My Next Step In Learning To Write Fast

To follow through with my great endeavours to write faster, I've signed up to Candace Havens' Fast Draft and Revision Hell which starts on May 14. She promises to teach us how to write a complete first draft in two weeks--Yikes!

I'll keep you posted...

My Writing Fast Journey: First Lesson Learned

As I promised to update you on my journey as I learn to write fast, I thought I'd tell you the story of my first lesson learned. 

I used to write fast years ago, when I was a baby writer and was totally filled with enthusiasm and the unquenchable desire to just write. As the years passed, and with every subsequent rejection, I learned something new about what I was doing wrong. In my effort to ensure I never repeated the same mistakes, I dragged my internal editor into the chair next to me and made her promise never again to let me make the mistakes that got me rejected. 

Of course, my int ed has taken the job seriously ever since.  

In an effort to silence the editor until I tell her to speak, I embarked on a quest to learn how to write fast. One of the methods I heard was to turn off distractions. 

We all know the best way of shutting down the int editor is to write a rough first draft and don't stop to edit until we get to the end. Just the thought of doing this is impossible for me. Regardless, I kept looking for a way because my main problem is I can't seem to proceed until I make what I write perfect.  

I realise that looking at my previous sentences activates my internal editor, which distracts me from continuing until I fix a word, phrase, reaction etc. I read somewhere that a good method to overcome distractions when writing is to remove all visual disruptions so your mind can continue the writing process unhindered. 

I guess this is something like meditating. You close your eyes in order to shut out distractions. The article I read suggested that you try writing with pencil/pen and paper. You switch off the light, or close your eyes. Apparently, this method allows ideas to flow so your hands can write what your mind sees and stops your internal editor from interrupting.

I was so excited I couldn't wait to try this method! I settled in bed once the kids no longer needed me for the night. I turned off the lamp, and I began to write. I couldn't believe how well it worked!! I wrote pages and pages--something I haven't been able to do for a while. It was late by the time I decided to call it a night. I turned on the lamp to see how much I'd written only to discover that I'd managed to write and rewrite all over each lines despite taking pains not to do so. The thing was illegible in places! You can imagine that I can't even remember what I had written, so I couldn't even salvage it.  

While this method worked fantastically well for shutting down my internal editor, it didn't work so well for being able to use what I'd written. 

Lesson One Learned: don't write in the dark! :D

Back to the drawing board...  

I'll keep you posted :)

Looking For Fast Writers

How fast do you write? Are you willing to share your technique?

I'm looking to develop a series of blog posts featuring methods to help authors write faster.

I'm looking for authors who are willing to let me interview them about this subject. If you write fast or know of any authors who do, please email me at monique@moniquedevere.co.uk

As a thank you to the authors I interview, I'll feature your latest book and buy link, plus your short author bio.

Looking forward to hearing from you :).

How Fast Do You Write?

It's been a while!

What have I been up to? I hear you ask. Apart from my screenwriting course, which was just a fab learning process, I've been doing a lot of learning and trying to nail down the illusive skill of writing a successful category romance.

But most recently I've been trying to figure out how some authors manage to churn out words at the speed of light while others--like myself--take a good three months or longer to finish a 50,000 word book. I've heard authors say write a bad first draft then re-write. What I'm curious to discover is whether authors who write 20 pages in two hours do that. Do they write total nonsense then re-write until it makes sense?

See, I don't get that. Surely it makes more sense to stop and think about where your story is going and get it right the first time rather than toss out any old pants then try to fix it. Another thing I'm wondering is: is it possible to write a word a second?

I ask because I've become fixated on this subject, if only because it's another handy stick to beat myself with. But if you look at this logically--1 manuscript page is somewhere around 250 words. Therefore 20 pages would total approximately 5000 words. Okay so, 5000 words written in 120 minutes would give a writing speed of  about 42 words per min. which would require a typing speed of around 0.7 word per second continuously!

WOW!! Some people can think super-fast!

I'm no typing slouch but there is no way I can think that fast to come up with dialogue, sexual tension, conflict, back story, portray traits, characterization, motivation, create sensual emotive love scenes, emotion, quirks, scars, weaknesses, strengths, etc, etc in continuous seconds without stopping to test whether these story moments make any sense or are even remotely entertaining.

To do that, you'd have to write without thinking. I'd love that gift, I can tell you! Or do these authors spend hours planning and prewriting each scene before they transfer words to keyboard? It takes me a whole day to write 1000 words, so do forgive me if I'm a little sceptical about such claims.

I'm not saying it isn't possible to write a word and a half a second, I'm simply saying....hmmm...I might need to train as a Stenographer...

How fast do you write? And can you tell me how? I've made it my goal to increase my output. I'd love you to share your tricks with me.