by Anne R. Allen
We live in a speed-obsessed civilization. Whatever it is we crave—cars, trains, electronics, food, dates—we want them ever-faster-and-furiouser. In fact, much of the developed world seems to be engaged some turbocharged drag race of the soul, hurtling our frenzied selves from cradle to grave, terrified of slowing for even a minute of rose-smelling.
So here we are in National Novel Writing Month, when much of the writing community is turning out fiction at rate of speed never imagined by our pre-electronic-age foreparents. NaNoWriMo can do great things for a lot of writers and help them take their craft to the next level. A number of excellent, bestselling books have started as NaNo projects, and I do recommend it for writers who need to overcome blocks and “creativity wounds.”
If you’re participating, you’re probably here on the fly, champing at the bit to get back to that brilliant WIP. Go do it! And congrats.
But turning out a novel in a month doesn’t work for all of us. Today I’m writing for the people who have tried NaNo and failed to “win” (winning means reaching the 50,000 word mark by November 30th.) Or maybe you’ve never had a desire to join, in spite of the exhilaration and encouragement many people find in it.
I’m talking to other slow writers like me.
What if you’re a Slow Writer?
This month, while so much of the writing world is blasting out their 50,000 words, I’m aiming for about 5000-10,000 words on my new manual for writers, STUPID WRITING RULES. I’m also at work on the final edits of GOOGLING OLD BOYFRIENDS, Camilla Randall Mystery #7, due next month. (Scroll down for the cover reveal!)
It took me ten months to write the first draft, and that was fast for me.
I first blogged about the plight of slow writers at the height of the indie publishing boom. All the indie superstar gurus were telling writers to grind out ebooks as fast as they could type—in order to take advantage of the “Kindle Gold Rush”.
Half a decade later, the Kindle Gold Rush is history, but there’s even more pressure to write fast—not only for indie authors, but for traditionally published authors as well.
The New York Times reported last year: “The practice of spacing an author’s books at least one year apart is gradually being discarded as publishers appeal to the same “must-know-now” impulse that drives binge viewing.”
Can a slow writer survive in this environment?
The Pressure to Write Fast
Authors have been urged to write faster for decades.
Back in the 1970s, P.G. Wodehouse, prolific author of the “Jeeves” novels and many others, gave this advice to new writers in the Paris Review, “I always feel the thing to go for is speed.”
In 2011, Sci-Fi author Rachel Aaron wrote an article for SFWA outlining how she built from a meagre 2000 words a day to 10,000 words a day or more, because her publisher required it.
And as Elizabeth S. Craig told us in her guest post on how to make money writing fiction, the writers who make the most these days are writers who can write books quickly—preferably in a series.
So yeah, writing fast is great…if you can do it well.
I don’t want to get into a literary vs. genre argument here, because it’s not relevant. Dickens wrote A Christmas Carol in six weeks, and some terrible genre books took decades. Some writers can produce 10K words a day and consistently turn out bestsellers.
But if I wrote 10K words a day, the whole thing would be gibberish. And my house would look like pig habitat. Plus I’d probably end up in the hospital. I don’t think I’m alone in this.
Burnout and the Gig Economy
Overworking ourselves is considered a good thing in the era of the “gig” culture. In an economy where fewer people have steady jobs and many eke out a living with random piecemeal employment, working an absurd number of hours becomes something to be admired.
In fact, taking care of ourselves has become something of a taboo.
Jia Tolentino wrote a piece the New Yorker last year called “The Gig Economy Celebrates Working yourself to Death”. She talked about the praise heaped on a young pregnant Lyft driver who picked up a fare on the way to the hospital while she was having contractions. She’s praised as a hero, with nobody mentioning what a dangerous message that sends. “Being in labor isn’t that big a deal, ladies. Go to work anyway.”
I’d much rather see an article praising somebody who took care of herself (and the people around her.) “WOMAN STAYS HOME WITH FLU! KEEPS GERMS AWAY FROM THOUSANDS!
Yeah, I know. Not likely.
But last year Ruth Harris wrote a great post about the dangers of stress and burnout. Burnout is a real danger for creatives. It robs us of the joy that creative work should provide.
If speed energizes you and working in the NaNo community makes you feel empowered, then burnout is probably not going to be a problem.
But if pushing yourself to write fast day after day makes you feel stressed, burned-out, and joyless, it’s okay to stop and take care of yourself. In fact, writing burnout can plunge some people into clinical depression.
The Problem with Writing to Word Count Goals
Participating in NaNoWriMo is all about the word count. You want to get to that 50,000 word mark no matter what.
But editors don’t like books written to word count, because they tend to be bloated. It’s hard to get writers to let the words go once they’re on the page.
What I do is write to scene or chapter. When I’m writing fiction, I aim to get X number of scenes done in a given period. With nonfiction, I use chapter goals.
This gives me goals that produce leaner prose–another benefit of writing slow.
Kurt Vonnegut, who wrote some of the leanest prose in American literature, could take days to finish one page. As a reader, I’m glad he did.
Keep the Reader in the Equation
I’ve learned to write faster over the years, but I know I’m slow by most standards. My plots morph and change during the writing process and never bear much resemblance to my original outline. That means I spend a lot of time reworking and re-planning as I go along.
