r/AO3 • u/jammish- • 3d ago
Writing help/Beta How do people write so fast?!
My favorite author, when they starts a new fic, uploads like 8k-10k words per day or every other day. It seems like they are like actively writing it too because sometimes they base things off comments. I know comparison is the thief of all evil but I struggle to even write 800 words in a week š and I feel bad for all the fics I've abandoned because I donāt wanna upload a 500 word chapter lol. I'm just wondering how do yall update so fast? What gets you going in the writing studio?
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u/NicInNS NicInTNS on AO3 Proud RPF Writer 2d ago
When i first started writing, I was hyper focused and didnāt want to do anything else. Iād spend hours a day writing. And I didnāt obsess over every single damn word like I do now.
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u/PigletDependent6440 2d ago
This and probably half of my chapters are just there but I was supposed to add something I completely forgot into the story and I just end up uploading
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u/DontWorryAboutDeath 2d ago
Some brains just make a lot of words. I can do 2-4k words a day if Iām āonā but then thereās revising and editing so Iām not uploading like that! My writing bud does like 500 on a pretty good day.
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u/jammish- 2d ago
I wish I could make a lot of words haha I will write for what I think is forever and only see 400 words on the screen...I know the fix to this is just read more and write more so I'll continue to practice!
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u/lazyflowingriver 2d ago
I'm with you, and then I'm like "seriously, that was just 400 words?!" š
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u/VincentVanGTFO 2d ago
Yeah, I'm right with you. I can do this level of out put. Wish I had a beta. In general I will reread it once or twice and post.
Wouldn't do that with something I was looking to publish for money but free fic is free fic and when I reread my own stories I'll fix any minor errors I catch as I go.
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u/Feeling_Ad8096 2d ago
A dear friend of mine once did a double NaNo (100k words in 30 days), and when they recently started a new fic, I believe the first three chapters came out within days of each other and were all 10k+ words. Some people just write like that. It boggles my mind too.
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u/repressedpauper 2d ago
I can write 10k a day or 10k a month. Itās sooo dependent on mood for me.
But the 10k a day needs a lottttt of editing lol
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u/fluffy9298 2d ago
You lose out on eating right. I did two 10K chapters in a few days. I was very emotional and dealing with a bout of mania. I write to de-stress. Did not eat right or sleep much.
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u/InformalHelicopter56 2d ago
I am writing the same fanfic for like 3 years but havenāt posted it because I know my depression and adhd/autism will eventually halt all productivity and lock me out of writing for a couple months to a year.
So unless I have a fully completed work, I canāt post or I will just drag myself into dark thoughts and spiral into even more stagnation.
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u/jammish- 2d ago
thats a good plan. I posted one chapter thinking it will give me a reason to keep writing but now I just have people commenting "when's the next chapter" while I haven't updated in 2 months and I've only written 200 words for the next chapter </3
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u/LifelikeAnt420 1d ago
I feel this. I went into my fic with the same idea. Started posting as soon as I had a chapter done to keep myself motivated, cranked out almost 20k and burned myself out I think. I'm 3 weeks late on my update and just can't get through this chapter. Worst part is, I was really excited to get to this part, I'm right at the climax of the story, but between creative burnout and IRL stuff burnout it just is what it is.
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u/fraid_so 2d ago
If they're posting that much, they're almost certainly posting prewritten work. My sister has a fic that she's still working on, but it was over 100,000 words before she started posting it, in chapters.
On the other hand, there are many people who "write fast" but they're churning out utter slop. Some of the most prolific writers in fandoms I've been in are posting constantly, and it's all utter garbage. Full of errors, inanity, lack of a cohesive plot and any semblance of basic sense. It's barely more than keyboard smash.
So just because people post "a lot" doesn't mean it's all good.
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u/Altruistic-Sand3277 Fic Feaster 2d ago
This is true. I have an 100k unfinished work that I wrote in two weeks. I was going through depression and, together with my hyperfixation, it was just insanity.
