It's one thing when the screen gets a little blurry, my fingers ache, and I want to give up on the whole thing.
But when all the letters turn into little gingerbread men and give me skeptical looks ... I think I need to slow down.
Or am I just being a wimp?
PS. Okay it was just a couple letters, and only for a split second, but still....
Or does that just happen to me? LOL
The gingerbread-man summoning ritual was almost complete.
Now you'll have to start again.
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My biggest question is - how do you keep the momentum? Don't you have times when your story just stops and refuses to come with you any further?
My problem has never been a lack of story but a lack of motivation or energy to write/type it out.
This may be because I don't ever start writing without an outline so that I know where I'm starting, where I'm going, and where I'm ending.
I also wonder if you use an outline to write? Whenever I peter out it's usually because I don't have a grip on what the characters want, so they just daddle about. If I push through usually something comes up, but if not I usually start with the simplest route from A to B and go from there.
Sounds like a very cool time--I'm with debhoag, enjoy while you can!
If you're losing focus, slow down. Writing pell-mell is all right for a rough draft, but even then you can lose it if you push yourself too hard. Burnout happens to writers, too.
For finished drafts, I try to stick to 1-2k words a day and really try to get them right.
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Do you do them (the 5000 words) all in one sitting? My biggest question is - how do you keep the momentum? Don't you have times when your story just stops and refuses to come with you any further?
Yes, I usually do it all in one sitting, with small breaks here and there. Sometimes, I'll break for lunch. I found if I try to split it up into two sessions, morning and evening, it ends up being just one session: morning.
As for momentum, so far I haven't had any problems. My opening was solid. I had tons of setup to do in ten short chapters, so it flew past.
So far, the story has only stopped once or twice, and then it was only for a short time. I usually just get up and do something else for a bit, letting the story stew in the back of my mind for a while. Knowing where the story is going helps. At each session, I sit down and think about what is going to happen next. I review my notes and such.
Then I start writing. I just try to keep writing. If I have a question, I make a note of it in the text. If I need research, I note that too. If I introduce a minor character, I give them a temporary name, like Mr. Walkon, Mrs. Naggypants, etc. Later, I can rename them. (I only do this for the minor-minor characters, the ones that show up for a page or less.) I do all this to keep the focus.
I found it helps me to unplug my internet connection. When the writing falters, it's too easy to open up Firefox and start poking around (here and other places.)
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I'm curious how many hours you work. 5,000 is a pretty good clip. My guess is it'll be like training for a new sport or something. It'll be good going at first, you'll hit a wall of sorts at some point and have to struggle through it--after that point, you'll be cruising again. You just have to build up some stamina.
At first, I averaged 3 hours. The opening nearly wrote itself. Once I hit the middle, it slowed down. Now, it's closer to 5 hours. That's where the real stamina comes in. I think the only reason I can do it is that I know I'm only doing it a short time.
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I also wonder if you use an outline to write? Whenever I peter out it's usually because I don't have a grip on what the characters want, so they just daddle about. If I push through usually something comes up, but if not I usually start with the simplest route from A to B and go from there.
Yes! I worked for three months on the research and a month on a fifteen-page outline. I was chomping at the bit, the whole time. It's a great story. It'll be my first completed novel, too. The outline could have been longer, but I decided I had enough for the middle. I didn't, so I'm filling in gaps now, but I wanted to have the adventure of discovery element left.
Without an outline, I'd personally be much slower.
This is an experiment. I don't plan to keep this pace after the 20th or 21st of this month, when I should have a completed novel. (You never know, maybe it won't be done, but I can have a goal, right?) I think anywhere from 1000 to 2500 words will be a good pace normally.
[This message has been edited by lehollis (edited September 14, 2007).]
And yeah, the freakin' internet foils me a lot. Wish I had the willpower to disconnect. If I did that, though, I'm afraid I might just shrivel up and die.
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I'm curious now-- what sort of research do you do before you write?
The research was for the setting. The novel takes place in a fantasy world setting with similarities to Early Modern Italy, with a stronger Inquisition influence. That's where most of my research went. I also had to develop two magic systems, characters, religions, and so forth.
So, I guess I should have said research and world building.
Good luck though.
Personally, I do all my first drafts on paper. It's easier to write in whatever place or location I might find myself, doesn't strain the eyes or fingers like a computer, and prevents accidental loss due to hardware or software failure. On top of that, I find that my creativity is a lot better when I'm writing pen on paper, although that might not be the same for everyone else. Still, it might help solve your current problem...
Aa
That is a lot of words--a short story's worth each day. Wow!
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That's a lot of writing. If you can keep it up great, but don't write so much you become fatigued--otherwise you'll just end up re-writing it later. 2,000/day might be a more productive pace when it all irons out.
It's only for a limited time, until the 20th. If it becomes impossible, I'll drop to something more reasonable.
2,000 per day is in the area of what I'm considering, but at least when I'm done I'll know my limits for sure
Thanks, JF!
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I get weird looks and all for suggesting this, but if sore eyes and fingers are the only thing keeping you from keeping your writing goals, have you tried a notebook and a pen?
Nah, I won't give you a weird look. I have to draft on my word processor. I type much faster that way, and edits are easier. I do keep notes and outlines on paper, though. I like the feel of pen and paper.
It's not keeping me from my goal, really. The biggest problem is the mental fatigue.
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Hmm. At 5000 words a day, you could do the Novel in a Month thing in less that two weeks.That is a lot of words--a short story's worth each day. Wow!