Maybe I could write faster if I kept to my outlines, but then I wouldn’t have nearly as much fun writing the books. And I figure if the writer isn’t having fun, the reader won’t either. I’ve read a number of the later books in famous series when the author has obviously phoned it in, and I felt cheated.
I never want my readers to feel like that.
Humorist Tara Sparling (who will be our guest next month) wrote a post last year lamenting the sameness of contemporary bestsellers. She said, “books are being hammered into pre-existing trends, and nobody’s coming out with anything new.”
If we’re blogging, networking, sending out newsletters, and churning out books as fast as we can type, it’s easy to lose sight of the most important person in the publishing equation: the reader.
Like Tara, most readers would occasionally like something new, rather than a copycat of what they just read.
But creating new stuff takes more time. And with all this busy-work, we don’t have a lot to spare.
But the Next Big Thing is likely to come from a slow writer.
It’s Normal for a Newbie to be a Slow Writer.
Yes, I do know there are gifted pros who can turn out novel in a weekend that readers will love.
There are also people who can jump off mountains with wooden planks strapped to their feet, do somersaults in the air and glide effortlessly to safety and Olympic glory.
But it’s ridiculous to say that everybody can.
Or should.
Especially newbies. Newbies need time to learn.
Here’s the thing: a beginner can’t do the same thing—at the same speed—as a seasoned professional, no matter what skill set you’re talking about.
I’m pretty sure Dale Earnhardt Jr. didn’t vroom into a NASCAR race the day he got his learner’s permit. Any music lover can tell you the notes produced by a first-year cello student won’t fall as delightfully upon the ear as those of Yo-Yo Ma. And nobody wants to wear a pair of socks created by a first-time knitter.
Why do people think it’s different with writing? Telling beginning writers they should be able to do the same thing as seasoned professionals is not helpful. It can be painful for a fledgling writer to turn out something they’re not proud of, or feel that they’ve “failed.”
And as to the argument that writing lots of pages makes you a better writer—that’s only true if you get feedback. And learn from it.
Making the same mistake two hundred times is not an improvement over making it once.
A Slow Writer Can Succeed, Even in the E-Age
It’s important to remind ourselves that not all bestselling authors write fast. Not even in the age of ebooks.
George R. R. Martin writes so slowly that he infuriates his fans. But has it hurt his career? I don’t think so.
Donna Tartt, whose brilliant novel The Goldfinch topped everybody’s lists for the best book a few years ago, had only written three novels since her debut with The Secret History in 1992.
Lots of professional writers create slowly and edit as they go.
That’s what I do. It makes the final editing process so much easier. 🙂
Okay, I’m just a mid-lister with a small press, and I’m certainly not keeping the publishing industry afloat like Mr. Martin, or those tell-all celebrity and political bios, but I am about to publish my 13th book, and several of my books have made the bestseller lists. I’ve got a number of novels in translation and audiobooks, and I’m being read all over the world.
To me, that feels like success.
Look at the Bottom Line
It usually takes newbies a couple of years to write a first novel. I’m not saying a first-time novelist can’t “win” at NaNoWriMo. In fact I encourage new writers to try NaNo at least once. It can help overcome inhibitions and let your muse loose on the page.
But afterward, you’ll need to put in a lot of time editing, especially if you’re a new writer. No reader wants to pay money for your “sh***y first draft.” As an editor, I had to read a lot of them, and I can tell you I wouldn’t have finished 90% if I hadn’t been paid.
Here’s the thing. Whether you finish your book for NaNo or not, you’ve got months of rewrites and edits before your book will be ready for the marketplace.
So for most writers, the bottom line of time spent is about the same. So do what works for YOU.
The Power of SLOW.
I remain a believer in doing things slowly.
- This “slow blog” continues to earn major awards usually reserved for the dailies.
- I read slowly, too—I hate to barrel through a book reading only for plot—and missing the wit, nuances of character, and moments of insight that might expand my own mind.
- I eat slow food: I cook everything from scratch, buy from the local farmer’s market, and never eat fast food unless I’m on the road (and it’s an In-N-Out burger. 🙂 )
- Hey, I even live in a place called SLO-town, which Oprah named the “happiest town in America.”
And I’m telling you it’s okay to be a slow writer.
Especially if you’re a beginner. Write a little each day. Get joy from it. Feel pride when you get a really good scene finished.
Because a writing career is not a race or a contest.
Writing has to be a source of joy; it doesn’t pay well enough to be anything else. 🙂
by Anne R. Allen (@annerallen) November 4, 2018
What about you, scriveners? Do you write slow? Have you tried NaNoWriMo and “failed”? Do you like to write fast to get it all down and then edit, or do you edit as you go?
COVER REVEAL!
GOOGLING OLD BOYFRIENDS is coming in December!
It’s #7 in the Camilla Randall Mystery series, but it can be read as a stand-alone
“Okay, ’fess up.” Mickie McCormack’s eyes twinkled as she plunked a book on the counter. “If you’re that distracted by the Internet you’re either looking at porn or you’re Googling old boyfriends.”
I felt my cheeks heat up.
“Um, I’m guilty of the latter, I’m afraid. I’ve just run into an old boyfriend and he’s invited me to dinner, but…”
The bell on the door jingled.
There he was. Captain Maverick Jesus Zukowski, six foot, three inches of tall, dark, and the-one-who-got-away.
