How fast do you write?

[ShannonC_77]

This is kind of an odd question but something I've been wondering.

I've only ever written non-fiction (articles and now I'm working on a non-fiction book) and I can write them very fast (after research is done or provided I know what I'm talking about).

I've started writing my first attempt at a novel though and I find that my pace is much slower, it just doesn't naturally flow out of me like non-fiction does.

Is this normal? Maybe it's just because I'm new to it and it will get faster as I get experience?

[TwentyFour]

Maybe since Non-Fiction gives you all the details, you don't have as much to add. With Fiction, you use your imagination, nothing is a given...

It takes me awhile to work on my book. I have to get in the writing mood, sometimes just writing notes, other times working only on dialog...then writing chapters simultanously. I write short stories quickly when I have an idea, but only when I have ideas!

[ShannonC_77]

It seems like right now I am forcing it. When I first started this novel (back in June... kind of got sidetracked with freelance work) it flowed so easily, almost like the words were there on the page before I could think it. But now I just can't seem to get into it. I'm not sure if it's the plot itself, maybe I've lost interest or if I'm just at a stage that I need to work through.

[UrsusMinor]

A polished page an hour is average for me in fiction, though sometimes I fall short of that rate. When I'm really ripping along, I might get three pages in an hour, but that's unusual.

I know people who whip out 15 pages an hour (though their stuff tends to be what I would call 'typical first draft quality'.) I know another guy, a fine writer, who is lucky to manage 50 words an hour.

When I write non-fiction, I can easily manage 6-10 pages an hour of finished prose. So, to answer the original question--I don't know how typical your experience is, but it mirrors my own: Non-fiction is many times faster than fiction.

[Scarlett_156]

Whether I write "fast" or not depends on what chemical I'm soaking my brain with at that particular moment. When I'm on a roll I can write ten or more pages in a sitting (about 15,000 words) but then there's always the inevitable slowdown/complete stoppage when I don't write anything for days.

It's probably not really good to compare your productivity with others', however, especially if you're in unfamiliar territory. Try to write SOMETHING every day, though, even if it's only a few paragraphs. (As per the "learn writing with Uncle Jim" thingy, which has some really great advice in it.)

I hope this was helpful! :)

[WildScribe]

I also write non-fiction MUCH faster. No more than 1/2 hour for 400-600 words including research. Without research, I can do one of those in 10 minutes.

[TwentyFour]

I try to get 1000 words a day, tonight I got in a very graphic, dreadful death scene that I had been worried over...and got in 1042. I do not compare my writing time to others since it makes me feel I am either not writing enough or writing too "first draft"-y. I am on the third draft of my book, although I hated the first two and felt they needed rewrote.

[ShannonC_77]

Thanks for your posts. UrsusMinor it's good to know I'm not the only one who finds this than.

I'll definitely just try and write something every day with my fiction, that was kind of what I was planning. I think I just need to be in a different frame of mind maybe with that type of writing and shouldn't try and force it.

[ChaosTitan]

I've never timed myself, so I have no idea.

At my fastest, I think I personally churned out about 8000 words in five hours. I was nearing the end of a novel, writing all the important, exciting scenes, and just chugging along.

One day it took me about six hours to write a 2500 word short.

So many variables...

[johnzakour]

There are way too many variables. Some of my more productive days are days when I write 0 words but figure out where the plot should go.

[J.S Greer]

How fast do you write?

Not as fast as I'd like.

[PeeDee]

If the ideas are comfortably there (or rather, I'm comfortable with the moment of fiction that I'm starting with) then I generally do about 3,000 words over the course of an hour or to. Sometimes more.

Otherwise, if the ideas are sitting a little more sluggish, I try to do a minimum of a thousand words.

But I really haven't timed myself properly. So I have no idea.

[John61480]

For me, it takes far longer than I'd like. I can spend two hours and get either 500 words or I could bang out 2000. Usually when I reach 2000, I begin to peter out and that is when I really begin to struggle. Between the two numbers, it can vary because I work by chapters. I sometimes find 1000 words is not enough for my chapter (more often than not) and so I really have to push myself to think more about what I want to say. I hate ending mid-way thru a chapter. It has happened to me in my previous work and the idea that I have to re-read and then type kinda takes the momentum away.

