Slow writers?

Hi Daniel! Don't be discouraged. I think writing gets a bit easier as you do it more. I also started out barely able to write a few hundred words a day. I think of it as my pool of creativity, and mine gets exhausted pretty quickly.

But over the years I've pushed and pushed that until I can pretty easily do 1000, sometimes 1500 words a day. And I find that as long as I keep a reasonably steady schedule, say three to five days a week where I at least do my 1000 words, then I get ahead, slowly but surely. And if I can do 3000-5000 words a week, then I can finish a novel in four or five months (editing not included )

So please keep at it. You might enjoy , which is part of a lovely talk by Ira Glass about learning to write as a new creative worker.

As for your chapters, I find that mine come out about 2500-3000 words, but I admit I'm still learning about novel structure and what works. They say a chapter should be as long as it needs to be, so without knowing your work who can say that 400 words is too short?

The one thing I'm certain of is that the more you write, the more you do your own body of work, the more you'll know about what's right and what works for you.

Good luck!

Thanks everyone! I didn't expect to get so many replies so fast, gotta love the KB!

I certainly hope that most of this slow writing is due to my newb status. Otherwise I might never get anything done.

I have done some blogging, and managed to get out a few 1000 word posts in a day or two, but even that is a bit taxing. Fiction is so much more of a struggle than that for me.

@jnfr I've seen that Ira Glass video several times, and I love it!

@fredster I hate my internal editor...or at least when I'm trying to write. I'm sure it will come in handy once I get the first draft done though! I just need to figure out how to get him to shut up when I'm not ready for him.

@daIya I do want to be prolific. I've read some books and blog posts on faster writing, and I try to adopt those methods but I think I just need more experience. I'd be lieing if I said money wasn't one of my motivators, but I've wanted to be an author since I first started reading as a kid.

@everyone Thanks again!

I've been at this writing thing for well over a dozen years. (My first short story was published in 2001, long before the epub revolution.) And I'm still a slow writer. I blame it on the fact that I'm a trained literary critic, with a Ph.D. in English literature. Very, very hard for me to get the editor off my back. But it does have its advantages. I've been told by editors more than once that I write very clean copy. Still, I really do wish I could put out first drafts faster. I'm probably going to die before I get all the stories out that are in me.

It is what it is and you are what you are. That said, if you're just starting out as a writer, you have to calculate a certain amount of time as "apprenticeship" -- you don't start from day one knowing exactly how to get from the first sentence to the last. My apprenticeship took me through Clarion West and a number or online writing workshops before I sold that first short story to a print magazine. I sincerely believe that joining or attending some kind of workshop will help immensely with the learning curve.

Good luck! The most important thing in this business is determination. Be a SOBWBIC (Stubborn Old B#!&% With Butt in Chair).

You'll find whatever your natural productivity level is and it will fluctuate - maybe often, maybe only occasionally - and if it's "slow" then so be it. Larry McMurtry (Lonesome Dove, Terms of Endearment, The Last Picture Show) said he writes 5 pages per day, and that's about it (though he does try to write 5 pages *every* day). Compared to some of the productivity levels of those here on KB, he would be a "slow writer."

Then there's Herman Wouk; Winds of War and War and Remembrance each took something like 6-7 years to write, so if you figure 1000 pages for each book over 6-7 years, that's "pretty darn slow."

For me, every so often I can get into "the zone" and crank out 40+ pages of fairly good material, non-fiction or fiction, in a single day (admittedly a *long* day) that needs only minor editing. Other times I can't string two sentences together coherently, often for weeks on end. But after 30 years of writing, I can tell when I'm hot and when I'm not, and unless I'm facing a deadline I don't worry about it. It's like being a baseball pitcher, but also the manager; you know when you don't have your stuff on a given day and give yourself the hook.

I've been a writer for years... I've done ghostwriting and everything else including copy writing. Deadlines are a part of my daily life, thus I write quickly. The biggest issue is getting down to work and making sure you write something every single day no matter what. Even if it's only 100 words.. it counts.

Two pieces of advice.. First... Write down how many words you are writing per day. Creating this ledger like item is something that makes you both feel good and work hard to be more productive. Maybe you can start with 100 words a day for a month then try to double it the next month.. and so on. 
Second try the "gun to your head" technique. You set a count down timer for 1 hour and write as fast as you can. The key is NOT to plan before setting the timer. It's amazing to see what comes out when you push yourself to think quickly and limit distractions completely. Some times you can write a lot some times it's only a little bit. This technique is just a way to motivate action asap.

Outlining isn't required so don't stress about that. Just keep moving forward...

Good luck -- don't get discouraged.. at least you have the goal.