The Camilla Randall mysteries are a laugh-out-loud mashup of crime fiction, rom-com, and satire. Morro Bay bookshop owner Camilla Randall is a magnet for murder, mayhem, and Mr. Wrong. But she always solves the case in her quirky, but oh-so-polite way.
In this stand-alone episode, Camilla befriends socialite Mickie McCormack, who’s going through a painful divorce. Mickie has been Googling her old boyfriends to reconnect and “remember who she used to be.”
Unfortunately every one of those boyfriends soon ends up dead.
BOOK OF THE MONTH
Get ready for Googling old Boyfriends by reading the first three novels in the Camilla Randall Mysteries series for only 33c each!
Ghostwriters in the Sky, Sherwood Ltd and The Best Revenge
On SALE for 99c or the equivalent for the first three Camilla comedies in all Amazon stores this week.
“It’s an hilarious lampoon of crime fiction, publishing and the British in general. Anne Allen gets our Brit idioms and absurdities dead to rights. Its droll phrases often had me giggling…”Those breasts need their own postcode.” And the plot twists, as its cauliflower-brained heroine Camilla lurches from one crisis to another, are delicious. Whether you enjoy crime suspense, comedy or satire – or all of them together – you’ll have enormous fun with this cleverly structured romp. Highly recommended!”…Dr. John Yeoman
Also available at Kobo, iTunes, Smashwords, NOOK, 24Symbols, and Scribd.
Anne—I’m with you 100%. As with everything else involved with writing, there are no rules. Period. Every writer is different, every writer gets the job done his/her own way. Slow, fast—who cares? The point is writing a book that pleases the writer—and the reader!
Oooops! Itchy trigger finger. Forgot to say I LOVE your title and your cover. Way to go!
Ruth–There really are no rules–just guidelines, as you have said in many of your posts, Like this one. http://bit.ly/2OnwUb1
I’m so glad you like my new cover and title. I’m really excited about this one!
Slow Writers Unite! Or maybe we’ll be happier if we all stay home & think uniting thoughts. I’m with you on the value of taking one’s time. The most brilliant recently written novel I’ve read is *All the Light We Cannot See* & it took Doerr ten years to make the magic happen. It was worth it.
And a Big Brava to the cover reveal. I’m one of the privileged ones who has heard most of *Googling Old Boyfriends* & I promise readers they’re going to love another Camilla Randall Romp.
CS–I didn’t know it too 10 years to write All the Light We Cannot See. That does support my argument, doesn’t it?
Thanks! I’m deep in edits for GoB right now, and I’m still loving the book. Usually at this stage I hate it. So I hope this one will please Camilla fans and maybe get some new ones!
Congratulations on the upcoming release!
And let’s hear it for slow writers. Where we can’t do it with quantity we’ll do it with quality.
Alex–Three cheers for slow! Thanks. This book was a fun one to write.
Oh dear Lord, every letter of this entire thing.
“Lots of professional writers create slowly and edit as they go.”- Anne, will you marry me? Like, if there’s reincarnation or something can I put in dibs now?
I’ve really felt awful about my career this year, as 2018- and perhaps a little of next January- is going to be completely dedicated not to writing, but just to recording my novella series. I’m going over stuff I already wrote and reading it out loud. Hella’ fun, yes, but I feel the exact opposite of productive. I’m still thinking, though, and everything you said about slow writing is absolutely correct in my view.
Thanks for putting this good word out there. Every week yes, but this week particularly.
Will–I’m so glad you like it!
Recording audiobooks is such a long, painstaking process. Congrats on getting your series done. I’ve recorded five novels–four of my own–but I didn’t do the hard part of engineering and taking out the ambient sound bursts and breathing noises. That’s the time consuming part.
Side note: not sure that someone pointed this out to you, but your windup, in which you ask questions tied into the post, is about “superfans” and not about being a slow writer.
Personally, I am a slow writer. It takes me about a year to year and a half to 100% finish a novel. I rarely hit the bottom end of that timeframe but with regularity hit the top end. Basically, I like to keep one in the pipeline at a particular stage of completion while I’m working on another. Currently, I have my 2nd novel sitting at draft #2a, having finished #2 earlier this year. I don’t plan on getting back to it until spring 2019, so in the meantime, I’m writing book #3, which will take about a year plus to get the 1st draft done.
GB–Thanks SOOO much for catching that. I wrote two post in quick succession and obviously switched the closing questions. I’ve fixed it now.
I think a year and a half from concept to polished final draft is a very reasonable amount of time. It used to be considered pretty speedy. I often work on overlapping books too.
Ruth–There really are no rules–just guidelines, as you have said in many of your posts, Like this one. http://bit.ly/2OnwUb1
I’m so glad you like my new cover and title. I’m really excited about this one!
I am extremely suspicious of writers who claim to write three full length books a year. How original can those plots be? As a long-time (26 year) teacher of writing, I can tell you that I’ve seen thousands upon thousands of manuscripts that are derivative. Nothing new there. How utterly banal.
For me, the most interesting books are ones where the author has allowed the original idea to percolate. Maybe for months, before even writing a word. “Write something you haven’t read before” I tell my students. It’s my mantra too. Fresh ideas take time. Yes, I’m opinionated. And waiting eagerly for your new book, which I KNOW will be fresh!
