Then let this be the method to your madness eh? Don't worry or let others discourage you. You are the only one that can make you happy. Dozens of people have given my work praises and only one (so far) deemed it "un-read-able" (their quote). I replied back asking them for their credentials... they haven't replied back. So what does that say about 'em? Ignore the nay-sayers because they're just jealous that you're doing something that they've probably only dreamed of doing. Get out of the crab barrel because they'll only pull you back down with them. I try not to think in terms of word count until I'm done with a particular chapter. I don't worry about meeting a quota. I worry more about telling the part of the story in that particular chapter. If I need to tie up loose-ends or fill in plot holes or whatever needs to be done to keep the flow of the narrative going. While some of the chapters I've written aren't as long as others and some are practically novellas in themselves, I just write until I get to the point where I can say, "yeah, that's done. Time for a break." And call it good. I don't think there's one RIGHT way to write a book, story, whatever. As Larry the Cable Guy says... "Get 'er done!"
Yeah. What he said. It's funny because although I am not a terribly fast writer (and I honestly have no idea what my daily word-count would come to), I am approaching the last stretch of my novel, which will weigh on the light side (about 50K). At times the writing has gone fairly quickly, and at other times it has been a much slower process. It really depends on where I am in the story arc. And I can go several days chewing on an idea about a chapter, not putting a single word to paper. But when the ideas for the chapter come together and click into place, then the chapter gets written pretty quickly, goes through revisions until I'm satisfied with it, and it's done. And even if the chapter is only four pages in length, as long as it tells its part of the story well, resonates with the characters' voices, and provides the emotional impact I'm trying to achieve, I'm perfectly happy with a few pages after an entire week's noodling. As long as it's good. That's all I really care about.
mainly i dont write daily but whenever any new thought or idea comes to my mind then i use to write my thoughts but mainly morning time is the best time to write as new ideas gets generated with the fresh mind
Wow! It's fascinating to see the diversity of replies here, at least in terms of volume and how to produce it. I've heard it said that Stephen King writes something like 8,000 words a day. In an NPR interview with Kate Dicamillo, she said she would write approximately two pages per day before heading off to work. K.D. also quoted Dorothy Parker, who said, "I hate writing - I like having written." Personally, I'm quite the opposite - I enjoy the process. So, having a deadline or even an output goal is a foreign concept to me. Like many of these replies have stressed, I just write ... you know, Nike, "just do it".
Eight thousand words a day? That's incredible. I personally prefer quality over quantity. I average about five hundred words a day. Today I put in almost 1k. Some days I write none. But I would rather snail through a great rough draft than to race through it and have to edit the first draft for several months d/t to poor writing.
i agree that quality should always take precedence over quantity... given the quality of king's gluck, he clearly goes the other way... and his fans apparently don't care...
Personally, I would go for quality and quantity. Go for a middle ground. Don't sit down just to write a certain number of words and don't be too critical on the quality either. Quality isn't the #1 goal in the first draft. Having a deadline as a form of motivation isn't a bad idea. I wouldn't create a deadline that you can't do, though. Then you are just going to feel defeated. I write twice a day. Once in the morning and once before bed. I find this to be most effective. I have trouble sitting down and writing for five hours straight. I have no problem dividing it up though.
I would agree wholeheartedly. King's writing, never great to begin with in my opinion. seriously slumped at "It" and the conclusion of The Dark Tower series, which became his magnum opus. As for word counts, it should be what you're comfortable with. I can write anything between 1.4k and 6k in a normal 8-10 hr day. I'd say a normal amount is closer to 3k. That's the goal for each day, because it me a timeline for how long, roughly, it will take to complete a 90k novel. However, is it a hard, fast rule with myself? Heck no. Right now, revising and rewriting my first novel is going slower then the creative time. Just do what makes sense to you and your feel for your work.
According to his book On Writing, King writes at least 2,000 words per day. Nowhere in that book does he say anything about writing 8,000 words per day, although I would bet he writes more than his minimum limit from time to time. I disagree with the above posts about the quality of his writing. The man is a talented story teller and writer, although I'll admit that I've only read a few of his novels.
Some of the best advice I heard is to turn off your internal editor. That's sort of saying quantity over quality. If I worried over every scene, every sentence, every word, I wouldn't get any writing done. I've learned that it might be a crappy 1000 words a day, but I won't know until I revise, which is months later. I'm going to just write. Some days it might not be the best, but I'll trust my revision process.
even the critics agree that while he is certainly a famous, popular and prolific writer, he's really not a very good one in re quality...
Good for the critics. What type of quality are we talking about here? Are we talking about timeless classics that will uphold the elegance of the english language, with deep themes that resonate throughout history? Or are we talking about quality yarns that will keep readers engaged and satisfied? I'm not saying that King is a literary genius, but he is a talented writer and he knows how to keep readers interested in a good story. He's a quality prose writer as far as I'm concerned, although I'm no profesional critic. I've read tales by the legends as well. They're different writers with different styles and areas that they shine in.
I agree that quality matters, but I do not think quality is a choice a writer can make at the time they sit at the keyboard. Everyone in the world wants to write quality, but to achieve it you need quantity first. No one churns out brilliant prose by willing it to happen, brilliant prose is crafted, or perhaps sculpted from the heaps of bad writing required. That's why ruthless editing and loads of re-writes are a must. Quality comes from revision. A decent analogy would be in film where you usually shoot 200 or more hours of footage for what will be a 2 hour movie, or a band that records 50 songs, then whittles it down to 11 for an album. Trying to pick and choose in your mind or even on paper what's crap and what isn't will only slow you down in the end. Just write. Write anything and everything in your mind. Forging a narrative, building quality sentences...that comes after you've written far more words than will end up in your final product. Many writers will throw away entire pages and keep maybe one sentence. Those are choices you make once you've completed the task of writing in quantity.
By that reasoning, spewing out garbage at a higher rate will improve your writing, because there will be more to whittle down to the good stuff. That might be true if a a higher garbage goes with a higher good stuff output. But the reality is that when you pump out more garbage per day, the flow of good stuff stays the same, or even drops. That doesn't mean you should throttle back the output in an attempt to eliminate all the garbage, either. At some point, you're choking off the productive creative flow. Instead, find a good middle ground, so you aren't suffering creative constipation, but aren't firehosing crap either.
I don't think anyone writes crap on purpose. Figuring out what's quality and what isn't comes with subsequent drafts and revision. I don't think there's very many people who can truly understand what's crap and what isn't on the fly and in the middle of putting words to page. So, I would say, just write. Yes, do it to the best of your ability as you go, but worrying about what's crap and what isn't while just getting the story down is going to slow the process, and that isn't necessary. Save your judgment for the editing phase(s). Quality is a product of ruthless editing, but first you need material to edit from...and usually that comes in the form of mountains of crap...and that's fine - that's writing, that's the process.
