The Speed of Writing
Apr. 12th, 2008 09:58 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
michaeldthomasI actually have no idea how fast I am at writing. My life is a bit complicated with the whole caregiver thing, so I haven’t had a chance to see what I could do as a full-time writer. I know that I can write between 1000-1500 words in a sitting. I imagine that if I did a second sitting during the day I could double that. Of course, that isn’t exactly a guarantee of quality.
What I find fascinating is how different authors feel about production levels. There seems to be three schools. The first one is the slow equals better school. Kage Baker unequivocally stated at an Odd Con panel last weekend that an author who writes more than one book a year is probably turning in rushed hackwork. She is not the only author I know who believes that.
The second school is one that was espoused by![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
blackaire in her blog this week. She basically stated that the whole slow equals genius thing is a load of crap. As she put it, “Now, I’m one of those who advises that if you want to make a living off of your writing (in genre, especially mystery or fantasy or SF; litfic is a different animal) that you can expect at least one deadline per year and more likely two or three. That’s a book every six months, plus short stories, page proofs, copyedits, promotional blogs, outlines…it piles up.”
In her opinion, you need to crank out at least two novels a year to make a living off of writing genre fiction. She’s also a firm believer in living up to deadlines. Once again, she’s not alone.eeknight manages two high quality books a year. Certainly there are other authors who can maintain that pace or higher like Elizabeth Bear and Jim Butcher.
The third school is the one I’m probably most comfortable with. This is the every writer is different so don't sweat it school. Kelly McCullough is a big proponent of this. I had been beating myself up over on the Wyrdsmith's blog (Kelly’s writing group) about how long my novel was taking. He calmed me down by pointing out that many authors take a year to write a novel even though there are others who have the ability to write much quicker. It wasn’t the speed that mattered, but the quality of the finished manuscript.
Though it makes me feel better about myself, I can’t imagine ever making a huge living off of my writing at that pace. Once again, I’m just very lucky to be married torarelylynne. Even if I get published, I doubt that there will ever be a day that I’m earning more from my writing than I would make as a Starbuck’s manager. I’m okay with that.
What I find fascinating is how different authors feel about production levels. There seems to be three schools. The first one is the slow equals better school. Kage Baker unequivocally stated at an Odd Con panel last weekend that an author who writes more than one book a year is probably turning in rushed hackwork. She is not the only author I know who believes that.
The second school is one that was espoused by
blackaire in her blog this week. She basically stated that the whole slow equals genius thing is a load of crap. As she put it, “Now, I’m one of those who advises that if you want to make a living off of your writing (in genre, especially mystery or fantasy or SF; litfic is a different animal) that you can expect at least one deadline per year and more likely two or three. That’s a book every six months, plus short stories, page proofs, copyedits, promotional blogs, outlines…it piles up.” In her opinion, you need to crank out at least two novels a year to make a living off of writing genre fiction. She’s also a firm believer in living up to deadlines. Once again, she’s not alone.
eeknight manages two high quality books a year. Certainly there are other authors who can maintain that pace or higher like Elizabeth Bear and Jim Butcher. The third school is the one I’m probably most comfortable with. This is the every writer is different so don't sweat it school. Kelly McCullough is a big proponent of this. I had been beating myself up over on the Wyrdsmith's blog (Kelly’s writing group) about how long my novel was taking. He calmed me down by pointing out that many authors take a year to write a novel even though there are others who have the ability to write much quicker. It wasn’t the speed that mattered, but the quality of the finished manuscript.
Though it makes me feel better about myself, I can’t imagine ever making a huge living off of my writing at that pace. Once again, I’m just very lucky to be married to
rarelylynne. Even if I get published, I doubt that there will ever be a day that I’m earning more from my writing than I would make as a Starbuck’s manager. I’m okay with that.
