This is topic How fast do you write? in forum Open Discussions About Writing at Hatrack River Writers Workshop.


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Posted by GreatNovus (Member # 9671) on :
 
Hey everyone, hope all is well with out individual pursuits of Writerdom. Was just wondering how many words an hour everyone averaged. I struggle with turning off the inner-editor and getting past the first few lines. The one time I was able to I stil only barely got over 500 words an hour, albeit that was while I was busy at work.
 
Posted by extrinsic (Member # 8019) on :
 
A thousand words an hour is my average raw draft writing pace. Add in planning, prewriting, mental composition, working drafts' writing, rewriting, and revising time, it's closer to a hundred words an hour, if not fewer.
 
Posted by Heresy (Member # 1629) on :
 
I try for writing faster than my inner editor can run. It's a trick I learned when I was doing NaNoWriMo last year.

I don't measure it by hour, because sometimes I need to stop and think about or make notes about the next scene/chapter/whatever, but I find my sweet spot, where the inner editor can't quite keep up, is somewhere in excess of 2500 words per day, ranging up into 7k if I actually have the day off from work.

-Julie
 
Posted by Tiergan (Member # 7852) on :
 
I'm about 1,000 words an hour, although I have peaked in at nearly 5k(horrible first draft, so bad I still haven't been able to finish it. In fact in some places I dont even know the words I was intending to write) I strive for 1k, as I am now trying to get a solid first draft so I only need an edit or 2 before submitting. I have been stuck in the "edit the life out" and never submit stage for too long.
 
Posted by KayTi (Member # 5137) on :
 
I write insanely fast because I type insanely fast. It is a talent/skill that I developed as a little girl, my mother had us all in touch typing classes (complete with metal typewriters that actually limit your typing speed) when we were young.

I can generally average 30-50 wpm when writing. But I'm a burst writer, I rarely write for an entire hour at once, or if so I end up getting up and tending to things for 5-10 minutes in the middle of it.

Because I can type fast, I don't have to think about where my hands are on the keys and therefore I can just let my fingers write the transcript for the movie that's playing in my head. Great fun when it really gets going! I highly recommend online typing training programs for those who find their fingers get in the way when writing. It's a tremendous relief to turn off the inner editor (because she simply can't keep up with 40 or 50 wpm! lol) Leads to much leaner, better first drafts. I rarely cut must, just do a fair amount of "tidying up" because I sometimes forget what I named a character x in chapter 1 and give the same character a different name in chapter 4. Or even just later in chapter 1, lol.
 
Posted by MartinV (Member # 5512) on :
 
I write faster than some, slower than others. [Wink] I honestly don't count the words I write per hour. Writing isn't about numbers. If I'm tired after the writing session, I know it was worth it.
 
Posted by Foste (Member # 8892) on :
 
Not fast enough is my answer. [Wink]
 
Posted by pdblake (Member # 9218) on :
 
I generally manage 1k an hour when in full flow, but it can vary either side of that. I tend to go with the pace of the story, more if it's a fast paced scene, less if it's slow.
 
Posted by rstegman (Member # 3233) on :
 
I figured it out once on my story ideas which flow out of the keyboard. I wrote about 23 words a minute. I don't deduct for mistakes. Not super fast but fast enough. Thank god for spell checks.
 
Posted by Robert Nowall (Member # 2764) on :
 
When I'm writing something original, I generally stick to either five hundred or a thousand words a day...for five hundred words, that usually takes me twenty to forty minutes. (Amount is approximate.) A second draft takes about the same amount of time, with the same kind of limit on words...and everything after that is fiddling and polishing.

When I'm writing, that is...
 
Posted by Owasm (Member # 8501) on :
 
In draft mode, I write about 1,000 - 1,250 words an hour. That will slow up if I'm having to think about the present scene or how to transition to the next.
 
Posted by Daniel_W (Member # 9725) on :
 
In general, I am an incredibly slow writer, and it comes in fits and starts at the best of times. I can spend an hour plodding through 200, 100, even 50 words, but then I might happen upon a crack in my writer's block and zoom along at 1000-1500 words an hour.

I've had to learn to work with my inner editor. Sometimes it is doing its job well, and I know I should listen to it when it says 'this prose is crap; you can do better.' And other times, I need to ignore it, and say 'yes, I know this prose is crap, but I am going to bash out something that is awful, just to get the scene written. I'll fix it later; shut up and leave me alone.' It's a trial and error arrangement.
 
Posted by LDWriter2 (Member # 9148) on :
 
I don't know how fast I write. Part of that is that I'm not a great typist so correcting mistakes slows me down but I can write a 2 to 4 thousand word chapter in a time period somewhere around one hour. When I get into the zone that is. Other times I distract myself and I can take three whole evenings to do the same word count.

That is I am actually writing not revising or doing any thing else that writers do.
 


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