Advice for a First Time Author

I don't think it's a question of it working for a beginner, expert, whatever, but for individual writers. Daily word counts don't work for me, but longer term ones do. Usually I just set a date, like I want to be finished by 30 November. I've also set myself a 10k a week challenge.

But I hardly ever force myself to write if I don't want to. Writing should be fun, not a chore!

 

[QUOTE="JackyJack, post: 1505505, member: 79119"
I’ve read about authors with self placed daily quotas on words. Does this system work for a beginner? If so, how high should I aim? Something around 1000?[/QUOTE]

I've always felt that upwards of ten thousand words is a nice ice breaker.

 

Quota on word count=How much you can get on the page

It doesn't matter if it is 50 words or 1500 words, progress is progress.
Better to be in the mood to write, than not ready and get nothing done.
Some days will be 50 word days, and some days will be 3k-7K word days.
It ebbs and flows. Just don't write if you are not feeling it, otherwise
no matter what you write it will always be shite.

 

I'm off the wagon right now, but when I try to get back on I intend to have a time, not word, quota. For a very brief period I was succeeding in writing from 7:30 to 8:30 every morning before work. As I say, I fell off, but it seemed to work better--the same amount of thought and flow can produce quite different word counts, depending on what's being written. And a scheduled time also seems more likely to produce a habit. I just need to pick a different time--having writing compete with sleep turns out to be a bad idea.

 

In all seriousness, though. I usually don't create a target amount of words. I find that getting into the routine of writing is more effective. For me personally I always write after I go out for a run at 5:00. I feel this gets my heart rate up, the blood pumping to my head, and gives me a chance to think about where I'm going. When I get back, I'm ready to sit down and write.

 

I don't do the word quotas ether. Instead I just have a scheduled time set aside for writing. Like Saturday, or Sunday mornings. Sometimes I write a lot sometimes not so much. You can just experiment with different things, and see what works for you.

 

If it is just for improving your english, then I would just tap at the keys until you can tap no longer. Maybe look at what you can output on a daily basis, or even a weekly basis and divide it by six (you should be resting on the Sabbath, after all). The only 'deadline' that I strictly work to is hitting the next 100-landmark when I want to have a break and eat or smoke. I force myself to finish what I was writing (and if the train of thought isn't finished, I make sure I write a quick break down or where that thought was going so I don't come back with a blank look on my face). Only trouble with that is that if I come back from a long day and only want to edit or read things over, if I end up writing a sentence or two I force myself to hit the next 100-marker. I may take all those words out the very next day, but sometimes it inspires me to go in a direction I never knew possible.

 

Just throwing my hat into the ring too and agreeing with the general consensus - word counts are not the easiest to stick to. Instead find what you're comfortable with doing especially when you're starting out. Unreasonable word quotas might make you frustrated if you don't hit them! Can always start pushing your comfort zone once you get more confident.

 

I've been writing for years. I've never kept a quota - what works for me though is to keep in touch with the story on a daily basis. It doesn't matter if it's only a sentence or a paragraph or 1500 words so long as I keep it in mind. And tinker with it. It's a lot harder for me to walk away from a project letting days, even weeks go by and expect to jump back in without a struggle.

 

Dissenting voice - well, not really, because I agree that you need to experiment and figure out what works for you.

But in terms of what works for me? Yearly word count goal. I keep track in a spreadsheet and can tell by the row number I'm on, compared with the total number of words I've written, whether I'm on track for my yearly goal. It's fine to slack off a bit, but I have to make sure I catch up later on.

Works for me.

 

That's quite impressive. I would burn out if I kept up daily numbers like that. How do you keep from burning out? Can I ask how many hours a day you are putting into writing? If you've got any tips on productivity, I'm all ears.

 

I'm surprised that so many people don't have daily word-count goals. I kind of thought something was wrong with me for not having this sort of quota. Now I do have weekly goals. They're not attached to a specific word count, but I am very aware of what a good writing day for me is and what a bad one is. I can achieve word count goals, but they kind of give me anxiety or something.