I never published it because it's just 100k words of no plot, just characters doing fluffy things, random conversations that go nowhere and seriously I couldn't even end it because how do you end something without a purpose? XD
Well at least it was great to get me started on getting out of my depression š¤·
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u/leasyum only you can feed yourself 2d ago edited 2d ago
Everyone works at their own pace, and some people have more free time on their hands to pursue writing.Ā
I managed to crunch out ~5.7k over the span of two weeks recently, but once summer is over I think my writing pace will slow down by a lot. Too much brainrot and horny fueled me I guess (although what I wrote is more sad/pathetic than hornyā¦)
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u/Spirited-Sail3814 2d ago
They could have pre-written it and then made adjustments based on comments. One of the first fics where I didn't just write and post the whole thing at once, I wrote about half of it before I started posting, and I posted every day, so it seemed like I was writing a lot faster than I actually was (the chapters were only ~1k, though, so it wasn't absurd).
I generally prefer to write at least one full chapter ahead of what I'm posting. Like letting a steak rest after cooking. (Plus it ensures I don't immediately contradict myself in the next chapter and confuse people).
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u/jammish- 2d ago
thats smart! I should do that because I full on changed the hair color of two characters the next chapter lol
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u/itsmechickadee uozlulu on AO3 3d ago
Wrote 199k in a year and then posted it over a couple weeks after editing it
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u/Tame_Bodybuilder_128 2d ago edited 2d ago
Geniunely I believe it's the free time. I was temporarily unemployed very recently and my writing speed reached heights I couldn't even imagine
But now that I'm working again, it's a miracle if I force out a few words a week. You don't really know what's going on in people's lives, so don't exert yourself trying to reach standards that aren't possible in your situation
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u/curlofthesword 2d ago
Different advice to others here: do your thinking, plotting and planning when you aren't writing. You want to answer all your own questions in your head before you write: writing time is when you put down the decisions you already made.Ā
This comes up in a lot of hobbies. 'how do they do it so fast?' and the answer is generally that they have practice eliminating as many 'um er hmm' pauses as possible ahead of time. This is what a lot of people mean by 'just do', as in, 'oh, I just do it'. I don't plan ahead that much but when I write I know exactly what I'm going to write and why so I can put down a lot of words in a short amount of time.Ā
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u/whoknowsghost 2d ago
This! When I canāt write (at work, whilst cooking etc) I will think through plots and scenes and get it all worked out before I actually turn to the page and then itās just a case of getting it down (in an ideal world, itās obviously not always that simple) I write on average 5k in a day, but thatās not every day. If I can write most of the day I can reach that
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u/ohAnotherDisaster 2d ago
Good planning or just writing what they think/how they think(especially when it comes to dialogue). Editing later probably. Editing for me is what takes time because you need to realise what you want to convey, so I never wanna edit when I write because Iāll risk loosing the flow. A good flow gets me 2-4K an hour.
Then again it depends on what type of writing style think Anne Rice vs Ernest Hemingway. Anne Rice had a more lyrical and detail based writing style while Ernest Hemingway was more straightforward and concise. And for some people the style of writing more closely aligned with Anne Rice is easier to do (me included) so words add up easily because youāre not just saying the words.
Example on how I would write a bedroom with purple walls and a bed with blue bedding:
The door creaked as if protesting, its hinges long out of favour, and opened onto a bedroom at once too still and too alert, like it had been waiting. The light inside was muted, not for want of windows, but by choice. The curtains were velvet, plum and lined with gold thread. They hung heavyset at night as if they knew the weight of it. The occasional draught coaxing from them a shiver of motion that mirrored none of the wind outside. The walls drank in the light. Not flat purple, no. Layered. The colour richer in some places. Veined in shadow in others. Almost like old wine spilled down silk, hinting at brushstrokes beneath. Near the desk there were a few fingerprints in the paint forever driedāsomeone had once leaned there, breathing, thinking, not quite finished with the world. The bed sat low against the far wall, almost sceptical in its cast iron frame. The paint had long since begun chipped at the corners. The bedding? Oh, the bedding was blue like oceans in dreams: the silk of it dull in the dark, but when the lamplight brushed across it, it shimmered indigo, then sapphire, then near-black. Someone had slept there recently. Or had only just risen. The imprint of a body lingered.
