It’s all too
easy to feel inadequate as a writer of fiction. So many opportunities to
embrace self-doubt arise during the writing process it’s remarkable any writer
has ever managed to complete a book.
Are the characters fully developed? Does the
plot make sense? Is the manuscript riddled with continuity errors? Does the
sentence structure create a natural flow for the reader? Should the story be
told by a first person narrator, a third person limited narrator, a third
person omniscient narrator, or a biased, secondary, first person narrator? Is
my grammar flawed? Does the book I just finished writing tell the same story as
the book I began writing eight months ago?
There’s
almost no way to keep some of these doubts from lodging in your brain and
festering, but there is one often self-imposed hurdle that should be avoided
right from the start: fear of inadequate productivity.
It seems no
matter where you turn for writing advice – blogs, books, magazines, chatrooms,
social media – everyone has a firm idea about how many words you should write
each day to consider yourself a serious writer. Two-thousand words a day and
one-thousand words a day are the most common numbers you’ll see handed down as
required output. They are preached so frequently and so adamantly that not
achieving them can weigh heavily on your authorial conscience.
The problem
with expecting to write thousands of words a day is it isn’t always realistic,
particularly if you are, like me, not a full-time writer.
When I see
comments by other authors on blogs or in group discussion threads in which they
tout their daily word count, some reporting as much as 8,000 words during the
course of a single weekend, a fleeting sense of envy often surges through me. My
current work in progress is thoroughly outlined and my enthusiasm for it is
boundless, so why can’t I achieve a similar level of productivity?
The answer is
simple. I can’t write 8,000 words in one sitting, or two, or even three. It
isn’t the way my brain works, and it might not be the way your brain works,
either.
After a maximum
of 1,000 words, my brain wants to go back and reread what it just produced. My
brain wants to take in the latest effort and consider it, make certain it
accomplishes what it should, and ensure it will lead me properly to the next
thousand words. I learned a long time ago that forging ahead without the full
consent of my brain yields only page after page of substandard writing.
There’s also
the matter of time.
I have a
job, and three teenage kids, and friends, and family, and a dog, and a house,
and a life, and all of the experiences and requirements that come along with
all those things. In order to remain a viable activity, writing has to take a
back seat to the primary responsibilities that provide steady income and make
life worth living in the first place. Not only do some days pass without my
having an opportunity to write, sometimes entire weeks will pass without the
first word of fiction being set to paper. If I allowed every day that passed
without accomplishing any writing to impact my belief that I am a good writer
with a good story to tell, then I would have given up trying years ago.
If you need
a 2,000-word goal in order to keep motivated, then set that goal and achieve
it. Does a one-page-a-day goal work better for you? Go for it. Is it enough
that you take the time, when you have it to spare, and do as much as you can?
If you don’t have a publisher pressing you to meet a deadline, yes.
The best any
of us can do is experiment with writing and find a level of productivity that
is sustainable. Just keep in mind, it isn’t how many words you’re able to churn
out on a daily basis that matters most. It’s the quality of the final product.
2014 Mark Feggeler
