The people who are advocating the fast-paced approach to writing are people who live in the self-centered impersonal bubbles the Internet has created and enabled since its creation. They did not grow up in an area when writing was created in a piecemeal way on assignment, but instead have deluded themselves into seeing writing as a daily chore- and consequently make their word more insipid in content to allow for the word quota to be met.
I’m one of those obnoxious ones that spends a long time thinking churning then bangs out a 1500 word essay in two days. But the reason I can do that is because I’ve been writing for 30+ years, sometimes completely anonymously too, and now I know how I put it together. It requires a lot of staring off into space and baking before I even start to type. .
I feel the same way. I know when I need to actually write and when I need to reflect or defer and I let myself write in my head, consciously or otherwise. I've been publishing since 1978 (!) and know my rhythms, know what helps me and what hinders me. This is one reason I don't go to writers' retreats. This Taurus loves his home, his quiet neighborhood and writing here is always a mix of peace and excitement. I have worked on book reviews while traveling, though, and occasionally written a story page or so, but for the most part j'y, suis reste. :-)
Well stated. If you can't write don't write-- it will show. If you don't feel like writing don't write-- it will show. If you have nothing to write don't write-- it will show. These are three entirely different problems, all with the same solution.
This!!! Every writer has a different routine, a different system that works best for them. To think one size fits all is folly at best and damaging at worst. Walking, daydreaming, doodling, whatever works for each one of us is what we should do. And yes, definitely quality over quantity.
Quality does indeed go down when writers push themselves to churn weekly ‘content’ for newsletters, blogs, etc. Writing fiction doesn’t work like that. What I see people do, when they stick to the weekly fiction, is publish snippets of works in progress or of ideas that are just forming, a scene, a couple of paragraphs written in a moment of inspiration. That seems to work for them. Other people are fantastic at publishing weekly serials for years.
Was it Hemingway that suggested writing a short story per week for a whole year as an exercise in learning the craft? But would he suggest posting that weekly story on a Substack? Plus, this is a writing exercise for a limited period of time.
I’ve been writing almost daily for the past month because I have some free time and many stories waiting to be written. Even so, it takes time to write fiction and some days I just sit there staring into nothing or watching YouTube videos because I don’t even have one line in me.
Thanks for writing this. I've pulled back from "writing to the finish line," because it felt like drudgery, not creative discovery and intelligent work. If you have a contract for two or three books a year, then a daily quota makes sense. But my best stories have come slowly, with an idea that resolves into a scene and then a line of dialogue and then a character's personal twitch of behavior and unacknowledged goals and biases. These little things take time to be appear and be organic; they don't show up according to a schedule or a timeline. The story that emerges feels authentic because it is, not constructed but in some way lived and then brought onto the page. Great post.
Thanks, and your comparison of organic to scheduled is very sounds. Even under contract, I've let stories, books, whatever grow as they needed to--and never missed a deadline in my career. :-)
I think it’s all part of the thinking out loud tendency that Substack encourages, about writing. I love Substack but I don’t always want to obsess about all these things. I just want to read what others are writing and thinking about, but not necessarily about writing, if that makes sense.
After my 27th book, I didn't like the landscape and that's one reason I switched to writing personal essays and short stories which is where my career began. It's nice not to deal with delayed gratification. An essay rejected in the morning can be accepted that afternoon and be online in days or weeks.
I write mostly nonfiction and the same considerations apply. My best work occurs when I take the time to mull over my approach (after completing any necessary research). Sometimes that happens at 3:00am! But it needs to happen. If it doesn’t, I will produce a crappy result.
I’ve published in ten or so genres and so much of writing ,in whatever genre, is about preparation and we need to do that in the way that both works for us and also doesn’t impose unreasonable standards.
brickAmerica often is an assembly line and or an assembled line they way once upon a time we came to school and assembled ourselves by grade and by class ranking within the line. And if anyone got out of line,askew or uneven or slighty jagged, the were removed from the line and left to stand against the walls (mostly brick with the consequence of staying after school to write 30-200 times depending on. the time constraints or sheer masochims of the originally teacher. Ahh dear old Golden Rule days.
Some of the repulsive aspects of the recalcitrant and mind mangling linearities are the "challenges" to write a novel in the month of November. Write a novel in one month. 30 days.\
The people who are advocating the fast-paced approach to writing are people who live in the self-centered impersonal bubbles the Internet has created and enabled since its creation. They did not grow up in an area when writing was created in a piecemeal way on assignment, but instead have deluded themselves into seeing writing as a daily chore- and consequently make their word more insipid in content to allow for the word quota to be met.
I never want to be that kind of writer, ever.
Well said!
Exactly!
I’m one of those obnoxious ones that spends a long time thinking churning then bangs out a 1500 word essay in two days. But the reason I can do that is because I’ve been writing for 30+ years, sometimes completely anonymously too, and now I know how I put it together. It requires a lot of staring off into space and baking before I even start to type. .
