So who is getting lots of writing done?

[Karn's Return]

I should be, but...I'm just discouraged about it all right now, for reasons...

 

[BT Jones]

I've had a slight job change recently off the back of the Covid crisis and it means I am getting 1 day off a week, which I am spending writing; something that has long been a dream! There's two sides to every blade.

 

[Dragonlady]

I seem to be averaging 500 words a week, which is better than nothing. A lot of my free time is having to go on exercise as my walking commute is going on stuff like childcare

 

[Toby Frost]

Wow! I can't even imagine writing a book like that. Continuity must be a nightmare unless you have the most detailed plot outline. Me I just write a book in order. Sometimes it goes backwards as well as forwards, but there's always that straight line of story which keeps everything in order. So what made you develop your system?

Sorry, I've only just noticed this. Well, I think it's largely necessity. This is way bigger than anything I've attempted before, and I've noticed that without careful planning, I tend to default to a very linear structure. With the exception of a few scenes, I do tend to write in order. One plot thread was separate from the others for a long time (the character was stuck in a castle on top of a mountain) and so I could write that fairly separately. Ultimately, in the fourth book, the plot threads come together as the characters form one group, and most of their issues are solved by the group, so it becomes more straightforward (and more action-packed). I can't guarantee that it works perfectly, but it's allowed the story to be told, which I think is what matters.

 

[Omits]

Being a quite monastic and owlish soul by nature, my four hour a day writing routine continues as normal though now time shifted into the productive night time hours of 11 till 3 since I no longer have to get up for anything!
How has your writing been affected? If at all. Destroyed by constant family presence or enhanced by the new peace?

I'm new to this lark. Doing a new future arrival theme with a twist (aren't they all !). Usually tweaking which is probably not good. Trying to decide if I have chapters or just headed sections (liking that best). Approaching about 300K words, is that a lot? Plod on I suppose.

 

[Astro Pen]

I'm new to this lark. Doing a new future arrival theme with a twist (aren't they all !). Usually tweaking which is probably not good. Trying to decide if I have chapters or just headed sections (liking that best). Approaching about 300K words, is that a lot? Plod on I suppose.

As an SF writer I try to keep books around 80K to 100k. (around the 200 pp area) It's the sort of length of books I grew up with. If you are going for 300k especially in your first novel you might have trouble maintaining reader interest/ pace. Or 'long flog through the middle' issues.
I'm sure others here, particularly fantasy writers will offer different opinions!

ps. I did a quick search after replying and found that I have backup. https://www.novel-writing-help.com/novel-length.html

 

[JNG01]

It took me eighteen months to get the first 40k of my WIP down, but I've been averaging 2k a day for the last two weeks. Closing in on the end!

 

[Dan Jones]

I'm new to this lark. Doing a new future arrival theme with a twist (aren't they all !). Usually tweaking which is probably not good. Trying to decide if I have chapters or just headed sections (liking that best). Approaching about 300K words, is that a lot? Plod on I suppose.

300K is one big mammajamma. If you're writing that to self-publish, go for it, but if you're looking to secure an agent, unless you're Proust I doubt there's an agent alive who would take on a debut of such humungous proportions. Could you split it into a series?

Around work and childcare I'm managing about 500 words a day on my WIP, which is pretty pitiful, but I'm forcing myself to keep up some sort of momentum, otherwise I'll lose it completely. I thought lockdown would make me more motivated to write huge reams of material as it has done for others on the boards, but I can't seem to make it stick, which is pretty frustrating.

 

[Dragonlady]

@Dan Jones I'd be pleased if I managed 500 words a day

 

[Dan Jones]

Yeah, I know, and I'm not really getting down on myself. If I was writing a big fat zero I'd love to hit 500 words a day; it's just that now I'm hitting 500, I always think, well I really should be hitting 1000. And if I were to hit 1000, I'd be thinking about 1500... it never really ends.

 

[The Big Peat]

Dan, I think most of us who are really going for it right now are those unburdened by childcare and the likes. I know when I talk to my friends who are still in work and have to do childcare, it's hectic. I don't envy it at all.

As for myself, about to hit 30k on the new WIP, which is kinda new and uncharted territory for me (or at least, it's been so long it feels new and uncharted!)