Melodie–It’s that “percolating” process that makes all the difference for me. I can have a fine concept and characters I believe in, but if I don’t let the whole thing percolate while I read other books and magazines and take in interesting bits of information, the magic doesn’t happen.
I love your advice “Write something you haven’t read before.” That should be on a poster on every writer’s wall!
Hi Anne, Great post from your common sense POV, as usual. I’ve never been into the NaNo thing. Seems to me that a writer just writes and gets it done when they’re done – trying to go at some breakneck speed is probably counterproductive in the long run. I think every writer who has been at it for a while finds their comfort pace. The main thing is the quality of the final product. But what I would like to get into is your Stupid Writing Rules manual. The more I do this gig, the more I’m suspicious of some of the guru rules. Looking forward to reading it when you’re done 🙂
Garry–I’m so glad you’re intrigued by my book on Stupid Writing Rules! There are so many out there, that figured I should write a book about them. Old blogposts on the subject tend to get buried, but the stupid writing rules are still in circulation, with more idiocy coming along every day.
My next blogpost on November 18 will be on stupid writing rules. 🙂
Thanks Anne, refreshing to read your take on this. I wrote my own First Monday Mentoring blog yesterday about gifts writers can give themselves and the very first one is time. I wrote 50,000 words last month not because I felt pressured but because the draft was on fire. I’ve never written anything this fast before, may not again. I’m doing slow edits now so it’s balancing out.
Valerie–Time is the gift we all need and don’t ever have enough of. I’ll have to check out your blogpost.
There is nothing better than having that story burning inside you and exploding onto the page. I had some weeks like that with this book. Nothing like 50K words in a month, but being in that “flow” when everything is there in your head and just needs to get out. But it doesn’t always happen and that’s okay too. 🙂
So true, IMO however a writer writes is OK. Whenever I present a workshop, first words out of my mouth are, “There’s no one way to write, only what works for you.”
Thank you for this. I’ve felt a little guilty over not doing NaNoWriMo. But I am a slow writer, slow but steady. I sit down everyday and do it. For me, it’s NaNoWriYearDecadeForLife. I suspect a lot of those who participate find it difficult to carve out time for writing everyday like I can and, hence, devote one month a year to concentrated work. Which is fine for them, but not for me. So I’ll keep plugging away and give the muse a chance to play with me.
Hart–Professional writers don’t need a big event to get their work on the page. It happens every day. I agree.
I’ve always suspected that the people who invented NaNo were really looking for an excuse to get out of those tense Thanksgiving family gatherings and the horrors of Black Friday shopping. “Sorry. I’d love to…bu I’ve got a novel to write.” 🙂
Better than my explanation by far.
Anne, thanks so much for this post – as a really slow writer, I feel so validated! I’ve never done NaNo because I know it wouldn’t work for me (and because November is a uniquely terrible month to do it in IMO).
I also think it’s worth examining the assumption that churning out a book every four months is really what readers want – personally, I prefer the yearly schedule. When one of my favorite writers releases a book a year, then it’s an Event. You reread the last one, you squee over the cover reveal, you rearrange your life to go to a bookstore on Release Day to get a copy.
Whereas when those same authors have a book coming out every few months, it’s not quite as big a deal. I’m not chomping at the bit for a new book, I just read one of theirs a few months ago! And hey, maybe I’ll just wait three months and binge the next two… or wait another three months and binge the whole series… oh dear, well now I need to read five books of theirs, so it’s a Commitment that I’ll need to find the time for…
Irvin–I agree that November is a weird month to choose, given the holiday and end-of-the year frenzies going on. Although, as I said to Hart above, maybe the young men who invented it needed an excuse to get out of holidaying.
I agree about the book a year. That makes me excited about the new one instead of “OMG, already?”
I’m a slow writer but not on my own will. I’m forced to because of my day job. I can only write on the days I have off. If it weren’t for the day job, I would just write all day, non-stop. But at the same time, sitting all day is a pain and I miss going out. I guess balance applies here.
(And yet I managed to write two books despite this.)
BTW, I did Nano once. I won but I wasn’t impressed.
AG– Yes, there are those pesky day jobs. And parenting duties. And home maintenance. When I worked a day job, I’d come home full of ideas and want to write all night.
But you know what happened when I could finally write full time? I could only write the same number of hours I did before. The ideas dried up when I wasn’t out and about in the real world. So you may be doing things just right. Congrats on the two books!
Ditto for me. And in some ways it was harder to get down to writing when I had all that freedom. Creativity flourishes in small structured spaces.
Eve–“Creativity flourishes in small structured spaces”–so true. Great insight!
Excellent blog/post. Like you, I’m a slow writer . . . and IMO, the NaNo concept is stupid. I’m sure many (maybe most) writers will disagree with that statement, but to my way of thinking, people should write at whatever pace comes natural to them. Like you said, beginners will be slow, but in time they’ll find their natural rhythm.
Peter–NaNo is stupid for people like you and me, but it’s magic for people who love the community and the oomph they get from pushing themselves beyond their usual boundaries. Different strokes. 🙂
I totally agree with everything here Anne. I’d also add that NaNo is great to hop on if we’re already writing a book, we’re ahead of the game. 🙂
Debby–Great point! If you’ve got a novel half written and you want that oomph to get to the end, NaNo is probably a great tool. Thanks for the reminder.
