I am the Tortoise

[Incanus]

I’ve been in ‘editing’ mode lately, focusing more on learning and improving skills than on producing heaping word counts.

That said, I’m slow at dreaming up ideas, slow at drafting, and slow at editing. I’m also a slow reader. Over the course of the last year, I’ve drafted about 60,000 words (in short stories and a novella), and revised and edited less than half of that amount. I’ve also done some development for my planned novel, but I won’t be ready to make a start on it for at least a few months. Typically, I’d say I write 5-7 days a week, 1-3 hours per session.

All this makes me feel like the proverbial tortoise.

I’m wondering: putting the question of quality aside for a moment, is this production level considered pretty poor, or inefficient? It feels like it to me.

It seems like everywhere I look, I find ‘hares’ zipping past me. Am I wasting my time? Do I need to develop my speed? Does the tortoise ever actually win the race in real life? Or only in the old legend?

 

[Micheale]

When an interviewer asked Hemmingway how long it takes him to write a book he answered "as long as it takes to finish the book".

In the book "writing 21 st century fiction" the author notes that if someone says writing is easy for them, they have likely never been published.

It takes George rr Martin 5 years between novels.

It is not unusual for high profile writers to spend 3-10 years or more on a single work.

 

[BWFoster78]

Rates vary.

If it helps, though, I think I'm starting to produce faster now that I've kinda found my style. Less worry about what/how to write and more getting excited about what I'm actually producing.

That being said, I think I need to increase my production if I really want to become a professional. The book Write Better, Faster helped, I think. I plan to utilize some of the techniques when I start my next novel in the fall.

 

[Russ]

I’ve been in ‘editing’ mode lately, focusing more on learning and improving skills than on producing heaping word counts.

That said, I’m slow at dreaming up ideas, slow at drafting, and slow at editing. I’m also a slow reader. Over the course of the last year, I’ve drafted about 60,000 words (in short stories and a novella), and revised and edited less than half of that amount. I’ve also done some development for my planned novel, but I won’t be ready to make a start on it for at least a few months. Typically, I’d say I write 5-7 days a week, 1-3 hours per session.

All this makes me feel like the proverbial tortoise.

I’m wondering: putting the question of quality aside for a moment, is this production level considered pretty poor, or inefficient? It feels like it to me.

It seems like everywhere I look, I find ‘hares’ zipping past me. Am I wasting my time? Do I need to develop my speed? Does the tortoise ever actually win the race in real life? Or only in the old legend?

That depends on what your goals are.

For a professional that is a slow rate, and would not meet most contract deadlines that I know of.

If you are going to self publish for profit there is a lot of evidence that the more prolific you are, the more money you make.

It sounds slow to me.

But the only measure is against whatever your goals may be.

 

[Incanus]

If it helps, though, I think I'm starting to produce faster now that I've kinda found my style. Less worry about what/how to write and more getting excited about what I'm actually producing.

Yes, I was sort of hoping to do something like this. I've been of the opinion lately that if I try to get little more comfortable with writing, I'll gradually increase my output. Maybe the ensuing year will be better than the past one.

@Russ--agreed, pretty slow. I work a full-time job, so I can't currently compete with the pros. My goal for now is to write the best novel I can, and polish it up as well as I am able. That said, I don't want to spend the rest of my life on one novel, though at the rate I gave above, a 150,000 word book would be attainable in around 3 years. I suppose that will have to do for now...

 

[Caged Maiden]

You know, I can churn out words like a madman, but the problem is, I'm in the final editing phase and my book needs some major rewrites...and may forever. So...while my energy output is high compared to a lot of folks, I'm still treading water. I have to wonder whether this is the phase in which most writers simply give up. I'm about there.

My best advice is to manage whatever pace keeps you in the game. If you need weekends alone for writing, to avoid late night write-fests after your work day, I say do it. Nothing's worse than feeling burned out by it all.

I'm going on vacation in a couple days, and my promise to myself is no writing. No thinking about writing, no talking about writing, no emailing...etc. and so on. If I feel rejuvenated when I get back, I'm doing nano camp and plan to rewrite my 7th book, beginning with a new outline. I just need a break from my WiP that isn't getting any better as I tamper with it.

