posted
I just started reading 2,000 to 10,000. It's a short ebook on increasing your writing rate. Has anyone else read it ... heard of it?
Posts: 222 | Registered: Jan 2013
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I've heard of and read samples. Draft writing for quantity, though, is not among my writing practices. That kind of writing creates onerous revision work for me.
Rachel Aaron's The Triangle of Writing Metrics "time," "knowledge," and "enthusiasm" is an intriguing graphic, though not an algebraic or geometric function, as it is represented. I see a similar graphical geometric representation in an x equals time, y equals knowledge, and z equals enthusiasm expression of a tetrahedron, which is easier for me to perceive than a flat, two-dimensional triangular representation of three axes of forces. I believe Ms. Aaron should have consulted with a mathmagician before publication.
posted
I didn't realize that about the triangle until you brought it up, but you're absolutely correct.
Time, knowledge and enthusiasm are not related. She shouldn't have presented them as a triangle. They are just the three things that helped her write more (and they're not equally valuable either).
But from what I've read so far, I would not be concerned about quantity vs. quality. She says she increased both and I'm inclined to believe her.
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I understood from the samples I read that Aaron advises letting go of the inner editor demon and simultaneously developing a draft writing momentum, while mindful of planning developments, the knowledge axis for quality development, so to speak.
I do do that. However, I wear every writing hat at my disposal while I draft write: writer, editor, critic, publisher, reader. I recognize static and passive voice constructs while I draft write and recast them instantly. My method is for many writers not very productive, But for me it is efficient. I can dash out two thousand reasonably quality words in a couple hours and have reworking strategies fermenting in my back mind while I'm at it.
Aaron's stratgies were a leg I developed along the way to where my writing process is now, most of that knowledge axis process from a prewriting planning phase. As far as enthusiasm goes, I wax and wane; wane when I have doubts and time limitations, wax when I've worked out the doubts and arranged discretionary writing time.
I'm now most enthusiastic about writing when I'm revising, having learned how to spot not only what's superfluous but also what's missing. Damon Knight's Creating Short Fiction is the only writing about writing text I've found that amply covers those topics.
Time, now there's the rub. Currently, I'm deep into inputting galley proof corrections of a publication about to go to press. By the end of the month I'll have free time and enthusiasm for putting the mental compositions I'm planning and developed knowledge onto the page. Toes, fingers, and eyes crossed for luck. By the end of September, for sure.
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posted
I've read half the book so far (which I think is everything dealing with the triangle). Here's what I understood.
Knowledge - don't start writing until you can play the scene out in your head. It's inefficient to create story and sentences at the same time. Create the story, then create the sentences.
Time - Track your output according to when, where and how long you write. Find your most productive environment empirically. Ex., she found her WPH (words per hour) when up drastically after the first hour and dropped off after 6 hours. She also wrote best in a coffee shop with no Internet.
Enthusiasm - If you're not excited about a certain scene ... if you can't find a reason to be excited about this scene why is your reader. First, find out what's important/exciting about this part.
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posted
Dunno. Up to a few years ago, I had a hard time getting anything past five thousand words...then, suddenly, I was writing things anywhere from fifteen to twenty-five thousand words long, and things that seemed kind of bloated at that length, yet. (What else can you say about a twenty-five thousand word story that has only two characters?)
I've spent some time trying to get back to a more concise length, mostly by drastic editing.
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posted
I should have noted this in the beginning. The title comes from the author increasing her daily output from 2,000 Words Per Day to 10,000.
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