You’re welcome Anne. Something for me to keep in mind for next year! 🙂
As a fellow slow writer, I appreciated this and identified with much of what you wrote. I like books that are different and original, and if I try to push through a work in progress too quickly, I find myself falling into patterns I don’t want to repeat–from my own earlier books or from the mystery genre in general. My readers have had to wait a year and the seventh book in my series isn’t ready yet. But I want it to be the best it can be, however long it takes.
Amber–I’m glad you agree. It’s so easy to fall into old patterns and use handy crutches when you’re writing fast. But in the end your readers will thank you for taking the time to offer new ideas..
After the first paragraph of your essay I took a big breath and sighed, “Yes!” I did Nanowrimo a few times and was definitely able to do 50,000 words in a month. Maybe I needed to do that at the time, but now I wish I’d learned the idea of editing as I go. It’s hard work remaking a novel when you’ve thrown in everything and anything.
And by the way, all those people who are working so hard in the gig economy, don’t do it if you don’t have to.. Take it more slowly and thoughtfully. Your brain and body will thank you. If you’re lucky you’ll be able to write on into your 70s or older, but it gets exponentially harder when you’ve got back problems and repetitive stress syndromes because you pushed to hard now.So take a break. Go for a walk. Do something else. Write and live or maybe live and write.
Eve–You are SO right about the importance of taking care of your body. I partly blame my current disabilities on the 18 hour days I spent for 8 months trying to move this blog from Blogger with NO tech skills .I had to reformat every single post and each one took days. iI ended up in the hospital and nearly didn’t make it. I can get around with a walker now, so I’m better than I was, but before the move, I could walk 5 miles a day with people half my age. I wish I’d just let the blog go.
You’re also right about the difference between writing it right the first time and having to repair a novel that goes off in 10 different directions.
Thank you for this article, Anne.
I have written a 50,000 word novel–just one. Though I have tried to stretch my stories want to be short–picture books, novellas, short stories. And I love writing them. So, no, I won’t be participating in NaNo. (Though I have been tempted in the past.)
And congratulations on your soon-to-be published novel. It’s a beautiful cover.
Leanne–I’m so glad you like the cover! Congrats on writing the novel. But I think some people are better at the short form, and we should honor that as much as long form pieces. These days a lot of people would rather read short stories and novellas. You’re the wave of the future!
Yup. *raises hand* Slow Writers Anonymous. Or, you know, not-so-anonymous. 😉 I’ve talked about this before. So much respect for those who Nano but I’ve never tried and, honestly, never had the desire, as you say. I know my style way too well to face plant like that.
Also… This hit me: “In fact, taking care of ourselves has become something of a taboo.” I’ve experienced burnout in other areas and have no dreams of it working its way into my writing. Thanks for this post, Anne.
Congrats on the new book! Cheers!
Sarah–So many of us turned to writing after burnout in other fields, it would be self-destructive to burn out on writing, too, wouldn’t it? As I said, it works for some people and that’s fabulous. But nothing is one-size-fits-all.
As a writer with disabilities, I say thank you, thank you, thank you! If I tried typing for 8 hours a day, my hands would be useless at the end of the week. And I mean useless for everything. Not everyone can work so fast. Now I don’t need to feel guilty for being slow.
Melissa–You’re right that people who push NaNo never take into account that we don’t all have the same physical abilities. I’ve developed arthritis in my fingers, so I have to wear compression gloves to get the fingers going in the morning, and if I go too long, I have to ice them. People who have working fingers and wrists (and backs) take them for granted. Writing slow is one way of taking care of ourselves–which keeps others from having to take care of us down the road. It’s about looking at the big picture. Keep doing what you’re doing! . .
I needed to read this right now, Anne! I’ve done NaNoWriMo a few times to get me over blocks, and it did get me over them, but I’m not sure it ever got me to where I needed to be. I’m not sure it was worth the extra editing time.
I think sometimes we’ve misinterpreted good fiction coming out quickly as having been written quickly, when in fact it might just have been published quickly after a writer built up a bank of work pre-publishing deal. I don’t think fast writing is ever an author’s best writing. Even my favourite authors have been producing stuff recently which struck me as pure filler.
Tara–“Extra editing time” is what nobody factors in when they’re talking about writing fast. And yes, publishing fast isn’t the same as writing fast. I published 5 books with two publishers, plus placing pieces in 3 anthologies in a 6 month period in 2011. But that was pretty much my life work getting republished, not all brand new stuff. Which would mean I’d be dead now. 🙂
Everyone….is different. Most rules are there to be broken or at least massaged.. Stephen King said: “Write a page a day and, after 300 days, you have a book!” True There will always be the racers and the poor saps who come last, but sometimes the poor saps’ work exceeds the racer’s (who’s got indigestion and a stitch to boot…) x
Joy–“Most rules are there to be broken or at least massaged.” Great quote! One size does not fit all!
Anne, I couldn’t agree more. This becomes especially true for those of us who stop to research in order for our stories to ring true. Nothing’s gained by rushing. I’m fortunate to have a publisher who agrees with me. When readers tell me to write faster, I respond with, “I can churn out one book after another, and you might enjoy them. Or I can focus on producing a high quality read that’ll blow your mind. Which would you prefer?” When phrased in that manner, fans always choose to wait. 🙂
Sue–So true. We’re working in an increasingly competitive marketplace. If we don’t produce something unique and polished, fans will lose interest. I’m very careful about vetting books in a series that have come out quickly. By book 3 or 4 they often lose all their sizzle.
