Writing your 1st million words

[Ms.Write]

It has been said that, as a rule of thumb, we must write a million words before we get any good at it.

I figure I'm at about the 1 million word mark if I include all my articles, poetry, etc.

I wonder if it matters whether we've written a million words of fiction or non-fiction when it comes to novel-writing. Does anyone know??

[KiraOnWhite]

If you don't improve as you write each word, then its useless. I guess the million words here refers to rewriting and maybe some exercises to help you improve your writing, which should includes forum posts...

[Sassenach]

Sassenach thinks that the "million word rule" is silly silly silly, and can think of dozens of wonderful writers who weren't particularly prolific.

[Willowmound]

I think 'million' in this context means about the same as 'forty' in the Bible -- it simply means, a helluva lot.

I think all writing makes you better, but of course, the more fiction you do, the quicker you'll get better at fiction. And vice versa.

[jbal]

Anything you write, fiction or no, can help you improve as a writer, though maybe in different ways, right? That million word "rule" seems silly to me too. I've seen people who can pick up a guitar and be reasonably proficient in a few months, others take years. Everyone's different is my point.

[Willowmound]

Your 'million' may be different from another person's 'million'. The rule just means, practice makes perfect.

[johnzakour]

I do feel I get better the more I write. Counting my non-fiction books I'll probably have a million words in print by the year's end.

[Button]

I know I have gotten better the more I write. I read some of my earlier works now... holy crap. :p I was horrible.

I don't know if I've hit the million mark yet, but I'm darn close I think. I hope that's a good thing.

[vrabinec]

How can you not get better what with all the dictionary and thesaurus diving it takes to express yourself in the way you...the way you....whatever.

[icerose]

Everyone's learning curve is different. I've hit my million and I really did notice a different, but I was also getting critiques and everything else along the way.

It's the same thing as the average novelist writes 7 novels before they're published, and an average screen writer writes about 10-12 scripts before they get their first sale.

Everyone is different, but I think it also serves as a reminder that we may not get it right off the bat, but keep working at it and it will take time and effort.

[PeeDee]

*sigh*

It's a figure of speech. That's all it is. Just a phrase. Just a catch-all phrase. It's not a specific number, you couldn't mark it on your calender or write it in your checkbook. mmkay? Just a figure of speech. Promise.

It means that when you start, you write crap (yes you do; everyone does) and eventually, as you begin to learn, you write good.

That's it.

[Rolling Thunder]

My grocery list put me over the top today. I can quit writing now and feel satisfied.

Uh....dammit. Has anyone seen my grocery list in any of the other threads?

[PeeDee]

My grocery list put me over the top today. I can quit writing now and feel satisfied.

Uh....dammit. Has anyone seen my grocery list in any of the other threads?

I did, yeah, and it had too many adverbs. You were telling, and not showing. And it read like a list, honestly. But good try!

[alaskamatt17]

I must be getting close to one million words. I do feel like I'm better at this now than when I started writing, but I still feel like I have a long way to go. Also, I feel like some of my work in the middle of this million was really subpar. Worse than my beginning work. Lately, though, I've been writing what I consider pretty high quality stuff. The only problem is that most of what I read is much, much better than what I write.

[beezle]

The emperor of China was told that if his Great Wall was to stand forever, keeping his land safe, 10,000 men would need to be buried beneath it. Of course, 10,000 is a lot of men. The emperor compromised, and buried one man with a metal plate around his neck that said 10'000.

Or something like that.

[Azure Skye]

We just had a similiar discussion in the Roundtable forum.

http://absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=50423

[PeeDee]

In which discussion, I said the same thing in more or less the same (slightly exasperated) tone... :)

[Shadow_Ferret]

I wrote my million by the time I reached 6th grade.

