While I find this a bit hard to do, I wonder if there is not some valubale advice in here to speed up our writing some. I would love to be able to turn out a lot more words.
So I thought I would share it here and get your thoughts.
[This message has been edited by EVOC (edited October 03, 2011).]
I just wonder if merely putting out words is good enough? We all want to put out more words, but...I don't know, three days?
But the article still seems a bit deceptive. After all the research, outline, and prep work is done. Putting words on paper for 3 days. But isn't all that part of writing a novel?
quote:
Robert Nowall:
I once wrote a novel in five days, an attempt at a Harlequin Romance. It involved two things---(1) I did research and made extensive notes before starting, and (2) it was really, really awful.
I've got to ask ... what was about?
Anyway, even with outlining and all the groundwork, I find being able to write anything publishable in three days preposterous. I do believe you can have a story at the end of those three days since his method appears to be a decent antidote to writer's block.
quote:
I've got to ask ... what was about?
Girl meets guy, girl doesn't like guy, girl falls madly in love with guy by the last page.
quote:
Girl meets guy, girl doesn't like guy, girl falls madly in love with guy by the last page.
har har
quote:
Anyway, even with outlining and all the groundwork, I find being able to write anything publishable in three days preposterous. I do believe you can have a story at the end of those three days since his method appears to be a decent antidote to writer's block.
Yea, I would just be happy to turn out that kind of word count in month let alone three days.
quote:
Girl meets guy, girl doesn't like guy, girl falls madly in love with guy by the last page.
I have heard of some Romance writers who can turn out books in a few days.
And I think I have heard of a couple of other pros who have done it. It depends on how they write and how long they have been writing. They know their writing style and what it takes to do a novel for them.
Actually, I could see myself trying it under the right circumstances. Not having to go to work would be one of those circumstances. A for sure sell would be another one. And maybe if I had at least part of the novel in my mind already.
But I think we can learn to write faster, or maybe to spend better quality time writing. There are ways to do scenes faster or spend less time looking things up, or just knowing and having confidence in our own writing can help, I think.
[This message has been edited by LDWriter2 (edited October 05, 2011).]
First, if I remember correctly, Moorcock is talking about writing a 60,000-word quest novel with very specific elements.
Second, if you write 1,000 words an hour, it'll take you 60 hours to write a 60K novel. That's fifteen hours a day, which gives you nine hours to sleep. My brother-in-law, a lawyer, routinely works 15-hours a day. If writing is your fulltime job, then we're not talking about some inhuman effort.
I type really fast. If I could keep the idea engine going, I could do it in two 8-9 hr days. If I had issues with that (or carpel tunnel rears it's ugly head) I think I could still finish in 3.
But I don't necessarily WANT to. I go back to one of my main points, though...increasing your typing speed means increasing your productive butt-in-chair minutes. Just like a marathon runner runs a little bit every day (or every workout, whatever their schedule) - and does other activities to strengthen and prepare, it's not a bad idea for writers to engage in typing tutors and other typing practice if their productivity/speed matters to them.
Many don't care, don't feel like that's an important skill, but when I'm in it, when I've reached that place (they call it "flow") - my fingers move fast enough to keep up with my head. This is key. I can keep moving. My son can't do this and it frustrates him to no end, he constantly loses track of his train of thought as his eyes/brain have to be diverted to the keyboard to find the next letter or figure out where a punctuation mark is located. I don't have to look. Ever. (Unless I'm learning a new keyboard schema, which I do my best to avoid now that I'm addicted to my iMac awesome Apple keyboard which actively helps prevent my carpel tunnel issues, I'm convinced.)
At any rate, if this seems preposterous to you, have you ever calculated your wpm when you're really cooking? Do you ever get frustrated by your hands not keeping up with your ideas? Typing tutors are like calisthenics for the hands...
I'm not planning to put any real attempts toward a 60k book in 3 days anytime soon, but I might try to finish Nano early this year, instead of dragging it out like I usually do. I did a 45k book over the summer in about 40 days spending only 15-20 mins/day (one or two 30 min sessions mixed in.) If I can do it...
That is all well and good, but one reason I can't emulate it is that I don't have three days to spare---there are too many demands on my time, mostly covered by Things That Make Me Money, the rest often filled with recovering from Things That Make Me Money.
(When I wrote that abovementioned Harlequin Romance, I was a college student, and it was break time right after Christmas. I had the time then.)
I right now would be happy with an hour a day again.
I think I type even faster when I am typing straight from my mind versus typing off a typing test. When I have a train of thought for whatever work in progress I am on, I can fly it on to paper and it usually keeps me going even once the one thought is recorded.
The best way I got to typing so fast was simply to keep typing. As I got to typing more I became faster.
I don't think a novel is physically impossible to complete in 3 days, just unwise. Maybe?