I’m impatient as hell, but I tend to write in ‘patchwork’ – a scene here, a conversation there, a place-holder for the bit I’m not ready to right yet…
I’ve been dealing with Depression/Anxiety for the last 5+ years, and I simply can’t concentrate for long enough to do everything at once; plus I have to fight my natural instinct to just work harder when times get stressful, and burn myself out. Basically, I’ve had to learn to work smarter, not harder, and to put myself and my well-being first.
Otherwise, between blogging, working, family stuff, and other writing… I can find myself back in very bad places, very quickly, unless I make self-care my priority.
So of course there’s nothing wrong with going slow – things are done when they’re done, and we all have to try and remember that!
Cee Arr–If you’ve battled depression then you know how important it is not to let yourself get so depleted you don’t have the mental resources to “refill the well.” Brain studies recently show that the part of the brain used for writing is the same part of the brain affected by depression, so we have to be very careful not to stay there too long!
I don’t do NaNo because writing isn’t a team sport, and if I needed a deadline whip cracking in order to get 50K of a novel written, then I’d question whether or not I really wanted to write.
I suppose I’m a medium pacer. I write two books a year. Maybe that seems fast to some, I don’t know; but I do as you do, and edit as I go, all through the first draft. Then I begin on the ‘proper’ rewrite, by which I mean I start at the beginning and go through the whole thing, sentence by sentence. And again, and again, and again. I just don’t get how people publish 4 books a year, but one of my favourite writers publishes them almost faster than I can read them, and they’re all great!
One thing I do, though, does help with getting those two novels out – when I’m writing the first draft, I don’t let myself get up from the desk until I’ve written 2000 words, during any ‘writing day’. And when I’m re-writing, I don’t let myself stop until I’ve done 30 pages. Works for me, anyway!
Terry–I think a lot of the success of NaNo comes from the fact it does make writing a team sport and writers can feel energized and encouraged by each other. But that doesn’t work for everybody. Some of us do our best work alone.
I’m going to assume you’re young (ish) if you don’t get up from your chair until you’ve done a day’s work. My arthritis would not let me do that, but I know I used to. My physical therapist recommends getting up and moving around every 20 minutes. But I suppose someone could use another restriction like not getting a coffee refill until the goal is reached, or something like that.
Anne, my physical therapist recommends the same thing. I’m not real vocal about it, but I do have RA and psoriatic arthritis, so I get it. When the pain is severe, I need to adjust my goals for the day. This past summer, I learned that lesson the hard way.
Sue–Me too. I have the regular old-people arthritis–not as deadly as what you’ve got. But I’ve also recently been diagnosed with spinal stenosis, which is horrifically painful, from calcium deposits pinching the nerves in the spine.
They don’t know what causes it, but sitting for long periods of time may be a factor. In which case–all those hours I worked at the computer could have caused my current pain. Not something to mess with. I can’t walk without a walker anymore. I used to walk 5 miles a day until 2 years ago, and I could walk with sticks until last December. If only I’d paid more attention to that 20-minute rule. 🙁
Thank you, Anne, for this post. We are constantly being told that the best publicly for your book is the next one, so write it quickly. Also, don’t worry about editing, just get the words down. I’m afraid if I didn’t do some editing as I go along, my first draft would be incomprehensible due to many typos.
I did (and ‘won’) NaNo 3 years ago. I did it twice again and failed. I’m not doing it this year. I’ve done Camp NaNo several times, but you can set your own target and change it, too.
There are other things in my life as well as writing. I started late. As you say, my house would resemble a pigsty, and we’d not eat.
Speaking of eating, like you, I cook from scratch with the best ingredients, and enjoy baking. I also have other hobbies, like card making, painting and other crafts. I make all my Christmas cards, and that takes a time.
Then there’s family
So I write slow
V. M.–I think the writing life needs to be balanced, so cooking real food and keeping in touch with friends and spending time with family should be part of our schedule.
There were times when I got so immersed in work that I lost touch with friends, who got tired of me turning them down and moved on. When I emerged from my writing cocoon, I realized I’d isolated myself from my real life community. Never a good idea.
Thanks for the support to all slow writers, Anne! I tend to write slow, or in bursts as the pot boils over. Mostly though, I don’t write until something real comes to mind — if I force myself, then all that comes out is, well, not good.
The only time I can write ‘fast’ is when I do critiques. However, this is still a slow thing, because I read the material several times, then let it percolate, then everything spews out at once. A re-read and a few adjustments, and it’s ready to go.
Hmmmm same goes when I talk with someone – really quiet, listen and consider what’s being said, then suddenly blurt out a bunch of thoughts.
Do I need to tell my therapist about this? lolololol
Love your last lines…
Maria D’Marco
Maria–I think a lot of us work that way. A lot of stuff is happening subconsciously, so when we sit down to the page, a whole bunch may come out quickly. But that’s not a process that can be forced. It’s great when that flow happens, though, isn’t it?
