How Fast Do People Write?

[SimonDoom]

I wonder how quickly you folks write your stories -- say, a 10,000-word, roughly 3 Lit page story or chapter. I've looked through some of your story lists and am amazed at how prolific you are and how quickly some of you seem to be able to churn out stories -- good ones, too.

The first story I wrote I finished in about 3 hours, and I rushed it to get it submitted before the Winter Story deadline. But after I submitted it I looked back at it and the errors in it, as well as the gaps in narrative and character development, made me wince. I took a lot more time with the second story, which also was a lot longer, but even that one was full of phrasings and word choices I would change if I did it over. Having submitted two stories, I find myself wanting to submit another one soon but also wanting to take more time to ensure the next story is better than the last one. Do other people feel this way, or do you see Literotica as a forum for getting stories out there without worrying too much about polishing them?

 

[NotWise]

The first story I wrote I finished in about 3 hours, and I rushed it to get it submitted before the Winter Story deadline

Three hours? You write a lot faster than I do, but then lots of folks do. It takes me more than a month to produce a standalone story.

 

[sr71plt]

I average about 1,500 words/hour in composition. I've rarely written more than 8,000 words/day. I write nearly every day but probably don't average more than 3,000 words/day. My published wordage for 2016 will be slightly under 700,000 words (35 titles under various pen names to the marketplace; 94 entries to Lit. this year in this account name, running between 2,000 and 40,000 words each.).

 

[SimonDoom]

Three hours? You write a lot faster than I do, but then lots of folks do. It takes me more than a month to produce a standalone story.

That was unusual for me. I was putting the finishing touches on my longer story, when I noticed the posting about the Winter story contest (the deadline was the next day) and thought I might try to submit something to it. It was six in the morning and the idea for the story came to me right away and I stayed at my computer and wrote it in two hours and then spent another hour or so later in the day editing it before I submitted it that day. It was only a little over 4000 words. That's the only story I've written that way. I've got another twelve stories or so that I've started writing but have come nowhere close to finishing.

 

[SimonDoom]

I average about 1,500 words/hour in composition. I've rarely written more than 8,000 words/day. I write nearly every day but probably don't average more than 3,000 words/day. My published wordage for 2016 will be slightly under 700,000 words (35 titles under various pen names to the marketplace; 94 entries to Lit. this year in this account name, running between 2,000 and 40,000 words each.).

Thanks for the input. That's an impressive pace.

 

[oggbashan]

It depends on my muses.

If they are cooperative I can complete a NaNoWriMo challenge of 50,000 words in a month very easily. I can, and have, written 10,000 words in a day.

If they are being awkward or recalcitrant, 500 words a day is hard work.

If they have inspired me to write a particular story of say 2,000 words I can write that, edit it, and submit it within a couple of hours.

 

[TheOldWidow]

writing stories

I was interested in the time writers spend on their initial story. Me; I don't eat, sleep or surface for much of any reason until the story gets out of me. It becomes a compulsion, this need to bring life to words and get my meaning across.

Most likely unhealthy and undisciplined. LOL.

 

[HandsInTheDark]

I write as a hobby. I often have free time in December and I can push out maybe 3,000 words a day, spending a few hours a day at it. I'm not fast, but then I'm not writing strokers and I go into world-building, plot and characters in a fashion completely unnecessary in erotica. If I cut the self-indulgent plot crap and symbolism I'd probably double my output.

Sometimes a chapter writes itself and my fingers can't keep up. Dialog is almost always like that - characters form personas and they just speak, and I take dictation. I'm slow on plot, having to make several passes to get plots points to line up. Complex plots (my _Chosen_) slow me to a crawl. Sex scenes go fast when I'm in the mood. (When I'm not I skip them and come back to them later.)

 

[NOIRTRASH]

I fill files with scenes for later use. One file is for provocative openings, another file is for endings, another file is for sex scenes, another file is for violence scenes. My way building a story is like building a new car. All stories are the same but different.

The other thing I do is invent mental pictures I build from pieces I collect from everywhere. Such as, SANDY WAS A YOUNG GUY'S IDEA OF A LADY, AN OLDER GUYS IDEA OF CHEAP CHOCOLATE GIFT-WRAPPED WELL, AND MY IDEA OF JOSPEHINE WITH TEETH, (Josephine, Napoleons wife, fucked everyone but had missing and rotted teeth).

 

[Carnal_Flower]

I cogitate for a long time until I'm ready to write, then it's fast and easy. I've learned from experience there is no point in putting words on a page until it's ready. Writing is 90% thinking, 10% typing.

 

[Handley_Page]

Three hours? You write a lot faster than I do, but then lots of folks do. It takes me more than a month to produce a standalone story.

I have three stories in an advanced stage; been like that for the last three years.

 

[HeyAll]

Depends on the topic and how many ideas there are. Some topics are simple and can be done quickly.

I wrote a story called "Squeezed Together with Sister" and it took me 1 day to write and edit it. It was nearly 2 Lit pages and it performed great.

The plot was simple and fun. So that was easy.

Other times it could take a week or two for a 3 Lit page story, depending on if I want to add more story/realism to it.

To me, the sex part is the easiest. Once you have the story & build up in place, the sex can come together quickly.

 

[PapaRomantic]

I am finding that the original first draft of my stories is actually the least time-consuming part of my writing process. When I edit for content and grammar, it takes lots of time, especially if you are working on a multi-chapter piece and you have to go back to the previous chapters to make sure you have proper continuity.

