How fast do you write?

[dr_mabeuse]

We've talked about this before, but I wanted to ask again. How fast do you get words down on paper?

I've always thought I would be a better writer if I could type faster than I do; maybe type as fast as I think or speak. I seem to be able to write great stuff in my head, but something happens when I try to get what's in my head down on paper, and I've come to think that it's a function of my typing speed; that I lose what I was going to say by the time I get around to actually saying it.

Maybe I'm, wrong. Maybe what's in my head is just a jumble of phrases and feelings and ideas that I just think is great while it's in there, but the discipline of having to put it into real words is where I lose it.

Anyone else have any experience like this?


---dr.M.

 

[OldnotDead]

Dictation

Dr. M.

I would strongly suggest that you consider investing in a transcription machine or adapt a casette recorder for your own use. My father had one that was foot pedal operated that allowed him to take tape recorded sermons and type them into a final copy of what he wanted to preach. A regular recorder will drive you nuts because you will be constantly having to stop typing to reach for the pause button.

But to answer your question - flat out, typing as quickly as I can to get the thoughts down, I can only put about 60 - 70 words a minute. The preacher mentioned above could knock off close to 110. And it still wasn't fast enough for him.

But my speed rarely makes me feel that it is the limiting factor. My thoughts get stuck often enough that the typing pauses and waits for the brain. (Of course for stories on this site, sometimes, the brain has to wait for one of the hands to free itself back up ) If a story is evolving in my head fast enough, I will usually type one line action prompts, to be used as a story board. Then go back and put some meat on the bones with dialogue and description.

One well known writer still does all his stories longhand and hires typists to turn them into editable form on a computer. Another, when asked, mentioned that some stories could be typed out at the rate of five pages an hour and be done in two or three weeks. You may be one that is very verbally oriented and should use dictation as a means to let the creative process flow.

I think the trick is to not let the medium get in the way and to try and figure out what works for you.

OldnotDead

http://www.literotica.com/stories/memberpage.php?uid=135309

 

[Seattle Zack]

Only rarely do I get into that "zone" where it seems like the words are flowing out without interruption, but that's when my writing seems to work best. More often than not, though, I experience that "hitch in the git-along" that Dr. M mentioned and I end up rephrasing, trying to edit, losing my train of thought, that elusive little turn of phrase that seemed so perfect just a moment ago.

Maybe sometimes it's best just to get it on paper and deal with it later -- I forget what writing book I read it in, but the advice was to "write with your heart, rewrite with your head."
--Zack

 

[Sabledrake]

I'd been thinking over the past few weeks that I'd lost my touch. The writing wasn't going well. But, having just completed a 9,000-word story in two days, I conclude that the smut still works fine ... it's the other project that wasn't ready

Sabledrake

 

[Jenny _S]

Dr. M.
I tried that for years. No matter how fast you type, you can't do it. I have found that by not writing anything at all until the story is generally written completely in my head then typing it works. As I am typing you are not really doing the creative part of writing. I have limited myself to the technical end, spelling sentence sounds and so on.

Then when it's down on paper (or disk) you have time to go back and look at what you've written and begin correcting, rewritting or whatever.

 

[ffreak]

It depends completely on how intuitive your typing has become. For me, typing is the fastest way I can possibly write. On a good day I can get up to 1000 words/hour into my computer. On a bad day I get nothing because my brain refuses to work. Longhand would take me bout a day to get 500 words written.

For my better half, it's the other way around. She uses a cross-pad and writes everything long hand, then plugs it into her desktop and whoosh, it translates her calligraphic ramblings into a word processor. If she tries to think while she types, she loses the train of thought within a sentence or two.

I once read a story about a girl who was hired as a temp by two young executives because of her skills at shorthand. They dictated their erotic stories to her. Of course it had a side-effect - in the story she winds-up soaking wet from the physical exertion that cums from such work - and a permanent position.

-FF (the story was long before Lit - hey, a story idea - wonder how it would be different in today's world)

 

[MathGirl]

There's nothing like writing a MSc thesis and a PhD dissertation to make a person a good typist. When I'm writing a story and I'm "on," the fingers are on automatic and I'm composing the next sentence in my head. That really feels good when it happens
MG
I'm not really that fast a typist. More like half fast. Haw haw

 

[ffreak]

And such a nice ass, too.