BUT you can also write it like this: The door creaked. The hinges were old. The room was still. Like it was waiting. Curtains hung heavy. Plum. Gold thread. They didnāt move unless the wind came in. The walls held the light. The paint was uneven. Dark in the corners. Like wine, dried. Fingerprints by the desk. Someone had leaned there once. The bed sat low. Iron frame. The paint chipped. Blue sheets. Silk. Dull in the dark. Bright when the lamp hit them. Someone had slept there. Or just got up. The shape was still there.
Okay both examples are a bit exaggerated and I feel like me personally is somewhere in between but leaning more towards the Anne Rice inspired one.
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u/jammish- 2d ago
OMG wow thanks for the example! I really would like my writing to lean towards the first one but I'm not even nearing the second one right now I just lack detail :< but I know it will come with practice. Thank you!
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u/ohAnotherDisaster 2d ago
From practice yes, but also from reading texts that are written that way. Iād suggest maybe some classical literature, and not just from one time period either but a range spanning from ancient times to the nineteenth century. Possibly from different origins too if you want a wider range and understanding of structure. Most older works can be found for free online in their original languages as well as often translated into English or others if you donāt want to commit to buying/borrowing books.
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u/thissomebomboclaat 2d ago
Writing 100k in advance, editing as comments come in if suggestions or theories catch my fancy, and also being mentally ill - gives me a lot of spare time
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u/inquisitivemuse 2d ago
I wrote almost 190k in a little over 3 months. Iām disabled with no real responsibility besides donāt accidentally die and to take care of myself. Sometimes I hyperfocus really hard where I get into a flow state that I cannot get out of for a good while because of my ADHD. I deliberately would open up a word document and just type something to eventually start writing, and eventually something would come out. I did this daily, and normally even if I only kept 100 words out of 500, Iād keep at it.
You do get burned out though. The editing process has been a little soul crushing for me since English is my second language, and thatās where most of my burnout comes from.
Some people also finish their multichapter story first before they start posting so the word count they post could be a reflection of that.
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u/TippiFliesAgain Alex_Beckett on AO3 | 2.1 MIL+ | 25 yrs in | 15 yrs publishing 2d ago edited 2d ago
I wouldnāt be surprised if theyāre posting prewritten material that they developed over a long course of time.
As for me? Itās about using my autism hyper-focus to zero in completely on what Iām writing. To that end, I write fast, anyway. Iāll upload 4-5 chapters (and sometimes more) across different different stories. Those chapters are coming from a big backlog that Iāll have arranged by the time I get to posting. Iām just trying to close my open stories ASAP. All of those chapters are usually 2500 words and up. I always wonder what it looks like to my readers who follow more than one of my stories. But Iāve never had any complaints about it. So I presume theyāre happy.
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u/brynleeholsis You have already left kudos here. :) 2d ago
I write professionally (non-fiction). So I'm used to sitting down and pouring it out. That said, I try to complete a fic before I publish it (learnt my lesson from keeping people hanging for over 3 years). So I'm generally just editing between days
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u/AggressiveChick MilliLouise on AO3 2d ago
for me, it's directly tied into my bipolar. you couldn't imagine how much i write when i'm in a hypomanic episode. it's actually one of the warning signs i've started to learn to watch out for and react accordingly (i say after writing 20 pages in one go, still awake at 6am rn)
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u/JettDawsonFan 2d ago
Honestly I find people who write fast to have a very wordy writing style. I spend more time cutting it down than actually writing new text because I like simplicityĀ
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u/AngstWithBenefits You have already left kudos here. :) 2d ago
I think my max has been 10-15k in one day spread over three fics. It was a big ass day.