Yeah. We gotta love what we do, because the pay is not all that great for most of us. 🙂
Thanks for this post Anne. I’ve done NaNoWriMo a couple of times and ‘won’, but despite achieving the goal, I usually ended up with bad headaches. One of my main takeaways from it was to work with a timer because I’m such a perfectionist, it helps me to get the words down quicker.
This year I have been writing the longest piece I’ve ever written and I’m currently on my second draft. Yes, it’s been a slow process and a bit of a mess, but I’ve allowed myself to let the idea percolate, which I feel has improved my plot. I’m having a lot of fun with it, but I guess I have to finish it at some point. 😉
Love the title and cover of your new book. Congrats!
Debbie–I’m glad you like the cover. Thanks!
Giving your ideas time to “percolate” is what makes a good book. Some people’s brains are fast percolators, but I think most of us need more time.
Congrats on winning NaNo twice though. That’s awesome The headaches, not so much. 🙁
Yes, yes and more yes. I write slowly – I simply cannot write fast and produce anything but gibberish. And why not? I aim for quality, not quantity. I want my books to be the best they can possibly be, and that takes time.
Mick–You’re a man after my own heart!
I’m glad it’s not just me! I am also a confessed “slow” writer. For one thing, I’m not writing to a formula and there are lots of subtle nuances in my books that get layered in–that doesn’t come fast. As I see it, these books are my writing legacy, and once they’re all published and the writing is done, how fast I wrote them won’t matter anymore. What will matter are their enduring qualities, and those are more important to me than anything.
I am also someone who edits while I write. Some say that’s a bad habit, but you’re totally correct–once the words are down on paper, and everything that comes after is built upon them, they are so much harder to get rid of. Indeed getting rid of them can pull apart the whole foundation of the book requiring major re-writes and sometimes accidentally leaving broken plot threads/errors behind. I don’t move on from one chapter until it’s relatively clean and I’m satisfied with it. I even have a book coach to help me with this process, and we work on my book as I write, one chapter at a time. There will be plenty more editing later, of course, but it is usually pretty painless because I never produce a “sh***y first draft.” My series books take about 1-2 years to produce. I try to write related novellas and short stories in between and have a regular newsletter to keep readers engaged. It has been hard at times, when I see other writers churning out multiple books a year, and I wonder at how they do it. But I’m gradually embracing my slowness, and articles like this one are an encouragement, so thank you!
As for NaNoWriMo? I don’t get caught up in winning or losing. For me it is just a way to help push me along several times a year–to save me from procrastination and give me an excuse to set aside other obligations and make writing a first priority for a while. I know I’ll never “win” November Nano and I’ve learned to be at peace with that. I find Camp NaNoWriMo in April and July the most helpful, because I can set my own REALISTIC word count goal then push myself to meet it. If I don’t, it isn’t the end of the world. As long as I end up with something to show for the month, I consider that a victory. Most of the times I win Camp Nano, I don’t collect the prize anyway. The writing itself is my reward. 🙂
Weaving–I honestly think most pros do some editing as they go. I read the last chapter I wrote, do some editing, then go on to the next. It gets me primed to write the next chapter and I give yesterday’s work a little polish. So embrace your slowness!
I think people who enjoy the group energy can really benefit from NaNo. no matter how many words you actually produce.
That’s the funny thing about it. I’m a total introvert and don’t really draw anything from the group energy. I pretty much avoid the write-ins and other group stuff going on, though sometimes I do join a small cabin during Camp sessions. What works for me is the accountability of that word count box I can drop a number into at the end of the day, and the chart that tells me how much more I need to do per day in order to reach my goal. Intellectually I know no one is really paying attention to my numbers, so I have no idea why that motivates me, it just seems to. I’ve made myself a calculating word count spreadsheet in Excel to keep track of things when Nano isn’t in session, but it doesn’t produce the same effect. Whether it makes logical sense or not, I just go with it three times a year and get what I can out of the experience. Any progress I make, for whatever reason, is always worthwhile. 🙂
Thank you for writing this, Anne. I am definitely a slow writer. I haven’t ever attempted NaNo. I also cook from scratch as much as possible and believe our lives have sped up 100 fold in the last ten years. So, nothing wrong with slowing things down where we can. I agree, too, that writing speedily also means more time spent editing.
I love you new book cover! The title is perfect 😀 I will be getting these books while the getting is good! Currently reading your book The Lady of the Lakewood Diner.
Lisa–I’m so glad you’re enjoying Lady of the Lakewood Diner! That was my slowest book of all. Took me more than a decade. That’s because when I started, I didn’t have the chops to pull off a sweeping saga like that. It took a very good editor to help me get it structured. Googling old Boyfriends is breezier and was much easier to write. I hope you enjoy that too. I’m so glad you hear you like the cover!
I think slowing down is the key to happiness these days. Sometimes my greatest feelings of joy come when I’m weeding the garden or preparing a salad. Embrace the slow!
It took me three weeks short of three years to write my roughly 200-thousand-word first novel (I had to do a lot of cultural immersion research for it, and I edit as I write), I never suffered from writer’s block, and it was the most fun I’d had in a very long time. Also, it was written before I knew NaNoWriMo existed. Since then, I’ve used NNWM to brainstorm the easy interpersonal stuff for my second novel, which I’ve been researching for four years already (although having to fight cancer and chronic anemia during this period are to blame for making my writing even slower, due to brain fog). I prefer taking notes with pencil and paper, but NNWM was a great way to get 50K words of miscellaneous beginnings, middles and ends of scenes saved on virtual paper before they vanished from sight (in the mind’s eye, that is). Nothing in the NNWM rules says it has to be a coherent story from start to finish, in order to win, and participants are advised to regard what they do produce as just a rough draft, anyway, so it really ought to be a less stressful experience than people expect and experience it to be.