But I carry a secret. If I really decide that word count is what I need per day...pshh, no problem. What do I do? I blab. I make sure I know what I want in that particular scene or chapter and run off with it. Descriptions, details, more descriptions,dialogue, you name it. I would literally sit and stew on one topic rather than hurry and "progress" thru the story. A real motormouth I can be in my head.

But I don't do that, I take sensible care in my thoughts and I find my descriptions and other "fluff" added with otherwise prudent management. In other words, I make myself struggle...

for not enough words. I guess what I'm trying to say is that I'm not a very fast writer.

[NeuroFizz]

As fast as it takes. This is not a race. Write to the best of your abilities and ignore the clock and the calendar. And, ignore what others state as their writing rate. Each person is an individual with different personal responsibilities and energy levels (with respect to writing). Just get into the story and make each writing session count, even if it is only a single paragraph.

[WildScribe]

I try to get 1000 words a day, tonight I got in a very graphic, dreadful death scene that I had been worried over...and got in 1042. I do not compare my writing time to others since it makes me feel I am either not writing enough or writing too "first draft"-y. I am on the third draft of my book, although I hated the first two and felt they needed rewrote.

TO BE REWRITTEN. Pet peeve. Sorry.

:Soapbox:

[aadams73]

TO BE REWRITTEN. Pet peve. Sorry.

:Soapbox:

PEEVE. Sorry.

There are a zillion different variables that control how many words I bang out over time. Could be one of those days when my dog is being a pesty-poo-head. Or it could be one of those days where I can bang out over a thousand words in an hour.

[JimmyB27]

Well, let me put it this way - continents have been known to move faster than my writing.

[tanzy]

I would not worry about speed, I would worry more about quality. When you are first starting to work your brain at "making up" material to write about it it will come slowly. At the stage you are at, I think it is more important to practice the imagination part of writing. Once you get better you will flow more freely. Also, DO NOT WORRY about speed. It varies so much that you would be constantly worried through out the whole ordeal. Personaly, I find it is very easy for me to crank out a descriptive scene or object/event. (about 2-3 pages in 1 hour if im lucky) but then I hit other parts of the story and I will be stumped and write a page in a week, or even worse put the thing down for a month while I try to think of whats next. It is just how my mind works. If i get into that mindset of describing a scene or object, my hand cant even keep up with the string of words I am pulling out of my mind.

All you have to do is focus more on what you want to write, the whole idea/creative process that your mind wants to go for, and less on "oh no, that guy is writing faster than me..."

[Doctor Shifty]

I can write little words faster than big ones. And with bigger spaces between them it's even faster. :)

I once had an academic supervisor who I was paying to read my work, then we would sit and talk while I recorded our conversations. I paid him an hourly rate for reading/talking. When we were setting up the arrangement I asked him if he was a fast reader. He grinned and said, "I read about average, but I won't charge you for the spaces between the words."

I find I can write faster than agents and publishers pick up my work. That is what I would like to change.

[KTC]

I am the fastest writer I know. I can type so fast you can almost see the smoke tendrils rising from my fingers. But my fingers are still way slower than my mind. (it's very aggrevating, really.)

[gp101]

Slothiness is not the sign of a good writer, nor is hyper-speed. I've turned out as many as 20 pages in one sitting and as few as 2 or 3 in the next, depends on my mood, where I'm in the story, how tired I am, how much free time I have. Regardless, even if I whip up 20 pages, maybe just five will survive the final rewrite. That's where you really write your novel, is in the revision where you hack off all the hack writing. Even if I know for sure a particular sentence, paragraph, or idea is extraneous or will need to meet the ax, I'll just plow through it anyway and worry about the buzz saw later.

I finished the first draft of my current novel in four months, about 110,000 words. I've since worked on it another year, made it much better, and trimmed it to 83,000 words. You'll have your fast days and your slow, just keep writing. And don't skimp on the revisions.

[Mark Lazer]

I write around 200-250 (good) words a day.

[Jamesaritchie]

How fast can I write is certainly not the same question as how fast do I write. I think slower is faster. Slower gets me to page last of a final draft much faster than speed gets me there. Slower means far fewer mistakes, no gaps in plot or theme, better dialogue, etc.

So I really don't like to go much over 500 words per hour, five hours per day.

You could say the idea is to get it right, not to get it rapid, but this is actually very fast in the sense that I get to the final draft much quicker, and with a heck of a lot less rewriting, editing, and polishing.