-FF (you started the drum roll, I just had to drop the other shoe)

 

[deliciously_naughty]

I can actually type at about the speed I think, or close to it. I can certainly type faster than I can write in longhand, and as a bonus, it remains legible, whereas after an hour or so I can no longer read my fast scribbles. The problem is occasionally getting my mind to get moving.

Luckily I was required to take typing in high school (and to think, at the time I thought it was such a miserable waste of time!) and can type between 60 and 80 words a minute depending on how much typing I'm doing in general. I don't have to look at the keyboard anymore either, which is nice.

 

[raphy]

I think I tested out at between 85-90 wpm last time I checked.. Its proved to be just about fast enough to keep up with the creative flow when I'm writing, including hitting the backspace key to correct any typos..

If I'm in 'the zone' as Zack put it, I'll just keep typing and typing until either it's finished or I am. It varies. Sometimes I can throw out a couple of thousand words a day, sometimes I'll be hard pressed to get a paragraph.

 

[Guest]

Unfortunately, I think fast typing and word-processing make it too easy to write crap. Too many writers think merely speaking or thinking is writing. My own work comes into play after I've written the first draft (usually by hand in pencil), then each printed draft gets the pencil until I'm only moving punctuation marks about. The only time I wish I could write faster is when I'm trying to recall a dream.

If the majority of posts here is any indication I think drafts would be a big help in putting one's self forth as a good writer.

Can one imagine how Shakespeare's mind worked? He managed with quill and ink. Joyce took 17 years to write 'the Wake', all in longhand first. Think on it.

Just sayin', Perdita

 

[Angeline]

I see your point 'dita, but I bet if Shakespeare were writing today, he'd use a pc. (Ok, maybe a Mac)

I'm left-handed and my hand drags and smears, so I love my keyboard. I think faster than I type, but I can go pretty fast anyway--I write most poems (even the long ones and including numerous edits) in an hour or less. Prose goes equally fast. I spend hours writing and editing every day, and for me this--not the medium I use--builds discipline in thinking and thus writing. For me the big time expenditure is at the front end, reading and thinking about how I feel, what I want to say, and how I want to say it before I ever touch a key.

 

[Icingsugar]

I've always thought I would be a better writer if I could type faster than I do; maybe type as fast as I think or speak. I seem to be able to write great stuff in my head, but something happens when I try to get what's in my head down on paper, and I've come to think that it's a function of my typing speed; that I lose what I was going to say by the time I get around to actually saying it.

Maybe I'm, wrong. Maybe what's in my head is just a jumble of phrases and feelings and ideas that I just think is great while it's in there, but the discipline of having to put it into real words is where I lose it.

Anyone else have any experience like this?

Oh yes. Exactly like that. By the word. Down to the last syllable.

 

[MathGirl]

Originally posted by Angeline I'm left-handed and my hand drags and smears, so I love my keyboard.

Dear Ang,
The QWERTY keyboard is one of the few places we southpaws are not at a disadvantage. Right handers have no idea how difficult simple things can be if you're left handed. E.g. scissors.
Portsidedly,
MG

 

[OT]

hunt and pecker

most of my "inspired writing" tends to take the form of a key phrase or concept. The rest of my writing involves the mostly mundane mechanics of writing/rewriting the supporting-cast-words until the entire piece is reasonably coherent. Speed of scribing is not an issue. (never learned to ten-finger type)

 

[Angeline]

Dear Ang,
The QWERTY keyboard is one of the few places we southpaws are not at a disadvantage. Right handers have no idea how difficult simple things can be if you're left handed. E.g. scissors.
Portsidedly,
MG

Scissors were the bane of my elementary school years. Then I got to junior high and they had those little desklets, you know where your elbow hangs off the edge and periodically slips off altogether? And how about measuring cups. I *hate* right-handed measuring cups. And I still can't use scissors without looking like a total doofus.

