How much do you write?

[TheokinsJ]

I know that most people on this forum are like me in the fact that they write in their spare time and are not professionals, but I was just wondering on average how much do you guys write per day, or per week etc. I have been writing my story for a while now, about three months and I'm roughly 40 pages in, wondering if I'll ever get anywhere with it. I have school and so working on it is hard in-between study and assignments, but on weekends I try to make an effort to get a few pages done. Some days I will sit down and write maybe two pages- at best, others I'll write a paragraph or sometimes even a sentence before I quit because I 'don't feel in the mood' for writing. So just asking, how many words do you guys write in a day on average? And are there any strategies to get you motivated to write when you don't feel like it?

 

[Roc]

I write 1000 words a day, every day.

It has worked 27 days in a row, and I hope it works for the rest of them. I love the schedule of doing 1000 words a day, because I procrastinate, so this makes me diligent.

 

[Weaver]

I am what I sometimes refer to as a "binge" writer: I go for weeks without actually writing anything (my "outlines" and first drafts all happen in my head), and then I spend several days typing like mad. My twin is the same way. I have never kept track of how many words per day my writing averages out to, but I know that my twin once wrote 13K words in a single day, and when he's writing, he usually gets in more than 2K. Of course, he's a binge writer like me. We calculated it once, and even with the long breaks when he's "not writing," he manages to average a bit more than 500 words a day. We recently added 35K words to a novel in a revision over the course of a couple of weeks. (We had a deadline; my twin was going off to do archaeology stuff, and we wanted to get the revisions done before that.)

A lot of people will disagree with me, but... Writing is not a performance art. It doesn't (or shouldn't) matter how you get the writing done, only that you do get it done. Find out what works best for you, and do that. Some people benefit from having a set schedule and a commitment to produce a minimum word count every day; if they slack off once, they find it hard to get back into writing the next day, and the next day, and eventually they just don't bother. Some people find that kind of pressure results only in lot of useless words on the page to meet a self-imposed quota, and they end up hating writing -- or they quit because, for whatever reason, they are unable to write every day.

As for staying motivated... I think that finding out what type of writing 'schedule' works best for you will help a lot with that. If you're stressing over meeting a quota or writing at the same time every day, and that stress is making you dread writing, clearly that kind of schedule isn't working for you. On the other hand, if you tend to 'wait for inspiration,' and you don't even think about your story when you're not sitting down to write it, you're less likely ever to feel inspired...

 

[A. E. Lowan]

I write every day. Now, that's not all making pages - sometimes it's making notes about character and plot, but the point is I am immersed in our world every single day without fail. It annoys the heck out of my writing partner, but I can't figure out anywhere I would rather be.

 

[Roc]

A lot of people will disagree with me, but... Writing is not a performance art. It doesn't (or shouldn't) matter how you get the writing done, only that you do get it done. Find out what works best for you, and do that. Some people benefit from having a set schedule and a commitment to produce a minimum word count every day; if they slack off once, they find it hard to get back into writing the next day, and the next day, and eventually they just don't bother. Some people find that kind of pressure results only in lot of useless words on the page to meet a self-imposed quota, and they end up hating writing -- or they quit because, for whatever reason, they are unable to write every day.

This is so true. I mentioned I write 1000 words a day and it has been going fantastic for almost a month, but I have done this before, and if you even slack off one day, it has terrible consequences.

But otherwise, I don't hate writing. I literally procrastinate so bad that I won't write, I have got to set myself a daily goal, or I'll never write at all.

 

[ThinkerX]

Between one and three hours a night. Word count is anywhere from 100-1500 words, depending on whether or not I'm painfully editing old stuff or tapping away at something that really interests me. Tonight was maybe 300 words worth of minor editing and revising.

Sometimes, with the stuff I have to get rid of during editing, I actually have a NEGATIVE nightly word count. Thats what happened last week: I deleted five paragraphs and either replaced them with short sentences or I didn't replace them at all. (trying to avoid 'info-dumping').

 

[Chessie]

I try to write daily, usually Mon-Fri (weekends are difficult because its family and camping time). If I find that I'm struggling to get through scenes then its probably because I haven't plotted them out well enough before I begin to write. My best time of day is in the mornings with a fresh cup of coffee. I do a couple hours but I would like to focus on word counts now. I think that might be harder for me to pull off, since like Thinker, I delete crap all the time and end up with nothing after hours of work.

 

[Penpilot]

I write every day. If I'm working on a first draft, I average between one an two thousand words a day. Some days I'll get four thousand words down, others only five hundred. When I'm editing, I go through a chapter a day. My chapters average 2500 words. I can increase output if I want. I've done three months of nanowrimo type output, but at the end I was pretty frazzled.