This novel will be three weeks total. I think everyone should try the 1-month Novel idea at least once. I've learned a lot from it.
I wish I could keep it up, but I know it's beyond my limit. I'll finish this up and then return to something reasonable, while I edit it.
Thanks KDW!
But when I tried to adapt this technique to a science fiction novel, they kept dying on me. I couldn't push through or keep going. In the end, I chucked the technique and went back to a certain amount a day. (Four typewritten pages a day, eventually modified (and lowered) to five hundred words a day.) Right now it took me one year (exactly) to write just over a hundred thousand words of (incomplete) novel, though I worked on several other things along the way.
(My best day's production? Well, nearly every regular novel I've worked on wound up finishing in a burst of over ten thousand words---I think my mind responded to just wanting to get the damned thing done.)
What you're doing is an inspiration to say the least especially over the last three days for me, I've written 12,000 words and still pumping them out Thanks are in order for you, lehollis
Loved Hoptoad's comment above.
[This message has been edited by Rick Norwood (edited September 16, 2007).]
Shock therapy? Perhaps--I hope no one thinks I'm doing this full-time. It's a three-week experiment and nothing more. I'm not saying anyone should try such a pace full-time. I fully plan to drop back into a normal 1,000- to 2,500-word range after this.
And I well recognize that the editing on this work will be heavy. No surprises there. There isn't a wrong way. There is only discovering what way works best for me, and that's what I'm doing. I wanted to know what it felt like to write this much.
Anyway, I lost momentum over the weekend. Family comes first, and I had to sacrifice some time to be with them. It was a bit depressing, but I'll still be done near my goal.
I'm at the 2,500 word mark this evening and staying up late to hit my goal. This is just a brain-relaxing break
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5000 words a day is no easy feat. I'm lucky enough to get a thousand out a day over a five hour period, but 5000? That's insane! Congrats lehollis! Keep going! Keep perservering! Did I spell that right?
What you're doing is an inspiration to say the least
Yes, you spelled it right. It's L.E.Hollis, I just didn't know capitals and spaces would work when I signed up
Keep up the good work, Leigh. I'm glad you're making progress.
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Ok, you've inspired me. I'm going to try for 5,000 a day for 3 weeks. That's a rough goal--but I'm going to try.
Let me know how it goes! Good luck!
Are 5,000 words doable? For me, certainly. That's only a few hours writing for me--between 3 and 5 depending on how smoothly it's going. And as far as I'm concerned, I should be writing at least that many hours 5 days a week. But that's me, not other people.
You can't tell someone they are writing too much any more than someone can tell you that you aren't writing enough.
My normal word output has been 1,000 words a day, but the fact is I've been slacking. I'm not editing now as I was for about a month, when very little of my time went on writing new material.
Edit: And what Asimov did has nothing to do with what I do although I am also sceptical on that Asimov story. He wrote and edited more than 500 books as well as a substantial work of short stories. But if he did, I'm not him. I work at my own pace and with my own goals. He would have been the last to tell other people they had to do things his way.
[This message has been edited by JeanneT (edited September 17, 2007).]
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Yes, you spelled it right. It's L.E.Hollis, I just didn't know capitals and spaces would work when I signed up
Keep up the good work, Leigh. I'm glad you're making progress.
I'm making better progress right now than I have done in the past 6 months. What I've done in the last 6 days is more than what I've written in the past 9 months... That's a bad thing to say, lol. Thank you, L. E. Hollis 
There is a maxim that I think lehollis may be following: Write it out, then edit, revise and rewrite. Are the 5000 words a day for that first step? This is like the software development process at work (Ewww, warning - technical geeky stuff) where we count the lines of code produced over the life of the project. That includes figuring out what the program is supposed to do, how to write the program, how to test the result, do the writing, do the testing, then put it in the product and test it some more - all with fixes and updates (No, we're not Microsoft. We actually fix bugs.) A REALLY good productivity is 10 lines of code per staff-day in a 50,000 line project.
In writing fiction, I try to count words in a story over the time it takes to plan, outline, write, edit, rewrite, get critiques, rewrite again, etc. I'm shooting for 5000 words a month and getting about 3000. That's still slower than the rates reported above, and I'm still envious.
And yes, it's something like that.
There's a range of possible behaviors a writer can follow. Some try for nearly-perfect copy on the first draft, so that very little editing is needed. That's what I usually do, too.
With this, it's going to be closer to a 400-page outline. I don't slow down to suss out details. If I have a description in mind, I use it. Otherwise, I keep going. I'll add it in during the re-write. My dialogue tags are all nods, looks, shakes and sighs. It's bland, but I know I can fix it on the re-write.
If a minor character appears, I don't stop to name them. I call them Newboy or Mr. Walkon. I'll name them in the edit.
On the other hand, when I re-read what I've written, it's not as bad as I imagine. I think I'll be able to clean it up and have a good story in the end.
Like I said, it's not my usual method, but it's pushing me to try things different and see how they turn out. Writing fast means more editing, but you're done quicker. Writing slow means it takes longer, but you have less editing.
I'm not sure which I prefer, yet.
Once I have a scene in my head, I find the faster I write it the closer I get it to the way I'm imagining it which may be weird, but we're all kind of individual on it.
On the downside...(1) Asimov stated non-fiction doesn't have to be different when dealing with the same subject, and he often recycled the same things in virtually the same words from article to article to book to book...and, (2) he's credited with five hundred some books, but also credited himself with a lot of books that he was less involved in than, say, if he'd written five hundred novels.