Sinistral and hyperventilating,
Ange

 

[Seattle Zack]

I remember seeing an interview with Quentin Tarantino a couple of years ago where he said that when he's writing well, as fast as he can, he's not even aware of the creative process. He likened it to a court reporter, just recording everything that happens, almost dissociated from the whole creative business.

An interesting thing about the QWERTY keyboard, in the typewriter days, if it had been designed for pure speed, the keys would have jammed from the speed of the typist. The key layout was intentional, to slow the typing process down enough to not overwhelm the manual typewriters. Otherwise letters like R, E, T, and N would be on the home row, not F, J, K and ;

--Zack

 

[gauchecritic]

Maybe I'm, wrong. Maybe what's in my head is just a jumble of phrases and feelings and ideas that I just think is great while it's in there, but the discipline of having to put it into real words is where I lose it.
Anyone else have any experience like this?

---dr.M.

I think you're probably right when you say maybe you are wrong. What you have in your head is the 'whole symphony' when you start to write, that's when you have to 'dot out' each instrument.

Once you start 'dotting out' you also have to try like buggery to keep the whole piece together in your head at the same time or lose it. That's the hard work.
That's also why writing a rough draft doesn't work for me either. You can write the melody down but you can't even begin to transcribe the symphony whole.

Gauche (rather pleased with the metaphor )

 

[MathGirl]

And how about measuring cups. I *hate* right-handed measuring cups. And I still can't use scissors without looking like a total doofus.

And those right handed hairbrushes are absolutely hopeless.
MG

 

[Guest]

Re: Re: How fast do you write?

Gauche (rather pleased with the metaphor )

And a good writerly metaphor it is. On t'other hand, Beethoven kept a 'sketch' book with him at all times. I believe there are several dozen extant in the world. He wrote down motives and brief staves, some of which produced his symphonies, not to mention sonatas, quartets, and an opera. Not arguing, Gauche, just extending your metaphor.

BTW, I think music the highest art and composers therefore at the top of art's paradise.

musically awed, Purr

 

[ffreak]

Gauche and Perdita, you bring the Silmarillion by Tolkien to mind. The opening especially - built on the harmony and discordance of the angelic choirs that led to a war in Heaven. I've always enjoyed the music it brought into my head.

Part of the beauty of a good metaphor is how it resonates within the mind of the reader.

-FF (now, I'll have to dig the book out and read it again to finish the music in my head - not a bad state to experience)

 

[Guest]

Thanks, Eff. That's the first Tolkien that's appealed to me.

Perdita

 

[cookiejar]

I run my story ideas through my head kind of like a movie. The dialogue comes so easily until I start writing. I type slow mainly because I think each word out, they very rarely flow.

I shocked myself yesterday by writing two stories in 4 hours ...I've always had to struggle to write but these stories came so easily...perhaps because they were subjects close to my heart. I only know it was an incredible feeling...

 

[KillerMuffin]

I have no idea. I type at around 100 words a minute, or I did last typing test, however, I've never measured the speed at which I compose, which is very different than just typing what's already there. I think it's pretty fast, but probably not 100 wpm.

 

[wildsweetone]

We've talked about this before, but I wanted to ask again. How fast do you get words down on paper?

I've always thought I would be a better writer if I could type faster than I do; maybe type as fast as I think or speak. I seem to be able to write great stuff in my head, but something happens when I try to get what's in my head down on paper, and I've come to think that it's a function of my typing speed; that I lose what I was going to say by the time I get around to actually saying it.

Maybe I'm, wrong. Maybe what's in my head is just a jumble of phrases and feelings and ideas that I just think is great while it's in there, but the discipline of having to put it into real words is where I lose it.

Anyone else have any experience like this?

---dr.M.

I type at 95+ words a minute.

I write Morning Pages, stream of consciousness at approx 700 words in three quarters of an hour, that's about 15/16 words a minute. Writing is slower because of my rsi.

I plan nothing. When I sit to type fiction, the story hits the screen before I have any conscious thought.

When I write longhand, the process seems almost painful, every single word goes through my mind as I am writing.

You've read and commented on some of my stories, so now you can rest assured that the typing speed has nothing to do with the quality of the words at the end of the day. *wink*