My strategies... well I structure things using scene sequel format. I try to know exactly what the point of the scene/chapter is so there's a goal that I'm writing towards. By the end of a scene/chapter I should have conveyed X to the reader and they should know that Y is about to happen. I don't always get all of what I'm trying to convey to the reader into a scene/chapter, but knowing what I didn't get in allows me to insert it into another chapter.

As Weaver said, you have to find what works best for you. Some metrics for you to ponder. If you write 250 words a day for one year you'll have a novel length work. The guy who wrote Fight Club wrote it on his lunch break 250 words at a time. Stephen King, before his accident, used to write 2000 words a day. That's why he has so many books out.

Some people are binge writers, others are slow and steady. To me, it doesn't matter how much you write each day, the important thing is that you do write. My college writing teacher once told the class that one of the purposes of writing for the course was to empty ourselves. I wasn’t sure what he meant back then, but I think I have an idea now. You see, as you write, the more you write, you purge yourself of all the pent up ideas, all the preconceptions and expectations that get built up over time about what you want to write and how you want to write it. This allows you to just write and let the words come instead of forcing them to be this or that instead of what they should be. In some ways, I think this means that you’re purging yourself of the dependence on the muse to get you to write, or to make your writing “good”. I write whether I'm in the mood or not because if I didn't, I'd never finish anything. The mood/muse/inspiration is like a bad girl/boy friend. They never come around when you need them and always show up at the worst times.

 

[Chessie]

Penpilot, would you be able to give us an idea of the scene sequel format you use? I find those terribly helpful and I'm always looking for new formats to add in. Pretty please?

 

[Svrtnsse]

I try to average a scene a week. Sometimes more, sometimes less.

Most scenes I've written so far have been between two and four pages - with a page averaging between five hundred and six hundred words.

I have the story planned out scene by scene since previously so the actual writing is more about setting the scene and mode and describing the events than it is about making up the story.

 

[Penpilot]

Penpilot, would you be able to give us an idea of the scene sequel format you use? I find those terribly helpful and I'm always looking for new formats to add in. Pretty please?

Here's how Jim Butcher describes them.
jimbutcher: SCENES
jimbutcher: SEQUELS

And here's a book about them from my favorite series of writing books Elements of fiction.
Elements of Fiction Writing - Scene & Structure: Jack Bickham: 9780898799064: Amazon.com: Books

Enjoy.

 

[Philip Overby]

I really like Jim Butcher's approach. I read about this awhile back. This format is excellent for beginning writers especially because it will help you lay out a well-structured story. It may not be all kinds of awesome, but it'll make sense. It may be all kinds of awesome too!

As far as how much I write, I typically write every day, but in various spurts. Since I work during the day, I do most of my writing before bed. I've recently been doing some freelance writing, so I'm not just writing fiction anymore, but articles for other people. I've been keeping the habit of writing a short story a week for a while, which you can check out the progress on my blog (link in my sig) I've found that I sometimes wait until Sunday to write my story, but I'm still maintaining some level of productivity.

I find habits are hard to break. So make good ones and then you can stay on course everyday.

 

[C Hollis]

I think this excerpt from my blog says it all for me:

In the writing world there is a lot of discussion about word count production. Two thousand words a day! You have to write at least two thousand words a day. I stick my tongue out in your general direction.

I work a sixty hour week. According to some studys, I should be getting about 56 hours of sleep a week. Which leaves behind 52 waking hours I am not at work. Take those hours and subtract a little thing called life. Unclogging a drain, paying that guy named Bill, fetching groceries, eating said groceries, actually speaking with that other person who has tolerated you and your fantasy world for 25 years, and finally just a few hours of kicking back and enjoying what you have worked for. Not much left over for a second career in writing.

I spend anywhere from seven to fifteen hours a week on writing. Don't make the mistake in thinking that all of those hours are spent typing the next book. I have to sell what I have already written, so a significant amount of time is spent in the marketing arena. Then there is research, which just baffles me; I write fantasy because I'm too lazy to do research, yet I find myself looking up things like the anatomy of a sword... And of course, there is other prep work involved with the new novel. Maps to be drawn up, new characters to be fleshed out, etc. All told, I probably spend around seven hours a week actually writing the book.

So word production should be a primary goal, right? Wrong. Granted, my initial brain purge is crap when compared to the finished product, but if I focus on that word count on the bottom left of the screen, then my focus is not where it should be. My focus is creating an engaging story. If you are focused on word count, then the story could very well suffer.

This is not to say that I don't track my progress by word count. Every night, just before I close the laptop, I will write down the word count of the novel. Sometimes I look at that notebook page and think "Damn, did pretty good last week." I like to see that number get larger on a daily basis; it means I am moving ahead. The number of words I write each night fluctuates between 900 and 3000. I am happy with either number (though admittedly ecstatic with 3000).