I edit once, then go back again, and as long as I keep finding mistakes, I keep doing a repeat edit. Another thing I'm struggling with is reading as an editor is far different than reading as a consumer, and I often struggle with separating the two.

I started writing a submission for the Holiday Contest and halfway through, the inspiration left me. So maybe that one will get finished before the next holiday contest - maybe!

 

[glynndah]

Since I write in secrecy, I am often at a loss for time and opportunity. Once I have those two things in line, the stories themselves take as much time as they need.


Hm. That's not much of an answer, is it?

 

[legerdemer]

I am a fairly slow writer, maybe 800 - 1500 words a day. Once I have an idea, I develop it as I write. I rarely know all of the story when I first write the beginning - I sometimes know the end, but not the middle, while other times the end comes out in the light as I type out the middle. I occasionally get ideas for scenes but the inspiration peters out and falls short of a story. In that case, like Hypoxia, I file the scene away waiting for the right context. I am not quite as organized as he is, however. Random pings are more my style.

And, like Glynndah, I must find time where writing inspiration connects to time in private.

 

[Bramblethorn]

I can type at around 100wpm, but composition takes much longer. I might get 1000 words from an evening staring at the keyboard.

 

[ElectricBlue]

I write when life and weather permits. I may be more productive over winter when it's cooler, I'm not sure. Summer heat slows me down - typically we get one or two sometimes three heat waves over summer, and it's like living with an open oven door. Erotica is a fair way from my mind when it's that hot.

When I'm on a roll my stories almost write themselves, I can do 1000 -1500 in a fast session (very rare), otherwise i try to push them along 300 - 500 words at a time. I surprise myself sometimes, how much gets written. I edit as I go, doing minor word changes, fixing typos etc... with one or two major read throughs when it's done. I don't scrub my writing to death (if it's a turd, it ain't ever going to shine) and I'm not a perfectionist - nobody's paying a cent for it, so my standards are my own.

I rarely have a structured plot worked out ahead of time, just loose ideas - I'll write a paragraph sometimes with no clue where it will end. I prefer the rawness of my stream of consciousness, when it gets going, and the surprise that it brings. My best stories are the ones I read later and think, wow, did I write that?! On the whole, those stories also get the best response from readers, which is pleasing. I'm doing something right for someone.

It all depends on my muse at the time (who is always my leading lady). If she doesn't seduce me, she doesn't get written. If I fall for her, she gets written, fast.

 

[rjordan]

I wonder how quickly you folks write your stories --

I type well above 80 wpm, and can sustain it for a couple of hours. That skill allows me to crash out 1 or 2 stories every 3 or 4 years. Sometimes more if I don't take coffee breaks.

rj

 

[ChloeTzang]

Well, I work shifts and days I'm working, it's usually nothing for writing, or just a few notes on ideas when I have breaks. Days off, that's another story. On a good day, I've hit 10,000 words, and that's at about 1,000 words an hour when the story's in my head and it just flows out my fingertips with barely a conscious thought. When I get stuck, I just switch stories for while and work on another - that's my way of taking a break.

Average on a good day would be more like 2-5,000 words though, and that's usually around other things I'm doing (domestic stuff, helping out my partner in his business, stuff like that....)

Pretty much all my stories are 1st person, and when I'm in my character's head I'm just writing her story, how she feels, reacts, senses, experiences, thinks. Usually takes me a while to get there but once I am, I'm always surprised by the twists and turns the story takes. I usually have a pretty good idea of the outline though. I never really get stuck, as soon as I start writing, the ideas start coming and I don't usually do a lot of rewriting. Less so now than when I started anyhow.

 

[TxRad]

It's all according to the story and which market it is going to. Mainstream stories, I try to write 1500 words minimum a day. If the story is going well, it is usually twice that.

For lit it varies, again by the story. Also by the free time i want to devote to it. I have far less of that now than i did back when.

 

[SamScribble]

Old journo's joke:

'Oh, you're columnist. Interesting. What's your column about?'

'It's normally about 800 words.'

But if I'm writing short stories, I generally write between 1,000 and 1,500 words a day - and then re-write about half of them the following day.

 

[Hypoxia]

When I write regularly I'm pretty fast, up to 10k words/day, corrected. When I slack off (like the last few months) I'm damn slow. I blame distractions, interruptions, preoccupations, medications, and astrological positions. Hard to write when Uranus is in the fourth quadrant...

 

[sr71plt]

Excuse me. I never put my anus in the fourth quadrant.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

In the past, I've done 10k words a day for days on end, but I had the story all worked out and an editor to fix my mistakes.

Lately I'm lucky if I pump out 10k a month. Just the other day I wrote 100 words. None since. My muse has been on Christmas vacation it seems.

 

[TheRealFlash]

Writing Speed

i am new to this, but I seem to be able to knock out a 2-page story in just a few hours of work... but often over several days as I get time to write.

What seems to take just as long, or longer, is going back and editing the story for errors, spelling mistakes, etc. Even after thinking I've corrected all of the errors and submitting, I always seem to find things I missed after the story posts.

I also think that it depends on the story you are writing. After coming up with an idea and beginning to write, I could see where "writers block" could easily set in.

The series I am working on currently... Mrs. Mills' Predicament... is flowing quickly for me. Although predominately fictional, it is loosely based on something that actually happened to me, so ideas are coming easily as the story advances.