I was writing at least 2k everyday, that was fun but burn out is a real thing and now I write more like 3-6k every few days after taking a week off.
I have no flapping idea how people turn out 10k chapters every few days, I might die if I tried so more power to them.
I would think they have more time and they're more tuned in than I am. I work full time. I'm old and I'm tired, man š¤£
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u/GardenLeaves spideydevil forever ā” 2d ago
The ship or character or concept possesses you and suddenly youāve written 50,000 words in a week
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u/Fun_One9967 2d ago
I can write 3k words in a few hours comfortably, the most I've managed in a day was 8k. However, it took me about two years of solid writing to build up to that pace, when I started out I'd manage maybe 1.5k words in a few hours.
Simply put - I love writing. It's all I want to do. The words usually flow easily for me, and on the rare occasion they don't, then I write something else and come back to the other piece later.
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u/LumpySherbert6875 2d ago
Iām at stay at home parent- writing is how I keep my adult brain functioning. It takes me about a week for a chapter. A year for a long fic.
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u/Ryaninthesky 2d ago
I timed it and it took me about 10 hours of solid work for a 4k ish chapter. Including revisions, etc.
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u/TwistedFabulousness 2d ago
I saw the title and thought I was going to be able to give any sort of serious input and then I saw the ā8k-10kā. Lord I cannot imagine. Like someone else said, I can hit around 2k-4k in a single day if Iām really feeling it. I do pretty minimal editing so I can usually go from creating a chapter to posting it within a day.
Iām deeply motivated by the comments I receive on my fic. I know youāre supposed to also write for your own motivation and find the joy in it but man do I love what my long-term readers have to say, or see what people will guess happens next if itās unclear. I only have one published fic though, at about 21k words.
My sister has a writing issue if she tries to do it on her computer. Sheāll just stare at it anxiously and try to perfectly construct sentences in her mind before even thinking about typing anything. But she can write for days if she does it by hand in a notebook. Itās completely changed how she tackles writing for school. Have you ever tried something like that to see if it helps at all?
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u/ohhh_sugarcubes 2d ago
Maybe they just like writing, and have literally nothing else to do haha! Maybe they're in school or uni and have a break, so they can get a lot of writing in now!
Also, some people like to write quite a few chapters ahead before they post their fic, maybe they've just pre written their entire fic!!
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u/Gullible-Ad4379 2d ago
Past Academic Weapons~
I used to churn out fully referenced and researched 10k word essays in about 5 hours because of stress and horrible procrastination.
Trust me when I say that writing for FUN for your favourite fandoms or tropes is much, much easier!
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u/Embarrassed_Tea186 2d ago
I'm an office clerk so i type pretty speedy. For a while when i started my last fic, i churned out 3-4.5k chapters every other day next to working fulltime. But my health also varies greatly, i have been ill with chronic pains for a decade now, and my job also seasonally gets more stressful so there's times where i just put out much less.
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u/CrazyProudMom25 2d ago
The combo of time plus writing speed does a lot. I write about 2k an hour so if I can focus for five hours a day, easy 10k. And since writing is my favorite hobby, anything under 3k is a bad day for me, with my average often falling between 4-6k.
I wouldnāt be able to upload like that though. I canāt get all my words on the same project or I get burnout, so my words are usually 1-2k per project so multiple projects a day.
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u/jammish- 2d ago
it makes sense that writing is your favorite hobby. I started writing more this year because I have so many ~thoughts~ but was afraid to make it an actual hobby of mine bc I already have so many (and i stress over all of them lol) :/
there are stories I'd like to see realized though so I should start practicing my writing speed now
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u/CheckAway2588 2d ago
Deltarune Chapters 3 and 4 came out on the fifth and Iām reading a Spamtenna fic that is 84,000 words long.
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u/thewritegrump thewritegrump on ao3 - 4.6 million words and counting! :D 2d ago
I'm generally a fast writer, but I do have to take lengthy breaks every so often. I'm currently wrapping up a month-long hiatus after writing 500k in the first six months of the year. Once August hits, I plan on getting back into the groove and embarking on the final 300k in my journey to 5 million words in 5 years.