Of course, I work in the Quality department at my regular job, so quality before quantity is embedded in my being. Just don't get caught up in that word count trap. If you have a smile on your face when you finish up for the evening, then I think that alone is worth 2000 words.

 

[Helen]

how much do you guys write per day, or per week etc.

I write a sequence a day at least. I think that's a discipline that takes you a long way.

 

[wordwalker]

Here's a variation on these themes: yes we need to write regularly and with discipline, but is a single word minimum a day the best way for all of us?

My own method involves planning each chapter in detail before I get into it. I could never have a minimum per day, but it comes to at least 5000 words per week.

This can also apply to non-planning writers, as a way to build discipline but allow enthusiasm to work at its own pace. For instance, we often tell reluctant writers that a mere 250 words (1 page) each day is sure to give them a book at the end of a year. But, it might be more engrossing to set a minimum of 200 a day but 2000 a week, no matter whether those words turn out to come mostly from a solid page-plus a day or a habit of racing through scenes on Sundays.

Writers need discipline, yes. (And there's something to be said for King's "every day," weekends and workdays both, for its sheer doggedness.) But we deserve a system that works for us.

 

[Butterfly]

I tend to set monthly goals of between 30,000 words and 50,000 words depending on how I feel. At an average (when working of a draft) I seem to work at around 1,500 words a day, with the aim to hit 2,000, and hope to reach higher, time, energy and motivation permitting. When outlining, I seem to do a lot more but they tend to be rough scenes, ideas, notes and whatnot rather than quality words.

I don't always achieve it and will try to make it up over an average amount per day over a month to hit the final goal. Yesterday I managed 500 words, today so far, about 2,000. (My spreadsheet is locked away on the flash drive at the moment so I can't give an accurate figure). It might try to push out another 500-1,000 words later when the weather cools down and I'm re-energised. At the moment though, I'm also doing late shifts, so I have the morning and evening to work on writing.

On days off, my productivity alters throughout the day. Early morning is the most efficient. Here I seem to get twice as much done in an hour than I do at other times. So that's when I try to schedule writing time by waking up a bit earlier, at 5 am or 5.30: 6 am at the latest. Evening is also good, but not as good, as I am starting to get tried. Midday, there are too many other things happening with family and other distractions, so I try to reach my target as early as possible.

Some will say, 'quality is better than quantity.' I disagree with this... I don't believe you can hit the quality stuff without amassing a great quantity of other stuff. the more you write the better your writing will become. Maybe even a first draft will be great on occasion.


My formula...

Quantity = practice, which leads to improvement, which will ultimately bring you to an equal amount of quality and quantity. So a lot of good stuff will emerge after a lot of bad stuff.

Anyway, this is what works for me.

 

[Ennokos]

When I first got back into writing I felt it so hard to write when I wasn't "in the mood". I would go weeks at a time, never really getting anything done. Recently I found that instead of a word count I find completion goals much more motivating for me. I've been trying to write a short story every two weeks, anywhere from 5000 to 8000 words. Already it hasn't been pretty with some late nights to reach my goal but I can feel myself improving my habits with every finished story.

 

[Mythopoet]

Right now I don't have much time to write because I have 5 kids and school's out. My goal for the summer is to complete my research and then dive head first into the writing of the short story prequel and novel one of my new series after school starts in the fall. I'll have 3 kids going to school and the 2 little ones take nice long naps during the day. And hopefully the new baby will finally be sleeping through the night better by then and I won't be constantly tired. Sigh. But my priorities are wife and mom first and writer second.

 

[druidofwinter]

I TRY to write everyday. Now that doesn't always work. When i do write i TRY for 1000 words. Sadly, that doesn't always work either. Now on some good days i can make 1500-1800, but these are rare. I would put my weakly word count around 4000-5000 words.

 

[Zero Angel]

I write at least 500 words a day, but shoot for at least 1000. When I am approaching a deadline that might increase to 10K-20K. I wrote my second math book's first draft in like two days and that was approximately 35K words. This month I have ~7 deadlines and am burning myself out writing.

To speak to your reluctance to type or being in a mood, you've got to work past that. You might not like what you're writing, but you have to get in the habit at least of writing everyday. Same thing for drawing or any pursuit ever. I try to draw and write everyday. I don't always write or draw for my next big project, but whether it's a blog post, an in-verse article, a story idea or whatever, I write everyday.

But seriously, 500 isn't much, this post alone has been ~150 words. Multiply that by 10 (or 100) and you'll start to make some reasonable progress.

Also, learn to type real fast.