We all need to pace ourselves and sometimes, slow and steady is the better option for people who have lives that are demanding. I mean, writing should be fun, an enjoyable and creative pursuit, not a chore. It's quickly becoming a chore for me and I would definitely encourage you to not do it how I did.

Best wishes. Keep up the pace that's right for you.

 

[Micheale]

I did a little encouraging research for you

Margaret Mitchell took 10 years to write Gone with the Wind - her first novel.

The Time Travellers Wife took 7 years - also a first novel

Micheal Crichton took 8 years researching and writing Jurrasic Park, and 20 years on Sphere.

Tolkien took almost 16 years on the Lord of the Rings.

 

[ThinkerX]

I may be a slightly faster tortoise.

My boring science project occupied me from mid November last year to early March of this year. Since then...

I rewrote one novella - a rewrite so total I think of it as new writing (35,000 words)

Wrote the first draft of a second novella (33,000 words)

Did a couple of 'idea stories' - fragments incorporating odd ideas I have been pondering (4000 words)

Rewrote a novelette twice (and need to do so again)

And am currently about 10-11,000 words into another novelette. (which is nowhere dear done and I expected to finish weeks ago).

80,000+ words total over a four month period, split between new works and rewrites or about 20,000 words a month, or 500 -1000 words a day...versus zilch for 3.5 months before that.

Were I to maintain my focus...

...maybe two short novels or three or four novella's per year, plus short stories.

 

[skip.knox]

I'm with you, Incanus. I'm dreadfully, discouragingly slow. I wish I wrote faster because I have a great many stories waiting to be told.

I don't think I'm ever going to write faster. I have some expectation that I will *re-write* faster. Fewer editing passes. But ultimately it doesn't, cannot matter. It is all I can do to worry about style, punctuation, plot, character, setting, POV, internal consistency, world-building, *pant* *pant*, marketing, web site, publishing platforms, editors, cover art, research, craft, critique circles, beta reading, and what color ink to use. ;-)

After which, worrying about speed seems pretty minor.

 

[Garren Jacobsen]

I’ve been in ‘editing’ mode lately, focusing more on learning and improving skills than on producing heaping word counts.

That said, I’m slow at dreaming up ideas, slow at drafting, and slow at editing. I’m also a slow reader. Over the course of the last year, I’ve drafted about 60,000 words (in short stories and a novella), and revised and edited less than half of that amount. I’ve also done some development for my planned novel, but I won’t be ready to make a start on it for at least a few months. Typically, I’d say I write 5-7 days a week, 1-3 hours per session.

All this makes me feel like the proverbial tortoise.

I’m wondering: putting the question of quality aside for a moment, is this production level considered pretty poor, or inefficient? It feels like it to me.

It seems like everywhere I look, I find ‘hares’ zipping past me. Am I wasting my time? Do I need to develop my speed? Does the tortoise ever actually win the race in real life? Or only in the old legend?

I'm in the same boat tortoising my way through a novel, more or less. Honestly, I'm just sad I didn't see a coo-coo-ca-choog in your title.

As the answer so often is, do what you need to do on your schedule. Don't compare yourself to others on something as personal as writing a novel.

 

[Penpilot]

I used to only be able to write slow. But I've found by pushing myself during things like NaNoWriMo, I know I can write decently fast for long periods of time, like 50k a month, and produce words that are equal in quality to first drafts I write when I'm slow. It's definitely hard work, but you'd be surprised at how many words you can produce when you don't have time to worry about if it's good or not. And you'd be surprised at how fast ideas will start coming to you, and how what your produce won't suck as much as you think it does.

If you want to improve your speed, you could try a project with an artificial deadline. For example, write short story of at least 5k in one or two days. Have it edited in another one or two days. See how that cranks your chain.

I find that the more I write, the easier it becomes to put words down. The quality won't be the greatest but it will be coherent and for the most part will be a great foundation from which to edit.

 

[Svrtnsse]

I also consider myself to be a very slow writer.

However, it's important for me to write at a pace I'm comfortable with. I'm a hobby writer with a full-time job, and I write in my spare time, because I enjoy it. Yes, I hope to one day be able to make a living out of writing, but at the moment I'm more concerned with learning the craft than with pushing out words.

