Writing length

[little_sub]

I'm feeling rather amused and amazed that I can write 7600 words of filth in three days yet it took me two and a half weeks to write my 9000 words honours dissertation! If only I had taken a degree in writing erotica rather than psychology :/

How does everyone else write? All down on paper as soon as possible or bits and pieces here and there?

 

[lovecraft68]

I'm a binge writer. I'll go days only writing a couple of paragraphs here and there then suddenly take off.

Between Friday night and yesterday afternoon I wrote a 17k story start to finish without one hiccup.

I've got 5k on another today, but a couple of days from now might not be up for doing more than a couple of hundred words.

When I'm in that mode that's when I edit, look for covers or just find something else to do.

My biggest "binge" to date was writing a 33k Halloween story in one day starting at around 6am and wrapping it up around 1am next morning.

 

[VivienneLeroux]

I'm a bits and pieces kind of gal. It tends to come to me in the form of scenes and that is how I write it. Some pieces are longer than others but I usually go back and expand on the short ones anyways.

 

[little_sub]

Wow lovecraft! That's impressive!!

Think the most I've done in one day was about 5000 or so

 

[soflabbwlvr]

I write in 1-3 hour chunks, mostly on my lunch hour. On a good day I can bang out 2500-3500 words. On bad days I'm lucky to get 500 words.

 

[lovecraft68]

Wow lovecraft! That's impressive!!

Think the most I've done in one day was about 5000 or so

I'm fortunate to have a lot of time. My kids are grown and my wife later in the day than I do so I have a good amount of downtime to do what I want.

 

[HeyAll]

I try to write everyday, but the amount depends on if I'm in the 'zone' or not.

If I've got a great idea, and my mind is in a writing mood, then sometimes I'll write a lot in one sitting and be amazed by how much I just wrote.

Other times I'll write only one sentence in the course of a few hours. That happens if I'm distracted by other fun things on the internet, and/or listening to music. Or I just don't feel like doing anything. The worst is when you can't figure out how to write something properly, or you're stuck on the storyline.

The fastest I've written a story was 2 days, and the story was 1 page. It was for the first Halloween contest I entered and I realized the deadline was approaching. I recently wrote a brother/sister story in 3-4 days, which is 2 pages, for the upcoming contest. I also recently finished a NonConsent story which I started writing back in October, and worked on here-and-there and made multiple changes.

 

[SamScribble]

I take solace in the fact that Graham Greene considered 500 well-written words to be a reasonable day's work.

A lot of the non-fiction stuff that I write is quite short - probably between 500 and 1200 words - less than a day's work. So, in addition, I'll often write a thousand or so words of fiction. A typical Lit story generally takes me three or four days to write, and another three or four days to edit and polish.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

How far is it from here to there?

 

[TxRad]

On most days when I have the time, I can put out 3000 to 5000 words. How into the story I get has a lot to do with it. I try to write every day but that doesn't happen all the time. Some of those days are a few paragraphs on several different stories. Then there are editing days.

My last NaNo was 87 ,000 words in 25 days. It wasn't erotica though, it was the second book in a mainstream series.

But remember, your mileage may vary. I've been doing this a while.

 

[Saxon_Hart]

There are times when I'll sit down and intend to write, and maybe get two sentences done. Some days I'll sit down to read e-mail and lay down 5000 words.

 

[lovecraft68]

There are times when I'll sit down and intend to write, and maybe get two sentences done. Some days I'll sit down to read e-mail and lay down 5000 words.

Nice AV!

You realize the 3 remaining AFC teams Chargers/colts/Pats are the three teams Denver lost to this season right?

Bye bye Peyton One and done.

 

[Saxon_Hart]

Nice AV!

You realize the 3 remaining AFC teams Chargers/colts/Pats are the three teams Denver lost to this season right?

Bye bye Peyton One and done.

When we won the Superbowl in 97, every team we beat in the play-offs beat us in the regular season. Only thing that will prevent us from winning it all is our D.

 

[sr71plt]

I'll write 4,000 to 9,000 words at a single go on a day. I don't have a "write every day" regime, though. My muse sometimes insists that I write every day for a stretch, but I don't force it.

