I posted that I’m increasing the price of The Camper from $1 to $4.99 and mentioned that it is a 75,000 word book.
Well, just as I was closing my laptop it triggered the thought in me that, well, how long does it take to write a 75,000 word book?
Bear in mind, this is not a long book, maybe it is short by some standards, but at 75,000 words it is not a short story either.
How long does this take? What are the stages?
Measuring Writing Productivity
Much of the material for The Camper came from pre-existing writing spanning almost a decade of my part time effort and I don’t have any records for time taken.
However for nearly the last 6 months I’ve been keeping a spreadsheet on word count and what I’ve been doing – writing or editing and time taken.
So, it turns out that I achieve about 400 to 500 words per hour productivity when I take into account the actual writing and then the vastly protracted editing.
The Writing Stages
Thinking about how I work, there are a number of stages in the process, and I find that I’m most productive when I follow them.
Firstly; what do I mean by productive? Let’s say that it means working toward a finished product, getting the book done and ready for sale.
Now the steps.
The Dreaming – is where it all starts. I seldom write anything in this stage. I’ve got something in mind and I mull it over, over a few days, usually weeks or more often than not for months.
Raw Input – obviously this comes first, it is where words are put into a file. I find that I need to write this in one sequential run of speed writing spread over a few days. I’ve found that I can add well over 1,000 words, sometimes close to 1,500 words an hour to a story, when it’s running hot. This may account for 1/4 of a book in volume.
I tend to write fairly short pieces of the story, loosely joined, but there IS a connection. That’s vital. The writing itself is not very good, it is brief, quick, concise and it lays down the framework from start to finish.
I have found that when I write “disconnected stubs” meaning small isolated and not joined sections of a story then try to join them up later that I flounder. I can never join them up properly. I can never get a feeling of finished.
In writing terms this may make me a ‘pantster’ and not a ‘planner’ – but that is too superficial. FAR too superficial. I have the plot in my mind already from the dreaming stage. It is moving, happening, and by writing the story from start to finish, I’m documenting it rather than writing it.
Writing stubs or coming at a book in disconnected sections breaks the dream.
Raw Review – takes longer. This is also a ‘Raw Input’ stage but it is more ad hoc and it jumps around. I go over what I’ve written and add more content, flesh things out, try to give more dimension to it. What I’ve written triggers ideas and I work them into the product. This is also a cleanup stage. My speed writing leaves a lot to be desired, I clean it up here.
This may bring the book up to 90% of its volume, or more.
Clearly this is chaotic. It can change the course of the book, change everything.
This takes longer than the first Raw Input stage. Productivity – words entered and approach to a finished product is good.
First Edit – this is a continuity check. I try to leave a few weeks between this and the previous editing and input so I come to it ‘clean’.
I do a time line check, a story check – check that it all works as it should and this is where I go wrong! I go through this process far too many times, I go over a section so many times, add more content then reread and re-edit time and again.
I feel this ideally should be a one-pass edit. I should work through the book, take notes and cut and paste the story so it’s in the right order etc.
This can be an ‘Edit With An Axe’ process. Things that are wrong get cut and a decision to add new content to make it work is done. I cut about 5,000 words from The Camper, and added 25,000 words of new content.
So, I go round in circles. I spend many weeks in this phase. The BIG TRAP is to add a lot of new content and that causes this whole phase to repeat.
Second Edit – this took a few weeks with The Camper and the reason is that it is getting to be a bigger book and I can’t devote time to it in larger chunks.
Likewise I spend far too long in this phase. There is not a lot of perceived productivity in this phase. I can add a few thousand words, remove a few more etc. It is more a cleanup stage than anything.
Print And Edit – this is the last step and I feel it is the shortest step. I get the book printed, bound, leave it on the shelf for as long as possible (a week?) then come back and actually read it word for word looking for silly things (sadly too many) and problems etc. For The Camper this took about 20 hours.
I read the book from start to finish. I mark it up. I look for strengths and weaknesses. Then when the reading is done, I edit the file. Editing is quick. The reading took 20 hours approx. The editing took about 5.
Discipline Would Be Better
I know what I need to do. I know I should execute the steps better. I know all that, but the above is the thing that works for me.
I have tried planning out a story on paper. Doing simple plot thinking points then filling them in later fails for me. I think maybe The Dream shifts, morphs as the story evolves. Again the pantster comes to play!
So, the creative process for me hinges on the first two steps; ‘The Dream’ and ‘Raw Input.’
Thanks for reading – Richard