I’m becoming obsessed with this idea of words per hour and words per minute as a construct of how to write and profit from writing and, perhaps of greatest importance, stay on track and target as a writer. It has me thinking about novels and shorts and planning, etc. Here’s the thing: Yesterday I talked about a novella length, which is usually 18000 (with a novelette being 7500-17,500) to 40k. I am writing a story that figures to be 50k, but still isn’t the 80k I am told to deliver when signing a novel contract. That writing will measure out at 110 hours where as an 80k novel comes in at 160. We are now talking about weeks here. 2 hours a day, 5 days a week means 16 weeks to churn out a novel, given the 500 wds per hour or 8.4 words a minute. We established that my speed is somewhere in that realm–given that in ten minutes I can churn out anywhere between 60 and 600+ words. All of this is math, but none of it takes into account the mental side of things. When I woke up at 3 AM all I was thinking about was that side. Eventually, I rolled out of bed and found this:
When typing something that I am rewriting/reading from I type 30 WPM with 75% accuracy. This argues that I am faster making crap up than I am when otherwise applying hand to key. Part of that argument suggests that the average length of these posts ought to be 300 words. This also argues that there are many a night when the words burst right out of me and many a night when the words must be dragged out as though clinging to the sides of my brain for dear life. ~3.291
This wasn’t the only time I spoke on the subject of words. I found that I did speak specifically to the non mathematical side of the situation in a separate post:
It is far easier to write about what is unfolding in your life. The realism and depth of character is far more genuine than some contrived fantasy steeped in years of reading Dragon magazine and hacking at trees with swords. ~ 1566
Here I really leaned into the idea that it is in fact easier to write when you are writing from feeling. This is why some posts are long and others quite short. This combination of factors is what I need to take into account in the equation of how long it takes to write as well as what I am indeed writing. The Shadowrun novella is about stuff I know. It is memory mixed with old story intentions that are unfulfilled. It will go fast–perhaps faster than 110. The Justice Engine will not. I’m not there yet. It is building, painfully slowly, in my head. Hopefully I will be ready for it in 110 work hours…