I checked your FAQ/masterlist and dont think this has been answered, so: HOW do you manage to write so fast?? any advice?? 600+ thousand in a year has me floored, really, that would be impossible for me.
In response to this post.
Well first of all, I think it's really important to emphasize that I didn't do this on my own. I co-write with my writing partner, so it was a joint effort! Since we split the load equally and write roughly the same amount, I would guess that my personal word count would be around 300k+ish.
But yes, I absolutely have advice! Keep in mind that every writer is different — so this may not work for you necessarily! This is just what worked for me and my writing partner. The most important thing is figuring out what works for you.
Write as regularly and as often as you can
This for me, was the most important thing. And believe me, I get it. I used to write once in a blue moon; I used to be lucky to write 5k in a year. I never thought that I was capable of writing two days in a row, let alone a month or a year. But this is not only important, it's possible.
I am never going to be one of those people who say "In order to be a good writer, you have to write everyday" because it's not feasible for everyone. For some people, this means writing a few times a week. For others, it might mean once a week, or twice a month. Whatever your pace is, that's fine. Find it, and try to honor it as much as possible. However, it is really important to build a habit, and here's why:
I talk about the importance of writing being a muscle that needs to be trained several times. By writing regularly and as often as you can, you are training your writing muscles to be better. The more you write, the easier writing will be.
I've found that writing every single day has made it a lot easier to ignore all of that. The stakes become lower because you're already writing a lot; there's less pressure. It becomes easier to accept our flaws, and find satisfaction in imperfections because you get used to just writing instead of editing as we go.
Things that have changed for me as I began writing everyday:
I stopped getting writer's block. I used to have it 24/7, now I haven't had it for 2 years.
I stopped hating my writing. I used to hate my writing so much. I couldn't write because nothing was good enough, I hated reading it because all I could see were the flaws. By writing every single day, it's become a lot easier to accept my writing for what it is. Do I think it's amazing? Sometimes, but not all of the time. But now I can write without feeling terrible or second-guessing myself.
I stopped editing as I go. We all know the problem: can't get past three sentences, because you spend 2 hours rewriting those 3 sentences to get them perfect. Writing everyday helps you learn how to ignore that urge until you don't have it anymore. It's essentially like writing sprints but on a longer level: you learn how to simply write and let things breathe and exist on the page without immediately editing.
I stopped judging my writing. I used to cringe at every single sentence that I've ever written because I thought that it was terrible. Now, I can read my own writing without judgment. I haven't cringed in two years. Is it perfect? No, there's always something that can be improved. But I appreciate my writing for what it is, and I even enjoy reading it!
I've gained intrinsic motivation to write, and let go of my need for extrinsic motivation. Through writing everyday, I managed to learn how to love writing for the sake of writing. I no longer need people to read my writing and give me praise to motivate me. Case in point: I've written 600k+ words with my writing partner in 2021, and we have not posted it anywhere. We aren't getting any sort of praise or validation from the outside world, and it is the most fun we've ever had writing.
I learned how to write even when I'm not inspired or motivated. One of the hard writer truths is that if we only write when we have inspiration to, we'll never finish anything or get to the places that we want to. Writing everyday, making it a habit and training our writing muscles makes it SO much easier to crank out some words and get a point across when we're not feeling it. I definitely haven't always been super inspired or excited to write in 2021, but being in the habit of writing makes it easier to push some words out, even if you don't have that spark.
My writing improved by leaps and bounds. Objectively speaking, my writing has gotten so much better. I've improved more in the past two years than I've ever improved in my entire life. And not only did I get better, it's easier to write and to improve now.
I actually write the really cool parts of my WIP that I've dreamed about for years. And yes, I write chronologically. Writing out of order doesn't work for me, so I had to get through everything that happened before that to get to the part that I've been dreaming and hyping up in my head. I used to always stop writing before I got anywhere remotely near it, so it was always just a really cool idea in my head. When I finally got to that point, it was glorious.
Once I've written out the scene that I've been perfecting in my head for years, it's even better than I could ever imagine. It's always a scary thought that it'll never live up to our high expectations. For me, it surpassed it. It is so much better written down than it was in my head, and now I get to read it. The satisfaction is incredible.
I no longer dread writing. Back when I never wrote, the idea and the expecation and the pressure for me to write was immense. I'm a writer, so I need to write, but I'm not. It gave me a lot of anxiety and dread, and I avoided it all the time. Now, I go to bed, excited to write more tomorrow. I wake up, and my first thought is how excited I am to write more today. I'm constantly writing in my spare time because I want to write. I'm not scared of it anymore.
I don't believe that you have to write every single day to reap the benefits like I did. I think writing as regularly as you can will work. Be sure to pick a realistic and manageable goal for yourself, and figure out what works for you!
Remember, all advice is subjective! So don’t take this too seriously. This is just one person’s opinion.
If you’d like to ask me for advice on writing or running a writeblr, please check out my Ask Guidelines and FAQ first.
Ask Guidelines | FAQ | Advice Masterlist
More advice under the cut!
Keep track of your word count
For me, it was incredibly motivating to see how many words I write per day. It can also show you interesting trends and stats, and seeing the cumulative word count that we wrote per month or year. It's also a good accountability tool too, and keeps me writing even when I don't want to, because I don't want to break my streak.
You can track it daily, or weekly, monthly, whatever works for you! I have a daily word count per project, and a daily cumulative word count where I add it all together.
