With
NaNoWriMo moving into its second week, it's time for the annual flurry of heated discussions on writing boards about writing fast, aiming for word counts, and similar such topics. Comments fly about "if you're writing that fast, you're writing crap", "no one can write anything worth publishing in 30 days", "speed shouldn't matter", etc.
What we commonly hear is that if you're working quickly, you're rushing. You're slapping words on paper with no regard for quality, producing something that's full of adverbs, plotholes, fluff, and filler.
To that I say:
Bullshit.
"Quality over quantity" is a common mantra among writers, but neither
Scarlett nor I believe the two are mutually exclusive. Just because quantity is a goal doesn't mean that quality goes by the wayside. Here's the thing: You either know how to write or you don't. You don't forget all the rules and stylistic conventions after you've written 1K, 2K, or 10K words.
That's not to say that fatigue doesn't happen. When you reach a point where the quality is suffering, by all means, stop. Rest. Refresh. If this happens at 500 words, fine. That's your "wall". If it happens at 5,000 words, then that's your "wall". And that wall may move from day to day...for me, there are days when 10,000 is easy and other days when 1,000 is like pulling teeth. For me, some scenes do require a slower hand, but I generally write pretty fast.
There are those who ask "Why rush?" Who's rushing? When the words are coming fast and furious, when the characters are cooperating and the story is flying,
why slow down?
Scarlett and I have argued time and time again that just because something is written fast does not mean it's written badly. It is entirely possible to write a book quickly and still produce something worth reading. It doesn't have to take months or years of writing followed by months or years of editing. If it does, fine...everyone works at different speeds. But just because something is written quickly does
not mean it's written poorly.
To put my money where my mouth is, here are my stats for my last several books: (Note that these are for the first draft only unless otherwise noted; if you want to include editing time, tack on 2-3 days...a week at the very most)
- Nine Tenths of the Law - 37 days
- Between Brothers - 35 days
- Camera Shy (1st and 2nd drafts combined) - 31 days
- With The Band (1st and 2nd drafts combined) - 25 days
- Behind Closed Doors - 22 days
- Rules of Engagement - 20 days
- Luke Boydston's Baby (1st and 2nd drafts combined) - 18 days
- Playing With Fire (1st and 2nd drafts combined) - 17 days
- The Best Man - 14 days
- Breaking the Rules - 14 days
- The Distance Between Us - 11 days
Those numbers include non-writing days, especially
Nine Tenths of the Law and
Between Brothers, which were written while I was traveling. During that time, there were quite a few days when I couldn't write very much or at all. The numbers above are calculated based on the day I started and the day I finished, without regard to days off, travel, working on other projects, etc.
On the other hand, the most recent draft of
Sins of the Father took about a year and a half to complete. (If I included the previous two drafts, we're talking upwards of ten or eleven years) And the result? It's
crap. Steaming, fly-swarming, disease-spreading
crap. Complete and utter FAIL on so many levels it isn't even funny. But that was the book I used to learn to write.
Sins of the Father was my apprenticeship. Naturally, it took a bit longer (hey, storyfail of that magnitude doesn't happen overnight, people). Once I found my groove, though, starting with
Camera Shy, the speed came with it.
Now, are the books listed above any good? Well, 1 is published, 3 are contracted, 3 full manuscripts are on editors' desks, 1 is being edited, and 3 are being queried to agents. Do with those numbers what you will, but I'm fairly confident that they're better than the drivel that took me 10 years to produce.
The bottom line here is that "writing fast" and "writing crap" are not synonymous and I'm tired of the assumption that they are. Taking forever on a book does not guarantee a quality finished product. Similarly, if something is produced quickly, it doesn't mean it's produced
badly.
Go forth, write at the speed that best suits your writing, and produce the best work you possibly can.
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