as the rough draft?

Thank You!

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Do what works for you. And don't compare yourself to anyone else.

What works for all these people may not work for you and vice versa.

My first few novels averaged about 2 years each. That's not a whole heckuva lot, but that was my pace. The more I've written, the faster I've gotten. I'm now working at a somewhat faster pace, but its one I'm comfortable with.

The most important thing you can do is write and stop worrying what others are doing.

I agree that you should not compare yourself to others. Just try to write as much as you can

My goal is to write 2000 word of new fiction per day. When I'm in the throes of editing, I often write less though. I also write other things for work.

For fun, I figured out my average words per day for November: 11,732 per day.

Yikes.