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How many words can you write per day?

January 4th 2009 22:56

In a media interview recently, Alexander McCall Smith excitedly told the reporter, "I've written 3,000 words today."

It is a number which will make the more painstaking writers green, and which will make non-writers look blank. What's to get excited about?

To put it in perspective, 70,000 words is considered an average novel. Few people can consistently write 3,000 words of finished, polished prose a day, but if they could, they could finish a novel per month and have time left over for a few book signings.

McCall Smith published seven books in 2008, putting him in the prodigiously prolific class.

Donna Tartt famously took 10 years to write The Little Friend, the eagerly-awaited follow-up to her brilliant debut novel, The Secret History. The Little Friend is about 250,000 words, meaning Tartt averaged about 25,000 words a year, or just over 2,000 words a month, or just under 70 words a day.

NaNoWriMo is a hugely successful annual event where participants have one aim: to write 50,000 words in the month of November. That's 1,667 words a day of fresh material. In 2008, more than 119,000 people signed up, and it's a fair assumption that everyone who made the target struggled at some stage to maintain the momentum.

I recently set myself a target of writing 1,000 words a week on my novel. I have two strengths: I can write reasonably quickly, and I can procrastinate with a determination before which mountain ranges crumble to dust. My novel has been hatching for years, but I had found no way past my resolute procrastination until my 1,000-word-a-week target. In my mind, I broke it down to five 200-word sessions, and I found it worked well. I am, finally, writing my novel, and if 50,000 words a year isn't quick, it is not particularly slow either.

All writers are different. For those who write like Donna Tartt, take comfort in Gene Fowler's words: "Writing is easy: all you do is sit staring at a blank sheet of paper until drops of blood form on your forehead." For those who write like Alexander McCall Smith, Evelyn Waugh suggests: "Anyone could write a novel given six weeks, pen, paper, and no telephone or wife."

So how do you write?

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Posted By: Chris Champion - Category: Writing

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Comment by Janet Collins

January 4th 2009 23:58

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Is blogging classified as actually writing? If so, then I have no target I just write (or blog) whatever I think and whenever I think it!

Comment by Chris Champion

January 5th 2009 00:52

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Good question Janet. I considered it while writing the post, then decided that this was really about novel writing.

I think blogging output is measured differently. I think it is generally measured more in terms of posts than words. The number of words is irrelevant - good blog posts can be short or long. Graphics are a consideration in blogging. All of which adds up to, as you say, bloggers not needing to think in terms of word count targets.

In saying this, it hits me how much easier blogging is than novel writing. To prepare and publish a blog post can take as little as a few minutes, and most of the response to the effort will be seen within 48 hours. Compared to novel writing, this is instant gratification.

Comment by Janet Collins

January 5th 2009 01:10

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I agree, Chris. I commend you on your commitment to writing a novel because I know it would be a lot of work and no promise of anything really at the end. Good luck.

Comment by Chris Champion

January 5th 2009 01:25

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Thank you very kindly. I shall send you a special invite to the Sydney book signing event. It will be either in the foyer of the Sydney Opera House or in McDonald's at Rooty Hill.

Comment by Janet Collins

January 5th 2009 01:37

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It will be the Sydney Opera House for sure and I look forward to it.

Comment by moonglow

January 5th 2009 02:11

A Lot of Scrap
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I try to write as few words as possible per day.

Not meaning that I'm a lazy writer. I try to get my point across as quickly as possible and toss out unneccesary words.

You can write a million words a day, but if none of them make sense together, what's the point?

Great post!!

Comment by Chris Champion

January 5th 2009 03:16

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Thanks moonglow. And I'm glad to hear you're not a lazy writer - there are too many of us around already

Comment by Dianna G

January 5th 2009 04:11

I Wish This Was 42
Fictional Worlds

Chris,

And then there are people like me, who write in spurts. I can write 300, 000 one month and then 2, 000 over the next two.

(Or 186, my current word count for WriYe.)

~Dianna

Comment by Chris Champion

January 5th 2009 04:19

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Dianna, don't tell Donna Tartt you wrote 300,000 words in one month - she's sensitive enough about being slow as it is!