You can use whatever tool you want. There are a ton of free (and paid) trackers out there that you can find by asking around or googling, you can make a spreadsheet, etc. I personally just use the word count channel I made on a private Discord server, and this was what made it possible for me to track it because it's so easy!
Love your WIP
Are you enjoying your story? Are you having fun writing it? Do you get excited when you think about it?
We're not always going to enjoy writing, and that's okay. But it's really important that no matter how bad the hard days get, that our WIP is full of things that we love. It's okay to be self-indulgent; it's okay to throw in our favourite tropes and techniques and archetypes. Find ways to be excited about it! Daydream, make pinterest boards or playlists, whatever it takes.
The more you enjoy your writing, the better it will be. The more you enjoy it, the more you'll want to work on it.
When your WIP gets stale, throw in something new
No matter how much you love your WIP, and no matter how much you are in the habit of writing, you're going to face a lull at some point. As much as you believe in your WIP, it might start to get stale, boring, you're just going through the motions, it's just not inspiring you anymore...
When this happens, try something new! For my writing partner and I, we tried writing out a sex scene for the very first time when writing was a slog. We discovered that we enjoyed writing it, and we spent all day nonstop writing, after pushing out minimal word counts for several weeks.
When one project was getting too comfortable and stale, we started another one to write alongside it, and we've tripled our daily word count. We write more for each individual project now, than we did when we had just the one.
Maybe it's trying out action scenes, incorporating a new character, switching POVs, starting a new side project... Whatever it is, when you're getting bored, try throwing in something new. It might be the spark you need to breathe life back into it.
Find a writing buddy to hold yourself accountable
Let's face it: Writing is really hard. It can be really isolating. I know that I would never have written 50k words, let alone 600k+ if I was doing it all on my own. If I didn't have my writing partner waiting for me to write, or to talk to when I was feeling stuck, discuss headcanons and ideas with... I don't think I would ever be able to write everyday.
Even if you're not co-writing like I am, find a writing buddy! Maybe you have a friend that is willing to check in with you and chat with you about your projects. Maybe there's a mutual on Writeblr, and you can send each other encouraging asks, and DMs to keep each other updated on word count. Maybe it's not even a single buddy, and you're just posting about it to your followers.
Whatever it is, having someone else to check in with, who can ask "hey, how's your WIP going? Did you write for it today?", or having someone to bounce ideas off of, and get excited with you can make a world of difference.
It's not always going to be easy writing regularly, and that's okay
Just do your best to get out a couple of sentences or something. Especially initially, when you're not used to writing regularly, you're going to get stuck a lot. Try to lower the bar; it's okay if it's the crappiest sentence in the world, just try to write something.
And also importantly, don't push yourself too hard! Give it an honest effort, and if it's still not working it's okay to take a break.
Be forgiving when you don't meet your goal
You real life obligations and mental health will always, always come first.
If you skip a writing day, that's okay! If you don't meet your goal, that's also okay. It's good to have goals and it's good to push to meet them, but you don't have to beat yourself up for not achieving it. You don't have to work yourself to the bone trying to make it.
Take care of yourself, you're doing your best. You're not a failure for missing the mark sometimes. Just give it another shot on another day, even if you stumble.
Every little bit counts
Even if you write just five words that day, it counts!
This one was a really hard one for me to swallow personally. After writing 2k+ per day for months, it felt disappointing to write less than 1k on a day. But that's okay.
No matter how many words or how few words you write, the main thing is that you are writing. If you wrote less than what you expected, that's fine! Try to reframe it and think of it in a "it was a hard day, but I managed to write five words anyway and I'm proud of myself".
Celebrate the victories
My writing partner and I celebrate every 50k we write. Before we were consistently writing 50k per month, we celebrated every 10k. My private discord server has milestones of "On this day, we wrote 50k!" because I want to memorialize our accomplishments somewhere. After we finish a really good chapter, we celebrate it together. We reread our projects every so often to talk about how good it is and how much we like it.
Maybe it's as little as patting yourself on the back. Maybe it's something more robust like rewarding yourself somehow. No matter what you do, find a way to celebrate a milestone, however you want to define it.
Keep your document open, even if you're not actively writing in it
Even if you're doing something else, just having it open can lower the barrier to writing. Sometimes I feel like finding our document, opening it up, waiting for it to load, finding a notebook, flipping to the right page, finding a pen, all of that can take up spoons.
If you already have it open and accesible, you can take advantage of it and write something whenever you have the slightest of inklings to. I procrastinate on writing a lot, and I'm not always inclined to do something. I split screen my internet browser and have my document open on one half of my screen at all times. This makes it so much easier to type a few things when I feel like it.
Squeeze writing in whenever and wherever you can
Writing doesn't have to be sitting down at your computer for hours to crank out a lot of words in a single sitting. I wrote on my phone a lot. Whenever I had a bit of a break, I pulled out my phone and wrote something. In between errands and tasks, I was writing on my phone, or jotting down an idea in my planner. Make your idea of 'writing' a bit more flexible; you'd be surprised by how many ways you can squeeze it in somewhere.
Again, this is just what worked for me and my partner specifically. You'll have to figure out what works for you, but hopefully this will give you a place to start trying things out.
Good luck!
Remember, all advice is subjective! So don’t take this too seriously. This is just one person’s opinion.
If you’d like to ask me for advice on writing or running a writeblr, please check out my Ask Guidelines and FAQ first.