For me, speed is NOT how many words per hour I write, but how long it takes to get from page one of the first draft to page last of the final draft. The last thing I want to do is spend a year or two trying to rewrite, edit, revise, and polish.

About 500 words per hour, 700 tops, when things are really flowing smoothly, usually gets me a polished, final draft in four months or so.

[RG570]

I've never timed myself, so I'm not sure what I'd get done in an hour. I think it probably varies. But when I'm doing a novel, I write 2000 words a day. I end up spending somewhere between three and five hours for that.

It doesn't seem all that much, but it maked it easier later on to be a little more discerning on the first draft. Even then, I've plowed through three novels this year sticking to that arbitrary number, so it seems a reasonable pace.

[Carrie in PA]

Not a clue.

I do know that I seem to be able to write my non-fiction much faster. I suspect it's partly because with my NF, I don't have to switch gears in my brain and get into a different world.

[UrsusMinor]

I beleive this is from AJ Liebling (my apologies if I'm wrong in my attribution):

I can write faster than anyone who can write better than me, and better than anyone who can write faster.

[Azure Skye]

Hmmm...

When I first started I wanted to be able to write as fast as my fingers could keep up but that lasted all of five minutes. Now, after editing a few drafts, I decided I'd rather worry about the quality of my writing and not worry about word count or speed. If I'm in the "zone" then my fingers will fly around the keyboard but if I'm struggling, then I just concentrate on getting it out the right way. If that means twenty words or a couple hundred, then that's ok with me.

[ShannonC_77]

Thanks for all your replies, that makes me feel better. I just feel like right now the ideas are not flowing out of my like they should or something. It just seems like a struggle sometimes and I'm just 'going through scenes' and waiting to get to a more exciting part.

I'm sure part of it is just my writing skills for fiction are still very much in development and hopefully it will come with time.

I guess I was just starting to wonder if I am cut out to be a fiction writer or should just try and stick with non-fiction and article pieces.

[Elodie-Caroline]

I have athritis in my neck and in my wrists and fingers, I also have very small hands in which to type with, but I have done over 3,800 words in the last 7 hours or so.... I'm quite chuffed with myself by that.

Ellie

[David Gonzalez]

Currently, not daily i'm doing around 500-700 words every time I resume, i wish I could write more, but sometimes I lack at words, so I spend my time worrying more than writing.

[Chasing the Horizon]

If I'm having a good day, then I can do about 5,500 words in 7 hours. If I'm having a not-so-good day then its more like 2,500 words in 7 hours. Then there are the days I stare at the screen for half an hour, get annoyed that I can't think of anything, and go post on forums. :)

[janetbellinger]

When I'm writing a first draft I try to write 1,000 words a day. I think the most I ever wrote at one time was 2,000 words. I get antsy if I'm sitting still for too long and my fingers start to hurt.

[Cat Scratch]

There's no right or wrong answer to speed in fiction writing. Your natural pace is the right speed for you. My husband considers the day a success if he manages 500 words. Me? I've had good days where I hammer out 20,000 words at a time, which I realize is unusual. Keep in mind that I cover a lot in the editing process, and my goal in the first draft is really just to get words on paper. My husband's first draft is more like my third draft, and my first draft is more like well, garbage.

[farfromfearless]

I don't think quantity is as important as quality. If I put out 250 words in a sitting that I feel are good, it is the same as putting out 1000 words of equal value. Both are good, I'm happy if I write more, but I'm just as happy that I can write any at all in one sitting.

Also, it seems to me that this is more a case of inexperience with the genre. If you haven't done this type of writing before, then it takes time to find solid ground on which to stand. I found that experimenting with short stories in the genre really helped.

[CaitlinK18]

I write 10,000 words a week on the books I have under contract, but the count per day varies.

[Inkdaub]

My favorite writing book suggests you write the roug hdraft as quickly as possible. Therefore I write very slowly.

[beezle]

I type with BOTH fingers.

[verbie]

I can write non-fiction much quicker, and short stories quicker than working on my novel. I don't like to spend copious amounts of time re-writing; I'd rather be thoughtful and in an even flow that to write draft after draft.

[kwwriter]

Pretty darned fast.