Christine–What a great idea to use NaNoWriMo for brainstorming rather than composing a complete novel. That could really work. Excellent tip!
So sorry to hear about the health challenges. Brain fog is a real problem. I’ve had some meds that made me incapable of remembering what I wrote the day before. Not good for story arcs. Hang in there!
In addition, while the NaNoWriMo hell-bent-for-leather pace of 1667 words per day may seem to be biased towards pantsers, there’s good news for planners in the rules, too: research notes and outlines also qualify for the word count. What’s written just needs to be the novelist’s own original work. (It pays to read the fine print!) 😉
I’ve talked about this with a few writing friends lately and I’ve been wondering if we’re heading toward a lot of writers burning out from their intense schedule. Youtube is currently going through it with a lot of creators feeling burnt out because of the algorithm that makes them feel like they have to produce a video every day. Is it really healthy for a 20 year old to already experience burn out? Is that something we want to encourage in the writing community?
Patricia–I agree! I do worry about burnout for writers. And most of the stuff that’s burning us out isn’t even writing. It’s all the marketing and newsletters and all the other stuff.
Very interesting about the YouTube burnouts. 20 yrs old and burned out is not a good thing.
Whew! What a relief to hear. Beginning novelist here, who used NaNoWriMo in 2015 to force myself to finish my first draft after over three years of research and writing and two years of fits and starts. It took me three more years to revise and revise that draft, which is still far from perfect (and too long). You can imagine how the speed of other authors I know exacerbates my newbie anxiety. Although I have started shopping the novel to agents (also slowly), I am encouraged that these tumultuous years may result in a published work that non-beta-readers will enjoy. My husband certainly hopes so.
I just found your blog in a search for “family saga” and “word count.” Thank you, Google!
EB–Welcome! It’s always fascinating to see what keywords lead people to our blog. It looks as if you discovered what so many of us do when we’re starting out. No matter what path you take for your writing journey, it usually takes about 3 or 4 years to get to a professional level of proficiency. .
Best of luck with your family saga! (I’ve heard the family drama-saga is trending since the huge success of the TV shows like This is Us and Bloodline.)
I love this topic and this post so much. I’ve worked full-time as a professional writer since 2001, so I’ve had to write quickly for a wide variety of assignments. However, my personal writing is a whole other animal. My three novels took my about 25 years to write…so, figure an average of 8 years per book. At times, I got stuck on one of them, but mostly it was writing, editing, and laboriously rewriting again and again. Can’t imagine cranking out a novel in a month – unless I spent the next several years editing and rewriting it! I want these books to outlive me.
Mike–I think most of the novels that we call “classics” took a long time to write. The few that were written fast–like A Christmas Carol–came from well practiced authors at the top of their game. Writing a classic takes a huge amount of skill. Sounds like your books have a better chance of sticking around than most.
Thanks, Anne! I sure hope so.
One thing that takes me a long time is proofreading – which I neglected to do on my post here: I wrote “took my” instead of “took me.” Aack!
I definitely struggle with being a slower writer, but I also think back to other things I’ve learned, ranging from driving to fencing. There’s a lot to learn, and doing something wrong repeatedly only encourages the mind and body to repeat those mistakes. And, as you cited, many strong stories are written more slowly than most “experts” propone, and those are the stories I really enjoy. I once met an author who taught a workshop called “Writing a Novel in Two Months”, and while he clearly applied his ideas to his own writing, I found his stories far too predictable and underdeveloped for my taste.
I do hope to increase my rate of writing, as I have far too many stories to write, but I also have no interest in writing or reading weak fiction.
Adam–This is so true. “doing something wrong repeatedly only encourages the mind and body to repeat those mistakes.” And I share your dislike of cookie-cutter novels. I know lots of people buy them, but I don’t want to have to be the one who writes them, 🙂
I am a slow writer. Some of my writing friends get surprised when I say that no, I’m not able to write even one novel a year, and I admite that sometimes this makes me feel as if I’m out of the game before I even get into it. But that’s how I create stories and I’ve come to terms with it.
This said, I’ve been doing NaNoWriMo for 13 years and it always works fine for me. No, I don’t think it’s all about the 50k words. To me, it’s mostly about the community. That’s where the inspiration come from and the experience massively changed for me – it became more meaningful – when I shifted from doing the NaNo alone to doing the NaNo along all the other people there.
It isn’t the right thing for every writer, that’s true, but I think we can learn a lot of thisng about ourselves and out writing process by partecipating, so yes, I too would suggest to try it at least once.
Jazzfeathers–Writing slow doesn’t take you out of the game. Look to Donna Tartt for inspiration. 3 books in two decades…and a Pulitzer. 🙂
The community of NaNo is a big plus for a lot of writers. Our local writing club even had a full-day NaNo workshop this weekend, with motivating speakers plus writing time. A huge plus for writers who might be feeling isolated in their writing garrets. But other writers need total solitude until the work is finished. It’s really just personality type.