On Blogging | Author Skills

Fast Writing Isn’t Bad Writing

High word counts don’t deserve criticism

Any time I see (usually on Twitter, though also here) a discussion of how it’s possible to write several thousand words a day, someone always pops up and says, “Well, they’re not gonna be good words.”

Or, “that’s not writing, it’s typing!”

(which was allegedly said by Truman Capote about Jack Kerouac).

It does feel obvious to say that if something is rushed, it will be poorer quality. But I have a few things to say in defence of fast writers.

Consider this…

Firstly, quick doesn’t always equate to rushed. I think it’s easy for novices to underestimate how much skill and thought can go into writing, even at high speeds.

Writing is a skill, and writers do get faster with practice.

It’s perhaps not obvious until you have been writing for a few years. But as certain basics (typing out the words, sentence phrasing) become more automatic, more of the mind’s limited space is freed up to make more creative choices, to think about craft, pacing and plot, etc.

Consider this — highly-skilled people tend to be quick in all kinds of fields, don’t they? Think of chefs, carpenters, plumbers, even doctors… skilled and experienced people are able to think fast and act fast.

With that said, I don’t think that we can assume that a high word count (such as two or three thousand words per hour) tells us much at all about the quality of what is written. The quality will depend more on the skill of the writer.

A high word count doesn’t tell us much at all about the quality of what is written.

The flipside

To flip the discussion, does going slowly and ponderously guarantee great writing? If so, then every novice who picks up a pen (or laptop) is a great writer!

I’d suggest that there is probably a pretty low correlation between speed and quality of writing. If there is a link at all, it’s probably in a positive direction.

That is to say, faster people are probably better.

That’s because they got fast by doing a lot of practice, and while practice might not make perfect, it definitely helps.

Think of the experienced journalists who can crank out an article every single day. Do we seriously think that they are producing really bad work? Or that their word count is the best way of judging their skill?

And is it reasonable to think that a novice who only manages a couple hundred words is somehow better?

In my workplace, there are people that are quick and efficient and get the work done without the delay. And then there are people that are slow, who procrastinate, and constantly have to ask for help and redo things.

Now, perhaps that latter group are really choosing their words and actions super carefully…

But I can tell you which group I’d rather work with.

To conclude…

Overall, I don’t think prolific writers deserve the criticism they get.

I know one author who produces 5000 words per day, every day. He has been doing it for years. And he has recently been in discussions with a good publisher; I think he’s set to become a top writer in his genre.

Granted, many of us are a long way from that. Challenges like NaNoWriMo are all about writing a very fast first draft that will need a lot of editing. That’s fine.

But such challenges are also about getting faster, and getting better.

So that next time you try to write a novel, you can write more words, more accurately, and with a better-structured plot. Because writing is a skill. It develops through practice.

And good writers are quicker.

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