On the other hand. It'd be cool to have more works out there so I'm trying to come up with ways of making sure I do actually write instead of just thinking/talking/dreaming about it. One thing that has worked really well for me is "Writer's Work" thread here on MS. It's about showing when you're writing to get you a sense of accountability for just putting the time in.
If you already are putting in 1-3 hours a day though, then maybe that's not as useful.

I'm trying something else at the moment as well. It's one of those artificial deadlines that Penpilot just mentioned. I've set out put up one chapter a week on my blog. So far it's working out really well, and I'm a week and a half ahead of schedule, but I've got the difficult chapters left to go so that'll probably eat into my advantage.

As for the speed itself...
I finished the first draft of my first novel in January. It's about 150k words and it took me a year and a half to write. I'm currently letting it sit while I have a friend editing it in her spare time, but hopefully it'll be in a publishable state before the end of the year.

 

[Legendary Sidekick]

I have to wonder whether this is the phase in which most writers simply give up.

Being the tortoise can be discouraging. I was spinning my wheels for quite some time–until I FINALLY figured out how I want to tell my story. And, naturally, now that I'm moving forward I hit an unexpected wall: technical difficulties. (I believe replacing PhotoShop Elements with its latest version will solve the problem, which is cheaper than replacing my laptop.) I'll hit another wall–more like a speed bump, but a big one–when it's time to set up a website and go live with a webcomic.

In the meantime, I'm excited about what I'm producing, and I've challenged myself to keep up a pace of 1-2 strips per week. My reward at 22 strips (all of which are written in script/synopsis form) is to prepare to go live, and during that phase, I permit myself to stop drawing so I can focus on setting up the site and whatever artwork is needed to make the site look good.

So, I've set a pace, and some goals in the form of milestones, not deadlines. I also have, in addition to the first 22 strips, a 6-strip adventure for the end of Year One (the freshman year for one of the "barbarian schoolgirls").



I think, based on my (very, very recent) experience, I can say this:
* It's possible you're slow because you're unsure of how want to tell your story. If you know what story you want to tell, you're on the right track.
* Once you figure out how to tell the story (novel, short story or multiple shorts, other medium such as comic, etc.), find a pace you can comfortably work at and commit to that pace. Give yourself a range. Mine is 1-2 pages per week, but maybe yours is word count. Be realistic: If 1K-2K is realistic, consider short stories. If you can pull off 3K-5K, a novel will take you a couple years but it's doable. If 7K-10K, I consider you neither tortoise nor hare–that's a cheetah.
* Once you have your pace, set milestones that will happen in the foreseeable future. What do you do at that milestone? Well, you could edit, send what you have to a beta-reader. With my novel, I sent the WIP out for beta at 10K, 25K, 50K, then I think 100K. The whole work was >150K. (Too long for a first-timer. In retrospect, better to aim for a 75K-100K standalone, which allows for a sequel but doesn't cheat the reader if no sequel is ever written.)
* Once you make it to the first milestone, evaluate your process. Figure out how best to continue. Maybe you can speed up your pace, maybe you need a break to plan, maybe you can edit during the break/planning phase? Cross that bridge when you come to it. Er… the milestone is always on a bridge.

 

[Incanus]

Thanks to everyone who shared their thoughts here.

I’ve had a bit of a revelation since I started this thread. I think I’ve identified one more thing that has been slowing me down (in addition to being a space-cadet, and more of an editor than a drafter.)

The stuff I’ve been working on typically requires a lot of intricate narration, or are otherwise narration-heavy. My MC’s in most of my stories were a little unusual, requiring more explanation/justification. Also, I was trying a little too hard to be ‘original’ (with mixed results).

I’ve come up with a new idea for a novel that is a little more straight-forward, shouldn’t have any special narration requirements, and should have characters that are a little more ‘relatable’. The nature of the story won’t need a ton of outlining either, so I should be able to get started on it relatively quickly.

So that’s the plan to increase output: an easier-to-tackle novel (with a concept I still like despite its simplicity) AND developing a little more focus during drafting sessions (my mind wanders something fierce).

Realistic or not, I'm feeling better about it now.