I am Stephen King. Back to Blog
Okay, well, no, I’m not really, though I do think the man is wicked cool.
But, while I am not, in fact, Stephen King, I do share the man’s writing style.
Nick sent me this interesting link to the “7 Writing Habits of Amazing Writers.”
Wanna know Stephen’s method? It seems he writes ten pages a day, every day. Holidays included. That is so me. I’ve found that the ten pages a day schedule works very well for me. So I set that as my goal, and within two months, I have a finished manuscript. (The manuscript still has to be polished and edited, but the rough draft is finished.)
According to the article, Hemingway wrote 500 words a day. Truman Capote was a “completely horizontal writer” (yeah, check out the article for an explanation on that!), and James Joyce once wrote three sentences–and counted that work as a good writing day.
We all have our methods. If you’re a writer–what’s yours?
Have a great Friday! If you’re in the path of Ike, stay safe.
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Ten pages a day is my goal. Usually I get to that point after the first 50 pages or so. Up to that point, I’m fumbling, getting to know my characters and my story.
I went over to the link. Interesting. If I wrote like Phillip Roth, I might be thinner. If I wrote like Truman Capote, I might be fatter. lol
Since I haven’t gotten to the point where I have a real deadline, I set them up for myself. When I am writing something fresh I try for two chapters a week, which is about 30-35 pages, some weeks I do the five page a day thing, other weeks I do 20pgs one day and 15pgs another, but I try to stick to the total for the week to get to a certain point in a manuscript. Also, at this stage, I try to make sure I do something writing related each day, even if it is just read an article.
Edie, I think I might need to try some of Phillip’s style. I’ve been ignoring the treadmill lately…
Hi, Rhonda! I love your schedule–and the idea of doing something writing related, even if, as you said, it is just reading an article, is a great idea. What a good way to stay focused on your end goals.
Well, one of them is a non-sequential writer like me, but I wouldn’t think of writing on index cards-not big enough. I no longer write in long hand either. I started out like that, because I couldn’t type very fast then.
My initial goal was a minimum of 100 words that I write and then report to a group with daily and monthly. Since September 6th, I set a new daily minimum of 200 words a day and so far, that’s going well. Both goals have allowed me to read daily, too. Whereas before, I would either write or read, but not both on a daily basis. Keeping a balance between draining and refilling the creative well is very important.
LindaC
Hey I found this I don’t know if the link will work but I saw it this morning, it’s a short clip of Stephen King 🙂
http://www.guidetoliteraryagents.com/blog/PermaLink,guid,adea47d6-5637-4fef-9335-e9bb6224d66a.aspx
This was fascinating! Thanks for the link. Around 8-10 pages a day is what I can do when I’m on a roll, but, like Edie, it takes me a while to get into that groove. Usually the first quarter of a book, alas
You’ve inspired me once again, Cindy! My favorite routine is ten pages a day, and anything over that is gravy. Routine is very important, I think. When you’re out of habit, something that happens to most of us a time or two, it’s doubly hard to get back. Worth staying in habit. 😆