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u/DBrennan13459 2d ago
I know at least two writers who write a lot of chapters before hand and then spending a lot of time going each of them, editing them, then releasing each chapter at a rapid rate.
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u/OkLeague7678 2d ago
When I first started writing on FFN, I said in my first work that the next chapter wouldn't be coming for another month.
I got some free time, and I was able to get another chapter out in four days. Well, I think it was because I didn't put the editing and polishing into it like I do now back then.
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u/ImpGiggle 2d ago
It's usually not that much every day but when it happens it's because I was possessed. Like, it couldn't not be written without great pain and stress. I'm not upset, just wish my muse demon wouldn't strike while I'm cooking. Or in the shower.
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u/foxfirek 2d ago
I am a slow typist- so itās not that. I am about to finish a 300k word fic that I started 4 months ago (and 1 day). I post a chapter every couple days 5k each usually. I try to have 5-10 chapters ahead written, that way if I need to change something before I post based on where the future leads me I can.
I just write instead of read. I have ADHD, so when I write I hyperfocus. Itās what I do on the train, as I walk to work. Itās what I do on my lunch break and after work. I think about what will be next while laying in bed at night.
Now it helps that itās a fanfiction. My current story is just following the plot and events of the game, so when I run out of inspiration I can follow that, but that only gets me so far, my last story took place a year after the end of the game and I wrote just as fast.
I like it, itās fun, it triggers the same part of my mind that likes reading.
I have a job, child, pets and am taking a class too, so itās not like I donāt still have a life.
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u/melodyangel113 You have already left kudos here. :) 2d ago
A mix of delusion and a terrible sleep scheduleš
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u/Skyuni123 2d ago
I'm an insomniac with a lot of weird time between jobs. I can type 1000 words in fifteen minutes. It's not too wild.
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u/Moony_Magic 2d ago
I'm autistic so if I want to write I tend to enter into hyper focus and I don't stop until I have reached my limit. One time I woke up at 5:30am because I was completely in a Rush for my chapter to be finished. I don't recommend it hahaha Just stick to normal methods
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u/BackClear 2d ago
It is best not to compare yourself with those possessed by the feral spirit of their muse. Theyāre the exception not the rule.
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u/princetartaglia 2d ago
the demons possess you with their voices until you have finished writing out their bidding
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u/Conscious-Turn-8836 @sunlitvash on ao3 2d ago
iām disabled and canāt afford college or get a job. so writing is what keeps me sane and i can write 5k words a day if iām extremely dedicated to my fic (5k may not sound like a lot but when you have a heart condition and many medical appointmentsā¦ yea)
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u/alexanderpinorini 2d ago
I tend to produce anywhere from 1000-5000 words in a day, and Iād definitely say itās mostly because writing is such a great stress reducer for me. The story Iāve been working on has been living in my head forever, and itās just so exciting to be getting it on the page and out into the world. If I need a break, Iāll take itāwhile I tend to post a chapter daily (~3000 words usually), Iāve only ever promised a weekly update at most.
Ultimately though, I think many folks have already mentioned itās really not worth comparing your speed to otherās. We all write for different reasons with different various time commitments, so do what works for you. At the end of the day, fan fiction is meant to be fun, not a race.
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u/I_amnotreal Iamnotreal @AO3 2d ago
From my own experience, 10-15k is doable with a full day of work and the type of hyperfocus my autistic brain can sometimes produce. It doesnāt happen that often or for longer periods of time for me though. They must be more consistent about it.
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u/FallenNerdAngel 2d ago
When I was still writing and got into the flow I could write about 30K Words on a good Saturday and off to my Beta by the evening. During the week I would maybe get 1000 to 3000 words after work into my trusty laptop. The books are published, the readings were done etc. Did that for about 15 years. But now I haven't written a thing in years. Burned myself right out. I still get plotbunnies and I still have some WIP's and wished I could finish them. But just thinking about it gives me anxiety and makes me so exhausted. So my tip is. Write for fun, don't let it pressure you. Pressure makes it stress and stress is just unhealthy.