[PeeDee]

I'm a firm believer in the Roger Zelazny system of writing, which is that a great deal of the composition work is done mentally. Either it's done while I'm working on another project, or while I'm at work, or having a walk, or something like that. As a result, when I sit down and actually start typing, I have a good portion of the upcoming scenes and dialogue pre-formed and ready to go.

This also means that, like Roger Zelazny, I tend to do less of a re-write in my second draft. I tend to do more cleaning up and tightening of prose, but the vast majority of my story is there and done in the first draft.

[jeffrivera]

I wrote my first novel "Forever My Lady" in 2-3 months, Warner Book is publishing my first draft. ( I was too lazy to write a second draft)

[Jamesaritchie]

I wrote my first novel "Forever My Lady" in 2-3 months, Warner Book is publishing my first draft. ( I was too lazy to write a second draft)

The first draft of my first novel was also published. It took a couple of years to realize what a horrible mistake that was.

[jeffrivera]

Well, I hope my experience isn't the same. I think the more I write, the better I'll get. And it'll be cool to see where I started and where I'll end up as a better writer hopefully in the next 5, 10, 25, or 50 years (if I live that long -- hahaha)

[Matt Lipp]

It took me two years to get my 50,000 word manuscript at a presentable level. I'm really, really slow.

[Steve W]

Hi,

Check out this thread. Some of the claims on it are truly scary!

http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=35069

Cheers,
Steve

[anavicenteferreira]

Varies a lot. There are days when it's a struggle to get half a dozen words out, and there are days when I can write around 3000 words in a couple of hours. I generally try to write at least 500 words a day, but a lot of times I'm really plodding through to get to that minimum.

[Jamesaritchie]

Well, I hope my experience isn't the same. I think the more I write, the better I'll get. And it'll be cool to see where I started and where I'll end up as a better writer hopefully in the next 5, 10, 25, or 50 years (if I live that long -- hahaha)

I hope I've gotten better with time, but in my case, "better" means realizing second drafts, rewriting, editing, and going slower are what it takes to be better.

[Manderley]

I've started writing my first attempt at a novel though and I find that my pace is much slower, it just doesn't naturally flow out of me like non-fiction does.


Non-fiction flows easily because you have done the research, conducted the interviews and spent time thinking about the material and constructing the story. It's no surprise that you might find it takes you longer to write fiction, especially if you are new at it.

I can write a 1200-1600 words article in less than an hour. But it's not true "writing", because I will already have written down the quotes from experts and case studies. Maybe my own words will only be half of the word count (just a guess here, never actually checked this out). And even my own word will be easy to find, because they are the glue that makes the whole piece stick together.

In fiction, I might know that I need to write a restaurant scene, and I might have a vague idea what the characters will be saying to each other, but I certainly won't have all the dialogue pre-written already. I don't even know every thing that's going to happen between the characters. Sometimes I'll get in the zone and write the whole scene fast and furiously, doing 1200 words in less than an hour. But mostly, I ponder and I think and I cross out and I get maybe 500 words down in an hour.

When writing non-fiction, I always write it straight into the computer (apart from interviews which are either done in long-hand or recorded before being transcribed into the computer). I hardly ever do more than one draft on my articles, apart from a quick spell-check before submitting, of course.

When doing fiction, I have started writing in long-hand. As soon as I'm done, I start up the mac and transcribe the text into Word, doing the first revision and editing at the same time. Naturally, this is a much slower process than the non-fiction. Those 500 words can take 2 hours to get from my brain to the computer. It's also much slower than the way I used to write fiction earlier, but the output is also of a higher quality than before. I have found a way that works for me, both for journalism and for fiction, and that's what counts, not the daily word count or how long it takes me to do 1000 words.

Is this normal? Maybe it's just because I'm new to it and it will get faster as I get experience?

Don't worry about "normal". What you're experiencing is perfectly normal to some. To others, you're a freak. ;-)

[johnzakour]

I write just fast enough to meet my deadlines on the books I have under contract. The closer to a deadline the faster I write on that book.

[Matt McKee]

When I first started my novel, with all the research, thinking, smoking, pacing, deleting, and re-starting that happened as the story started, I went fairly slowly. It felt like a whirlwind had grabbed the cloud of ideas I had and it was difficult to write quickly.

But, as I got going, the pages flew by faster and faster and I could write all day, every day, for as long as my brain could take it for about a month at the end.

I agree with most of the people posting here: that it really shouldn't matter how much you get done each day, so long as you are getting it done.