How fast does everyone write?

[Aleric]

I work on my story 'Singularity' every day...

 

On those days that I am really inspired, I can write at MOST 1000 words

of new text. All the other days I am editting. Rereading and rewriting sentences,

again and again.

 

The result is about one new chapter every 5 weeks, as it turns out

(I am only about to release chapter 6 now).

 

Of course, it depends a lot on the size of a chapter how often a new one

will be released. So, lets talk about words per month.

 

One chapter of me is about 7000 words (all of them are over 6000, the

last one is even over 10000 words). Ok, lets take the average: I have now

chapters with an average of 43000/6 = 7166 words per chapter.

 

Assuming a release every 5 weeks, that comes down to 5700 words per month.

 

Taking into account the TIME I put into it, I'd be able to produce no less than

30,000 words per month if I'd be 'inspired' every day and did no editting at all;

but then the quality of the story would be a lot lower I guess

 

I'd like to know about others -- please give me an estimate of how many

words you produce on average each month.

 

I have the feeling that readers want a new chapter per DAY, not one every

5 weeks . It feels not right that I put this much time into it and then people

still 'forget' about the story, cause it's going too slow.

 

Aleric

[lurker]

You're asking an interesting question, but to be honest, I think it's almost like asking other people how fast they run and then trying to use those responses to help you run faster (or slower).

 

In both cases, to some extent, the speed is a matter of natural/inate ability and to some extent, the speed is a function of how 'in shape' or 'in practice' you are (how many hours a week are you training/writing) as well as your technique (there are different running/writing styles - not everyone should be the same, but some produce 'quicker' results).

 

Stephen King has written a book called "On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft" that is one part auto-biography and one part how-to (and how-not-to) for aspiring writers. [For those interested: It's a short, quick read, which makes up for the fact that it's a bit pretentious. But even he admits to take everything he says with a grain of salt. I'd extend that to a teaspoon, and we're even.]

 

Anyway, in his book, King describes his own writing environment and daily goals. He mentions that he aims to write 3000 words per day. If I recall correctly, he claims that this task (on average) takes him 3-4 hours, I believe, but that some days it's even more. Very rarely would it take him less than 3 hours. We're talking about solid hours sitting at a desk and writing non-stop for someone who has been writing his whole life and doesn't really take ANY days off. Note that King explains that he doesn't really edit as he writes. He saves most real editing, even self-editing, for when the first draft is finished (and this editing task doesn't 'count' in the daily writing goal).

 

Like his stories or not, Stephen King is a prolific and successful (in a commercial sense) author. This is his JOB.

 

Compare Stephen King's writing pace to another author that many of us know and love, DomLuka. His chapters are LONG (I don't know actual word count), but there tend to be gaps between postings, even though readers tend to want a new chapter every day. Some readers DO forget details between postings and go back to review the last chapter before reading the newest one, but that doesn't mean they don't keep following or liking the story. [some readers, on the otherhand, are particularly aware of every detail of the story and could beat (and have beaten) Dom in a trivia game about his own writing.]

 

I don't think there is anything wrong with producing a consistent 500 to 1000 words/day. The key is really the consistency more than anything.

 

But since you seem concerned, here are two suggestions:

 

1) You might be 'over-editing' while writing the first draft. This is a matter of technique. You might want to set a goal where you don't allow yourself to edit a portion of a story (or allow yourself one edit) until you complete x number of words. Once you've gotten more down, then you can edit the story (and of course, have a pair of outside eyes edit as well).

 

It's easy to get caught up in revising the same 500 words over and over until they seem perfect. This can be dangerous because you don't move on AND because it gives you the misimpression that the results for those 500 words actually ARE perfect and don't need any subsequent tweaking.

 

2) I realize that Singularity is already in the process of being posted, but perhaps for future stories, you should wait until you've written more chapters before you even start to post. That way, you can release them on a schedule that isn't dependent on the speed of your future progress.

 

Hope this helps. Keep up the good writing!

[DomLuka]

The largest chapter I