I feel the same way. I know when I need to actually write and when I need to reflect or defer and I let myself write in my head, consciously or otherwise. I've been publishing since 1978 (!) and know my rhythms, know what helps me and what hinders me. This is one reason I don't go to writers' retreats. This Taurus loves his home, his quiet neighborhood and writing here is always a mix of peace and excitement. I have worked on book reviews while traveling, though, and occasionally written a story page or so, but for the most part j'y, suis reste. :-)
Well stated. If you can't write don't write-- it will show. If you don't feel like writing don't write-- it will show. If you have nothing to write don't write-- it will show. These are three entirely different problems, all with the same solution.
Amen.
This!!! Every writer has a different routine, a different system that works best for them. To think one size fits all is folly at best and damaging at worst. Walking, daydreaming, doodling, whatever works for each one of us is what we should do. And yes, definitely quality over quantity.
Quality does indeed go down when writers push themselves to churn weekly ‘content’ for newsletters, blogs, etc. Writing fiction doesn’t work like that. What I see people do, when they stick to the weekly fiction, is publish snippets of works in progress or of ideas that are just forming, a scene, a couple of paragraphs written in a moment of inspiration. That seems to work for them. Other people are fantastic at publishing weekly serials for years.
Was it Hemingway that suggested writing a short story per week for a whole year as an exercise in learning the craft? But would he suggest posting that weekly story on a Substack? Plus, this is a writing exercise for a limited period of time.
I’ve been writing almost daily for the past month because I have some free time and many stories waiting to be written. Even so, it takes time to write fiction and some days I just sit there staring into nothing or watching YouTube videos because I don’t even have one line in me.
It was Ray Bradbury.
I love the fallow times of writing.....when I let my unconscious do the work.
It’s the only writing. The rest is transcribing.
Thanks for writing this. I've pulled back from "writing to the finish line," because it felt like drudgery, not creative discovery and intelligent work. If you have a contract for two or three books a year, then a daily quota makes sense. But my best stories have come slowly, with an idea that resolves into a scene and then a line of dialogue and then a character's personal twitch of behavior and unacknowledged goals and biases. These little things take time to be appear and be organic; they don't show up according to a schedule or a timeline. The story that emerges feels authentic because it is, not constructed but in some way lived and then brought onto the page. Great post.
Thanks, and your comparison of organic to scheduled is very sounds. Even under contract, I've let stories, books, whatever grow as they needed to--and never missed a deadline in my career. :-)
Agreed!
I think it’s all part of the thinking out loud tendency that Substack encourages, about writing. I love Substack but I don’t always want to obsess about all these things. I just want to read what others are writing and thinking about, but not necessarily about writing, if that makes sense.
Obsessing over word counts online is just sad. To what end, I ask?
It makes some people feel good, I suppose, but it's false security.
It's antithetical to the writing process, as far as I'm concerned.
Totally agree. And will get worse with AI.
I'm glad I bailed out of higher ed, including teaching writing, just before generative AI hit.
After my 27th book, I didn't like the landscape and that's one reason I switched to writing personal essays and short stories which is where my career began. It's nice not to deal with delayed gratification. An essay rejected in the morning can be accepted that afternoon and be online in days or weeks.
sometimes magazines require specific word counts.
Horace. Definitely Horace. Maybe Homer.
https://marlowe1.substack.com/p/pool-sharks-by-gerard-brennan-badass
LOL
I write mostly nonfiction and the same considerations apply. My best work occurs when I take the time to mull over my approach (after completing any necessary research). Sometimes that happens at 3:00am! But it needs to happen. If it doesn’t, I will produce a crappy result.
I’ve published in ten or so genres and so much of writing ,in whatever genre, is about preparation and we need to do that in the way that both works for us and also doesn’t impose unreasonable standards.
brickAmerica often is an assembly line and or an assembled line they way once upon a time we came to school and assembled ourselves by grade and by class ranking within the line. And if anyone got out of line,askew or uneven or slighty jagged, the were removed from the line and left to stand against the walls (mostly brick with the consequence of staying after school to write 30-200 times depending on. the time constraints or sheer masochims of the originally teacher. Ahh dear old Golden Rule days.
Some of the repulsive aspects of the recalcitrant and mind mangling linearities are the "challenges" to write a novel in the month of November. Write a novel in one month. 30 days.\
Also write a poem a day for a month.
You jest, no?? tbc
Enough with the diktats! Or, as they say in the Corona ad: Find your beach...
Nice one!
to beach their own. Under- stand.
Or we'll end up like Lucy trying to work in that chocolate factory. :-)
Exactly--nobody is forcing people to write like hamsters on a wheel....
That's what I always told my students and that's what I tell the writers I edit, mentor, coach.