 

[lovecraft68]

When we won the Superbowl in 97, every team we beat in the play-offs beat us in the regular season. Only thing that will prevent us from winning it all is our D.

I remember that one that was the year Denver beat Green bay I was glad because they had beat us the year before.

Hate to say it, but even though your d is weak(but still grat compared to the Pats d ugh!) its Peyton who will lose it. he is Romoesque when it comes to post season picks.

 

[littlecordelera]

I have absolutely no idea how many words I write at any single sitting. I write until I either run out of time or become entangled in the ability to express my thoughts. There have been times when I probably struggled to complete a hundred words, and there have been times when I have effortlessly gone through many, many pages.

How much I keep of any of any initial "write" can vary significantly.

 

[Saxon_Hart]

I remember that one that was the year Denver beat Green bay I was glad because they had beat us the year before.

Hate to say it, but even though your d is weak(but still grat compared to the Pats d ugh!) its Peyton who will lose it. he is Romoesque when it comes to post season picks.

I'm hoping he's more driven this year.

 

[lovecraft68]

I'm hoping he's more driven this year.

Maybe. Clock is ticking on him
'
Brady too you'd think they would pony up and get him a defense to try to win one more. As a GM Bill B is.....a good coach

 

[jomar]

My writing is more girth than length.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

I usually write in a linear fashion. I'll get an idea and pound out about 10k words, then all of a sudden the urge leaves me. I'll suddenly get another idea and pound out 20k words, same as above.

I was lucky on my last novella, it took me 5 days to pound out 33k words, another five days to edit and it's now published at Smashwords and Amazon.

Then I started another project, I'm 15k into it. It's called Pregnant Pause

I have also stared or should that be restarted, on another...25k words into it now. This one is called Cross Country Mom.

So that's what I have done in the last month, along with playing a lot of video games.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

My writing is more girth than length.

So, your stories are fat, not long. Interesting.

 

[Hypoxia]

It depends on motivation and inspiration. Back when I was a tech writer, I had to churn out just so much copy daily. The motivation was money. One of my relatives is a best-selling author. She writes X-thousands of words per day. She has to; it's survival. I now write at whatever pace the words emerge, maybe a paragraph a day, maybe a couple whole stories or episodes. My only motivations now are pride, or internal pressure, writing because the words MUST crawl out.

Non-disturbance helps. I didn't get much written between USA Thanksgiving and New Year's because I had to help prepare various family events. Except for some medical stuff, most of January and February should be free for me, so I'll work more on my slush pile. Stay tuned.

 

[Bramblethorn]

I'm feeling rather amused and amazed that I can write 7600 words of filth in three days yet it took me two and a half weeks to write my 9000 words honours dissertation! If only I had taken a degree in writing erotica rather than psychology :/

How does everyone else write? All down on paper as soon as possible or bits and pieces here and there?

My non-fiction record is 16k words in two days, also for a dissertation.

Fiction: painfully slowly. I'm lucky to get 500 words written in a day.

 

[oggbashan]

My non-fiction record is 16k words in two days, also for a dissertation.

Fiction: painfully slowly. I'm lucky to get 500 words written in a day.

One of my ancient records is for a French language examination (University entrance level). We had 1.5 hours to write 500 words on one of a number of set subjects - all in French.

I knew that I should think about the subject for a few minutes, have an Introduction, an argument in several sections and a conclusion. I had practised for weeks before the examination with past papers.

One of the list of subjects in the real examination was a topic I had practised. I started writing immediately. My plan was the classic format: the introduction was on the basis of 'Tell them what you are going to tell them', to be followed by telling them in detail, and the conclusion would be 'Tell them what you have told them'.

Since I had already practised that subject, the introduction was written very quickly, in greater length than the trial run. I then went into the argument and finished the conclusion, and checked the whole with five minutes left. I then did an estimated word count. I had written 3,200 words.

Fortunately for me, my introduction was just under 500 words and covered the salient points including the conclusion. The examiners marked that and gave me an A. They crossed out the remaining 2,700 words with the remarks "Interesting, well-argued, but far too much. Read the instructions!"

I have never written that much French since, and certainly not in 1.5 hours.

 

[jomar]

So, your stories are fat, not long. Interesting.

You misunderstand.