The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe > Podcast Episodes
Episode #347
Johnny Slick:
That is... a lot of words, although I guess if you're already into writing and aren't... editing and stuff, I guess you could do it. When I was in my "groove" last November which saw me get about a quarter of the way through my book (which I haven't touched since YAY LOSING MY JOB) I averaged around 7,500-8,000 words a day, granted only over the course of 4 days. If you could put in 40 hours a week at actual sit-down get-it-done writing I guess you could get to the 3k/day level. That's pretty ambitious, though; at least in my experience (as a failed writer, not a pro in the least) I can only get to that speed when I know in advance about what I'm going to write about; if I don't have stuff at least a little bit planned, the writing is either going to be wasted in backstory, etc. that I needed to write but which won't make it into the finished product or else I'll just sit there in front of the computer playing a video game staring at the screen and not knowing what to write yeah that's it.
Shadow Of A Doubt:
Seems like a great way to guarantee mediocrity or worse to me.
Jeremy's Sea:
I disagree. I'm not a long form writer like novelists, but rarely do you ever get someone who only writes great work, it's really about writing A LOT and getting rid of what doesn't work. If the goal was to release 1,000,000 unedited words, yeah, that's a big set up for an epic fail. Really what his schedule means is that he has found a way to cut out the fat in the writing process. Once you get in a cycle of generating a lot of material through focus it really does get easier. It's learning the thousand ways you distract yourself and ruthlessly eliminating them that you can get into a swing. With no distractions you could easily knock out 3,000 words in a six to eight hour day.
Of course if you're a hack you get 3,000 hack words, but writing is really a numbers game and the more you write the more good material you have.
ETA: I found that kicking out 5 pages in a day the material is no worse than if I write 3 pages over a few days. I'm just more motivated/have time/in a groove. (I write screenplays, but the principal is the same)
Johnny Slick:
Yeah, the actual writing part isn't really the important part of getting a good product out. That's all in the rewriting.
MikeHz:
First draft = crap. Second draft = not so crappy. Third draft = meh. It's only well down the line that the stuff gets good, if ever.
The editor is very important. Editor Max Perkins received a cover letter and a couple chapters from some new author named Thomas Wolfe, and asked to see the rest of the novel. Wolfe had the hand-written manuscript delivered in boxes in the back of a pickup truck. Perkins insisted it be cut down to a final 500 or so pages.
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