Writing: Fast or Slow?

boatman said:

I too tend to read yesterday's efforts before writing today. It seems to get me going on today's bit, rather like a rolling start.
If yesterday's bit was good, I'm off and running.
If yesterday's was bad, it may result in a confidence crisis and a re-write.

Click to expand...

I don't know how you managed to steal it, but that's my writing process you're describing there

I mostly write 500-1,000 words a day. I used to write 1,000+ but that gradually became more difficult because of life things and now, mostly, I just try to avoid burning out. As for NaNoWriMo, I've done it before and it was definitely fun, but personally it wasn't too helpful for me in terms of writing. I tend to need a pace where I can think of what's coming next by the time I finish a scene, so it comes out in a continuous stream rather than me having to take breaks to think. I don't plan though, so if you find plans helpful, that could cut down the writing time. But really, it's just down to what you feel comfortable with.

Yesterday I only wrote 500 words.

maggiee19 said:

Yesterday I only wrote 500 words.

Click to expand...

I only managed about 300.

I did about 2,000 words of client stuff and we have had a houseguest for the last week so yesterday wasn't very productive for my fiction at all. Luckily, it all adds up; I wrote my first novel with the simple rule that I would write every day even if it was only one word. Some days it was only one word, others it was 3,000.

Everything works as long as you maintain forward progress until it's done.

The manuscript I'm working on right now, I hadn't written a word on it since May 28, 2016, and today I just read through the last scene I had written and got right back into it. So far I've written 3,400 words on that manuscript. I'm currently at 86,406 words in that manuscript and I don't plan on stopping until I hit 90,000 words. Right now I'm going to get back into my handwritten manuscript. I'll get back into my current manuscript sometime tonight.

SKara said:

I don't know how you managed to steal it, but that's my writing process you're describing there

Click to expand...

Want to collaborate on a self-help book?? We'd need a title - 'Both of us can't be wrong' perhaps, or 'Best ignore these two bozos!'

Non-fiction was never my strong suit. Maybe we can disguise the self-help part as a fable

Title I would suggest: "Are these two bozos pretending to be Paulo Coelho?"

I completely changed my writing habits for my latest. I used to write slowly, but revise lightly because I agonized over every word. Took me about 7 years to write my first novel (which I sold, along with a sequel that I had to write in a year).

This time around, I've written 600,000 words in about 6 months and because I was so energized by the process, it was really, really easy and enjoyable and required minimal revising. 15+ years of writing experience finally coalesced to make this happen.

Now I'm finishing off the last 100K words (this is a multi-book series, obviously) and it's going very slowly because that energy has waned a bit. Which is frustrating because I love what I'm writing. I've fallen back into my own ways, where every word, sentence, paragraph and page has to be perfect before I can move on.

So, having been a slow and a fast writer, the latter is definitely my preferred method.

Heh.

Writing is a bit like running, for me. I have one speed. My sprint is the same pace as my distance jog.

I really hope I can become more consistent once I'm out of school and have a stable work schedule. It's so tough when my schoolwork comes in fits and spurts and my schedule's all over the place at work.

rwm4768 said:

I really hope I can become more consistent once I'm out of school and have a stable work schedule. It's so tough when my schoolwork comes in fits and spurts and my schedule's all over the place at work.

Click to expand...

This made me laugh. You are a prolific writer. AND you are still in school. AND you have a job. Wow. that is a lot on one plate. But, you feel you should be more consistent. I think you're doing pretty darn good now.