 

Thanks for sharing your experience. Looks like quotas are more of a personal choice, rather than a universal equalizer. I’ll try both daily and weekly variations, go with the flow for a time, and see how things will work out.

Spencer1990 hit another major note with writing as a whole. Never thought of it, but I guess creative process doesn’t feel comfortable with strict timetables. Hobby mutating into a dredge – doesn’t sound appealing to me.

 

My goal, when my WIP was in development was 1000 - 3000 words, 3-10 pages. Allocated time was about 3 hours a night, about five nights/week, unless life intervened. And that was much more rewarding than marketing the product with about 1-2 queries per night, about the same time.

 

Word count quotas are definitely one of those things that varies from writer to writer. Personally I've used them successfully. Normally when I start a new project I keep it fairly low--something like 300 to 500 words a day--and slowly raise it as I build momentum. I typically end at 1000 words a day, and I'm pretty good about sticking to it. But that's what works for me. Others find word count quotas stifling. It really doesn't matter, as long as you get the story written. Whatever it takes to get you there--different strokes and all.

 

Everyone is different. For me, I have found that writing is work, but once I schedule the time to write, everything flows as I take dictation from my characters. At that point it becomes fun, I want to go down and write, and don't want to quit... I want to see what happens next. Editing, on the other hand, is less fun and much more critical of what I have done, and marketing... well, a lot of that budgeted time gets eaten up by FreeCell games as I procrastinate.

 

I am unpressurable. If I set myself a goal, it invariably goes unregarded. Nanowrimo, championed by so many as an amazing force of positive peer pressure, has never got me to write more than 10k.

I write because I want to, and sometimes I want to do something else. Some days I want to focus of learning Latvian, others I do calligraphy. Some days I write, but never because I tell myself I must.

 

I suggest you sit down one evening..make it a week day when you have work or school the next day. Write for as long as you can comfortably and see how many words you get. Use that to determine what you next goal should be. Say you write 500 words on tuesday, maybe by friday you want to reach 100 words a day.

 

I haven't been through the list yet, but Jane Friedman is an editor and general industry-watcher who's put together a list of the best advice offered by her guest bloggers:

https://janefriedman.com/write-great-story-roundup-best-advice/

Might be some useful stuff in there. I'm going to work through the articles - if anyone else finds a good one, let me know!

 

I was a Creative Writing major in college, and there is one thing that my professor taught us that I still use now (10 years later...ugh now I feel old lol)

Avoid the use of "it was" as much as you can.

For example, take this sentence:
The house stood alone on a hill. It was falling apart in places, and the townsfolk said it was haunted.

To this:
The house stood alone on a hill, derelict and falling apart in places. When the townsfolk spoke of it, they talked of hauntings and ghosts.

As I write, I try to leave out as many "was"s as possible. If I can't think of a way to re-write it, I leave it and come back to it later. But I find that this method has made my descriptions more vivid. My professor always said that "it was" is the lazy writer's crutch.

What good writing advice have you received?

 

My Dad is a Journalist. He doesn't do any creative writing, but when I told him I wanted to write a book, he told me to write for myself, not to write what I think others want to read. I think that is something everyone should keep in mind, even if he, by nature of his job, can't follow his own advice.

 

I've taken so many classes from writing workshops to lecture classes and my professors did give me good advice even though it was very general information for such a detailed mite like me.

Out of all the advice I could receive, I'd say the best is:

"Stop trying to picture yourself as this main protagonist in some dark independent movie where you're writing and everything you go through is some kind of arc to overcome and Eva Green is your girlfriend."

My virgin mind had trouble accepting such brilliant advice.

 

Don't switch POV's randomly and without alerting the reader that it's about to happen.

You don't need dialogue tags for every single sentence in a conversation, especially it it's between two people.

Info-dumping is bad, and prologues that exist only as a vehicle for info-dumping should be burned in a dumpster fire.

You may know your two characters are soulmates, but the reader needs compelling reasons to ship them.