Speed Demon

I've had some comments - not here, elsewhere - on the speed at which I produce work. In particular, how I manage to write so quickly.

For example: this Nano challenge, I have written - from scratch, without plot or plan - 120k on the thriller Deception and 31k on the Science Fantasy novel SABLE. That's a big total for twenty-seven days of writing. And that is exactly how it sounds: Twenty-seven days of writing. No days off for good behaviour, no squibbing on the total or the writing, no shirking the muse because family came to visit. That's sitting down at the keyboard and pounding out the words, one after the other, no matter how late in the night.

That is how a book is written, with your focus on the story, on the characters and what their doing, on What Happens Next.

WHN is of paramount importance here. If you don't know where you're going with a book, it doesn't matter how fast you type, the words won't come.

Typing is a learned trade, but a practiced art. Like writing, the more you practice, the better you'll get at it; well, that's the theory, anyway.

And there, grasshopper, is the secret to high word counts. Write every day until the book is done. Then you can take a break. Know What Happens Next, even if, like me, you're a free writer. Have, at least, a vague idea and hit the keyboard. If it doesn't work... well, it works for me, but if it doesn't, you can always go back and fix it at the editing stage. Learn to type properly. Not this hunt and peck method, that smacks of a lack of commitment and arrogance. Do it the conventional way before you do it the unconventional way.

By the end, you'll have your book; do your happy dance. (For some of you, do it privately, please?) Then let it rest. It needs it after all you've put it through. When it's matured and you've got some distance, go back and edit; that is another skill to learn.

Go, young Jedi, use the Force and create. With every word, sentence and paragraph you type, the faster you will go.