I will not talk in class. I will not talk in class. I will not talk in class. I will not talk in class. I will not talk in class. I will not talk in class. I will not talk in class. I will not talk in class. I will not talk in class. I will not talk in class. I will not talk in class. I will not talk in class. I will not talk in class. I will not talk in class. I will not talk in class. I will not talk in class. I will not talk in class. I will not talk in class. I will not talk in class. I will not talk in class. I will not talk in class. I will not talk in class. I will not talk in class. I will not talk in class. I will not talk in class. I will not talk in class. I will not talk in class. I will not talk in class. I will not talk in class. I will not talk in class. I will not talk in class. I will not talk in class. I will not talk in class. I will not talk in class. I will not talk in class. I will not talk in class. I will not talk in class. I will not talk in class. I will not talk in class. I will not talk in class. I will not talk in class. I will not talk in class. I will not talk in class. I will not talk in class. I will not talk in class. I will not talk in class. I will not talk in class. I will not talk in class.

[PeeDee]

You know what's worrying is, if it's 12:30 and you've been staring at a tricky bit of fiction for half an hour without success, and you read that post -- Ferret -- then you see some interesting patterns in those strings of text.

I think my eyes will fall out now.

[IrishScribbler]

You know what's worrying is, if it's 12:30 and you've been staring at a tricky bit of fiction for half an hour without success, and you read that post -- Ferret -- then you see some interesting patterns in those strings of text.

I think my eyes will fall out now.

*sigh* I saw interesting patterns in the text.

And after a while, it ceased to make sense. Perhaps it's time for a break. Tea, Pete?

[PeeDee]

*sigh* I saw interesting patterns in the text.

And after a while, it ceased to make sense. Perhaps it's time for a break. Tea, Pete?

You're speaking my language. Music to my ears. Earl Gray for me, what can I get for you?

(but if I see interesting patterns in my tea, I'm not getting up)

[IrishScribbler]

Earl Gray for me, too, thanks. It's my favorite. Although, I'd like a bit of mint in it.

[PeeDee]

I have fresh picked leaves SOMEWHERE around here. I'll have a rummage.

[Imelda]

I think I'm at about 750,000 'proper' words. Discounting junk I've written and discarded, and some damn good posts I've made on forums that have swung debates in my favour. :D Most of those words are unedited bits of things that won't see the light of day, but of the serious words, the first 100,000 words were not good. After that I saw a definite improvement in all aspects of my writing. I suspect that most people hit a point where they suddenly improve, but it'll differ between writers because some start off at a higher level than others.

[Gabriel]

I can't tell if I written more than a million words but my beard can now be worn as a robe, does this count for anything?

[Arkie]

Legendary author Thomas Wolfe once turned in a manuscript to his editor containing 4000 typewritten pages, 1,200,000 words.

[Jamesaritchie]

Sassenach thinks that the "million word rule" is silly silly silly, and can think of dozens of wonderful writers who weren't particularly prolific.

But I'll bet darned near every last one of them still write a million words. It migh thave been as teens, or in college, or in a first failed book, but a million words is not all that many words.

[Sassenach]

I think we can assume with some certainty that Harper Lee didn't write a million words.

[BuffStuff]

the 1-million word thing is just an arbitrary number that states, in an indirect way, that you must write a lot to reach a good degree of technical proficiency. Common sense, nothing more, nothing less. But, in my opinion, it shouldn't take even close to 1 million failed words to begin writing proficiently if one has a good degree of natural talent and is a reasonably efficient learner who has access to good study materials. You'll most likely be a better writer (from a technical standpoint) 1 million words down the road than you are now, but there is nothing in the remotest scientific about the number itself.

You'll be a better writer than you are now even 25,000 more words down the pipe provided those words are geared toward increasing some aspect of your writing proficiency. The specific number's got nothing to do with it. Concentration and intention are far more important than the mere number of words written. Person A' could merely write 5 million words of fiction and not be much better than he is now provided he either does not have the aptitude to learn effectively, is without the proper study materials, or his writing focus is haphazard. Person B' could write 25,000 words specifically focused on increasing one or two aspects of his writing (dialogue, setting, etc) and increase his Craft far further. All things being equal, smart work will, in the end, always always always beat out hard work.

I just get quite nervous when quotes like that come up because I can picture writers being daunted by that number when the number is meaningless. HOW you practice is always more important than How LONG you practice.

I have no doubt that it may take a particular person 1 million words to get appreciably better, but I damn well know that you could introduce that same person to more efficient and effective practice habits and he could make just as much-and possibly more- benefit from 25-50,000 words.