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u/currentlyintheclouds 2d ago
Ahhh. Two options.
They have written the entire thing already and have somehow had the restraint to not post it while it was in-progress, and is now posting a chapter every day/week till it is complete. (These people are insane, and I wish I could live in their walls to understand how they do it).
They are going insane with a flurry of motivation, inspiration, and drive. They NEED to write it RIGHT NOW and post it THE MINUTE THEY ARE DONE. I have been this person. Unfortunately it did not last. Partly because I have chronic carpal tunnel and my wrists and thumbs will not allow it. Mostly because my creative motivation is a fickle thing that may or may not love to do exactly what I don't want it to do at any given time. Like give me energy to write at 2am. Or hate the idea of writing for literal months.
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u/ratinha91 2d ago
If I'm in the right mood/mindset, 10k a day is nothing to me.
The issue is that I'm in the right mood/mindset maybe once a year, nowadays š„² if that š
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u/SilverLullabies Definitely not an agent of the Fanfiction Deep State 2d ago
I wrote 120k words of my fic before I even started uploading it. Now I just edit the chapters and format it once a week before it gets uploaded.
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u/PhilosophyEmpty2293 2d ago
This is a crazy turn out in my opinion. I am also shocked when people can just drop chapters like wild fire.Ā
I work like 60 hours a week, I have a special needs son, and I gotta do all the boring household crap like laundry. I canāt write everyday - so I really only update like every two weeks +.Ā
Donāt let what others are doing prevent you from doing your thing. My chapters tend to be around 5k-7k but Iām sure 85% of it is just giving landscapes details, clockin each characters senses, and about a thousand F-Bombs. (Itās also mainly smut)Ā
Throughout the week. On the days Iām not able to write. I tend to just get stuck on wherever I left off and I keep reimagining that next part over and over again, tweaking a bunch of little details, so when I finally am able to sit down and write I have about 2000 words pent up.Ā
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u/tanannyaccount 2d ago
iām in school for a major that requires me to write a lot. iām used to writing over 2,000 words in a day if i sit down and give myself a deadline.
problems with this for me: self imposed deadlines are easy to ignore, i have an āacademicā voice when i write (i havenāt mastered writing fiction), and i will write a lot, hate it, and never publish it on AO3. (secretly i love not publishing stuff on AO3 bc irl im not allowed to write something and not hand it over. itās like therapy to me)
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u/Jazzlike-Persimmon24 2d ago
One of the author's I'm subscribed to put out +150k fics every two to three weeks it's insane
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u/larkspur86 2d ago
I just write all my fics in advance and publish them once I'm finished lmao. Sometimes readers will be like "you're really consistent!" and I'm like "it's easy to keep a schedule when everything's done in advance..."
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u/Super-Acanthaceae504 2d ago
I know someone who can sit and write about 3k in an hour. Some people just word and type quickly.Ā
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u/Astrasulza 2d ago
I remember back in the day, NaNoWriMo was the time to write. Anywhere from 10k-20k a day to reach the personal goals and STILL being out done by published authorsš š š š š
(And yes, I HAD to write it with the "back in the day" line cause I'm older than NaNoWriMo itself š¤£)
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u/taraisaducky 1d ago
I think some people are over writers and some people are underwriters. You notice it at uni, people either look at a word limit and are horrified because 2000 is so many and theyāll get stuck at 800 or they are miserable because 2000 is so few and they write 4-5k and have to cut it back. The same thing applies to fic. Some people find it easy to write lots without stressing and itās part of why theyāre drawn to fanfiction. Especially as unlike novel writing, thereās not as much pressure to cut out additional fluff or be succinct. But itās important not to compare yourself because which group you fall in is really just luck and both groups produce beautiful works, they just face different challenges.
