Is your work less writer-y when you write fast or slowly?

Status
Not open for further replies.

KCathy

Writer when I grow up
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jan 27, 2007
Messages
471
Reaction score
110
Location
Oregon Coast
Website
www.catherinebusinelle.com
I know there have been many discussions about the difference between editing as we write and just getting it all out as fast as possible before returning for edits. I'm wondering, though, how that affects style for some writers (as opposed to how it affects whether or not one can finish a story or whether one writes more slowly than they could write-then-edit).

I'm starting to think that speed-writing, under serious pressure, is the only thing that can turn off the fancy talker in my head. When I put off writing for my critique group until the last possible minute (sheer idiot procrastination), my pages are invariably better and get far more positive responses with fewer change suggestions. I still need plenty of surface polishing, but not as much sentence gutting or paragraph reorganization.

This may be because speed forces me to say whatever I'm trying to say, without trying to pretty up my language and get too writer-y about it. Instead of saying something bizarre about the curtain of her hair being like a muddy waterfall, I say she had long, brown hair. (That's a bad example of two things I wouldn't write, to exaggerate my point, by the way--don't judge my writing on them!)

Does rushing through a scene keep you from getting tangled up in your own writer-ese? Do you have other tricks for keeping it simple?
 

C.M.C.

Archetype
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Mar 30, 2008
Messages
532
Reaction score
34
Website
www.freewebs.com
I can write with flourish whether I'm going quickly or not. I would rather not keep things simple, so I'm calling this a good thing.
 

thethinker42

Abnormal Romance Author
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Dec 30, 2006
Messages
20,759
Reaction score
2,707
Location
Pittsburgh, PA
Website
www.gallagherwitt.com
The only thing my writing speed changes is how long I have to put up with the scenes banging around in my head demanding to be written. It doesn't impact my writing style.
 
Joined
Aug 7, 2005
Messages
47,985
Reaction score
13,245
My vocabulary already exists; doesn't make a damn bit of difference to how I use it whether I write slowly or, as I prefer - fast.
 

Ken

Banned
Kind Benefactor
Joined
Dec 28, 2007
Messages
11,478
Reaction score
6,198
Location
AW. A very nice place!
... for me it ain't a matter of speed, but revision. The stuff I slop down always seems stiff and writerly. Only by revising it several times can I get it in proper order, so it seems like it flowed forth naturally, lol.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.