Good luck with WriYe (is that the year-long one?)

Comment by Dianna G

January 5th 2009 04:33

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Chris,

I'll keep that in mind.

Yes, WriYe is the year long one.

~Dianna

Comment by Damo

January 5th 2009 05:24

I write between 700 to 1000 words per post without cracking a sweat.

Yet I do not consider that to be hard writing.
If it is for something serious the word to BS factor gets tighter. The writing gets harder because of all the rewriting.

I try to be brief because if it is a pain to write then more often than not it will be a pain to read.

Comment by Chris Champion

January 5th 2009 05:38

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I write between 700 to 1000 words per post without cracking a sweat.

That's impressive. My limit for sweatless writing is usually 300-400 words. This largely reflects a newspaper background: years of distilling big stories into small spaces. This is also largely why writing a novel intimidates the hell out of me.

I try to be brief because if it is a pain to write then more often than not it will be a pain to read.

If you mean that personally, understood. Generally, however, I think fine writing often demands pain as a rite of passage, as the Gene Fowler quote and the Donna Tarrt experience in the post suggest.

Poetry may entail the biggest pain/reward correlation of all.

Comment by Autoloud

January 5th 2009 05:45

Have to agree about the difference. Blogging is done and dusted in MAX of an hour for me. I do write for a magazine and on a good day I have punched out 3500 words! But that is at deadline time!

I have heaps of ideas sitting around on the pc, I add to them when I have a flash of inspiration. I heard an author on Margaret Throsby one day (Cant remember who!) who said that 30 quality minutes is better than 10 fruitless hours!

Comment by Chris Champion

January 5th 2009 05:50

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30 quality minutes is better than 10 fruitless hours!

Absolutely. It's amazing what can be achieved in 30 quality minutes. Now if only I could get half a dozen of them back to back when working on the novel ...

Comment by Norm

January 5th 2009 22:05

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Not many. Too many.

Comment by Mike Crowl

January 5th 2009 22:09

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McCall Smith is certainly prolific - and has been for some time. All four of the 44 Scotland St novels were written as newspaper serials at 1000 word a day, with MS sometimes only a few days ahead of the publication in the newspaper. But at the same time he'd be writing yet another 1st Women's Detective book, or maybe one of the Sunday Philosophy Club series. The thing about him, though, is that none of his books have elaborate plots: they're more style, humour and character than substance. But they're still very good, for the most part.
The difference between blogging (or commenting) and novel-writing, is that novels take a great deal of planning, even if you're one of those 'spontaneous' novel-writers who just sit down and get on with it. Eventually even those writers have to structure and plot and edit and re-draft. McCall Smith's only regret about the 44 Scotland St serials is that once they're published in the paper, there's no going back. He can't change anything. You'll notice, particularly in the first volume in the series, that several loose-ends never went anywhere, and some characters fell by the wayside as they proved to be insufficiently interesting.

Comment by Chris Champion

January 5th 2009 22:18

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Norm, I've studied your writing over about six months now. I've appreciated the pulchritude of your parsing and the judicious use of gerunds. When it comes to your word count, too many is still too few.

Comment by Chris Champion

January 5th 2009 22:28

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Hi Mike, talk about adding some spit and polish to a post ...

I have to admit I haven't read any of McCall Smith's books yet. But I intend to soon. My father-in-law, aged 82, visited us for a week over Christmas and got an MS as a present. He enjoyed it so much, chuckling away on the sofa for several days, that even his beloved cricket was relegated to background noise.

Great comment, Mike. Thanks.

Comment by Mike Crowl

January 5th 2009 22:35

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If you do decide to read any of them, I'd recommend the 44 Scotland St ones because they're easy to dip into (but start with the first). The character of Bertie in this series makes them well worth reading.
The 1st Women's Detective Agency series is now up to around ten stories. The detective work is all pretty easy stuff - MS doesn't really do intricate crime stories! Again, it's the characters and the humour that make these worth reading.
I found the Sunday Philosophy Club series very uneven: they started out as being centred around the main female character - she's a philosopher by trade - who likes to quietly poke her nose into 'mysteries'. However, MS seems to have given up pretty much on the mystery side and the last couple have been much more like romances.