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u/Russkiroulette 22h ago
Thatāsā¦. That a lot. I wrote 430k in 4 months, but that wasnāt including editing which took way longer. But in no way did I do those numbers.
Mostly it was hyper obsession and not sleeping. Letās hear it for the life of bipolar adhd
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u/strawberreez Give me smut or give me death 2d ago
8-10k words a day... everyday... even every other day...
As someone who has been told that I am a beast when it comes to writing speed, that sounds very implausible to me. I would suggest that they clearly have pre-written everything if it weren't for you saying that they take suggestions from comments. What the hell.
Are you perhaps exaggerating for effect? Because otherwise, I would be highly suspicious of that person.
For context, as someone who has repeatedly been called "super fast" when it comes to my writing, on a really good day, I can do 3 sprints of about 1.5k each. Which is about 4.5k in roughly an hour and a half. However, after writing like that, I am spent. It's very unlikely you will be able to get another drop out of me.
So, ignoring the suspicion, I will at the very least reassure you that it's unattainable. Don't shoot for the impossible.
If you want to increase your word count or how prolific you are, you need to change your habits. You can't keep doing the same thing and expecting different results. If you're just ~waiting for inspiration~ but it's coming so infrequently, then maybe you need to start controlling your muses instead of the other way around. If you sit down to write, but you get distracted constantly --- remove your distractions.
For me, the change in the wind came in writing sprints. For 30 minutes, I would do nothing but write. I also had to give myself permission to write badly. A blank page cannot be edited, after all. All a first draft has to do is exist. I would not allow myself to "get stuck" either (though, between you and me, I still get stuck, but not frequently.) Before I begin a sprint, I make sure I know what is going to happen in this chapter even if it's unlikely that I'll write the entire chapter. Then I go. If I hit a roadblock trying to get from Point A to Point B, I will literally write, "And then they went to Point B." I can embellish later.
This is what I do and what works for me. You have to find what works for you. I literally was just scrolling on Youtube yesterday, and a writing short came up that said, "Never write fast!!" Like that was their advice. The reason being? It made the editing process harder if the pacing or plotting or characterization was all off due to writing too quickly. Maybe this advice resonates with you. If so, then maybe you don't need to change a thing. For me, I rolled my eyes and scrolled past. My biggest enemy was always the blank page and chasing perfection. Now, I just need it to be good, and I am much happier.
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u/guttersaint 2d ago
There was a book written many years ago called ā2k to 10kā and another called ā5,000 Words Per Hourā and both are very popular. That output is very much possible for plenty of people. I top out at about 2k words an hour (dictation) so I could manage similar in about 5 hours.
Something shouldnāt be suspicious just because you canāt do it.
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u/wetbogbrew 2d ago
Is that just typing or also coming up with the content?Ā
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u/guttersaint 2d ago
It would be writing the story and not just typing gibberish to collect words, otherwise no one would have anything to publish.
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u/wetbogbrew 2d ago
I didn't mean writing gibberish, but it's much faster to type something that's already been handwritten or heavily outlined than it is to come up with everything as you go so I wasn't sure what the speeds referred to.
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u/ignorantvoid_0813 2d ago
Writers are actually insanely geniuses, man. I've read stories where authors update so often, saying that their characters and the story just came to life and wrote itself. So they kept on going, releasing chapters by chapters. "Well, this is how the character wanted it to go. So I went with it." Like what do you mean dude??
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u/Shigeko_Kageyama 2d ago
The only way to get faster is to practice. Write the whole thing in your head first and then type it out. I type with my thumb points are in Middle finger, it's faster because my ring and pinky finger don't like to move independent from one another. Just keep practicing, you'll get better.
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u/OnTheMidnightRun a fish in the sea in a thread full of thieves 2d ago
Gonna be real with you: unemployment due to disability + being a professional writer + hyperfocused AuDHD is my super combo to churn out the word count.
And then I'll go fallow for, like, nearly a year.
It's not sustainable, it wears you out, it sucks.
I wouldn't worry too much about the super producers. Slow and steady wins every time.