Comment by Mike Crowl

January 5th 2009 22:39

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PS I only know so much about these books, because my local daily newspaper keeps sending me the latest MS books to review!

Comment by Chris Champion

January 5th 2009 22:43

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Mike, lucky you. All I ever got to review is a chess book. I will do exactly as you say and start with the 44 Scotland Street series.

Comment by Mike Crowl

January 6th 2009 00:18

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A chess book! That must have been fun to review....!

Comment by The Rusty Can

January 6th 2009 05:04

Everything

I've stopped writing my book for months because I'm the grand master of procrastination and I'm very good at staring at my monitor

.
I've just checked and I have 91,163 words so far. I should try what you're doing and try writing in 200 word blocks, or I'll never finish.
Enjoyed reading this post and all the comments.
Good luck with your novel, Chris!
Rusty

Comment by Chris Champion

January 6th 2009 05:44

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Mike, don't tell anyone but it was a labour of love. I get excited about the history and lore of chess. It's not something I've ever been able to tell a woman I'm close to.

Rusty, thanks for your kind words but they won't help you get out of it: have 200 words on your hard drive by this time tomorrow.

Comment by Mike Crowl

January 6th 2009 06:30

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Okay, I can appreciate the 'labour of love', Chris. My father was a top chessplayer in Australia many years ago, so I know how chess gets to people.

Comment by Chris Champion

January 6th 2009 06:36

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Frank Crowl? The contemporary of Cec Purdy? He also played correspondence chess, which these days is my main chess activity. Wow - can I have your autograph?

Comment by Mike Crowl

January 6th 2009 07:33

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Yeah, sure. Here it is: Mike Crowl.
LOL

I'm intrigued that you knew about him. I met Cecil Purdy a couple of times way back in the sixties, once in Sydney and once in London.

So when you say you play correspondence chess, do you mean by email?

Comment by Chris Champion

January 6th 2009 09:04

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You met Purdy!

As you probably know, he was a strong master who didn't have the chance to get an International Master or Grandmaster title because there were insufficient qualified opponents in Australia. Purdy won the first Correspondence Chess world championship (1950-53). He was also one of the greatest chess writers in the history of the game. His books all remain in print; he had an elegant, clear style.

Correspondence chess these days is mostly played on servers. I play at www.iccf-webchess.com and at lss.chess-server.net. The servers are quickly replacing email, but there are resilient pockets of purists who still like to play by snail mail.

Comment by Mike Crowl

January 6th 2009 09:20

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Yup, met Purdy. Sounds like that gives me some brownie points!

Interesting about the lack of strong players in Oz. And about the way correspondence chess is played these days. Playing it by snail mail in the past must have been a real pain, although I guess it gave you plenty of time to think about your next move!

Comment by The Rusty Can

January 6th 2009 09:22

Everything

have 200 words on your hard drive by this time tomorrow

*gulp*
Trying to think of an excuse, but the only thing that keeps coming to mind is this: "Excuses are like armpits. Everyone has them and they all stink."
D'oh!

Comment by Andrew Kerstetter

January 8th 2009 02:49

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Well I'm not sure if blogging really counts as writing to me, since I mostly blog *about* writing, or something involving writing. I guess actual *writing* is writing the actual thing that I'm blogging about...or something. As a junior in college majoring in writing, I write a lot all the time, usually about stuff I don't really care about. I've never had a word-count target, but I know I write a lot every day, for classes and enjoyment...but I think for any serious projects I really should set a target so I don't procrastinate.

Comment by Chris Champion

January 8th 2009 03:24

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Hi Andrew,

As you say, word count targets can help for long-term projects. I guess the post is mainly about productivity, which I think is measured in different ways: daily word count for novels; posts completed for bloggers etc.

I've always thought poets have the toughest task getting things right. How do poets measure their output? You're the expert, but my guess is that one perfect verse would be a satisfying day's work.

All the best with your writing,
Chris

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