How many words you write in a day?

Beta02

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I know not everyone has the time or effort to continuously pump out content every day whether it be due to irl issues or just being lazy…but, on average, how many words you write in a day, or perhaps, a week?
 

LordAstrea

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That's a tough one. If I go by an average, then it would be probably 500-1,000. I guess that seems low, but sometimes I will spend a few hours in a day just editing. I could write 2,000-3,000 words one day, but then the following days I will consult the thesaurus, try to convey information with better sentence structure/flow, typical grammar checks, go back over previous chapters for plot consistency/wording, change dialogue after reading it aloud, etc. It goes on and on. Not even counting the research I put in sometimes for battle tactics. I love stuff about medieval weapons and even research on how to properly treat injuries out in the field.
And then...yeah, there is also real life. Sometimes I go out to see if there are any catgirls wandering around too. That can take up a few hours. *sob*
 

LoliGent

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I go by chapters rather than time period because I write on average 1000-1500 words per chapter and it can take me as little as 30 minutes up to an hour to churn each one out. On average, I clock in at 40 minutes.

Not to mention editing is a must. Even my pantser style series gets at least one revision, and I'm currently writing nothing but rough drafts so I can have a backlog when I start uploading, and those will take an entire day to edit. I am also drawing illustrations, so there's more time being taken away from writing.

Currently, I can write up to 5 chapters a day, but only due to time constraints, the weather being too hot, I feel too blegh, etc. If not for that, I'd probably churn out a chapter an hour. I usually start at 1pm or 2pm and go to sleep at 12 midnight. So if I could, I would churn out 10 chapters a day, but I should be lucky I can even get half of that cuz I get tired after a chapter and need a breather, maybe play a game or watch something, and I end up doing it far longer than intended.

So to answer your question, and assuming I write 5 chapters a day at that rate, between 5,000 and 7,500 words a day for me.
 

K5Rakitan

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I never counted. I used to write in a paper notebook before bed. Now, I hold my nipple in my baby's mouth.
 

KoyukiMegumi

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Well, for me it depends on how many distractions I get. I could write 5-10ks in a day. If I am not doing anything else. *Yes, we can classify my chapters as massive, but hey I don't upload every day.*
But in 1-2 hours maybe 2-3k. *Again depending on distractions.*
1k the least every time I write. :blob_aww: :sweating_profusely:
 

EternalSunset0

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Very inconsistent. Probably 500-1k a day now, but on a good day, I remember doing up to 5k daily before.
 

JK-Sama

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image_2021-07-09_150511.png

June comes up to about 18k. This data was from Windows Scrivener 3 in Projects -> Writing History.
 

InfantryTerminator

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One day I struggle to write 100, other I can do 1000 per hour. Mostly depends what I'm doing and what stage of burnout I'm at
 

wildan1197_

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I could write up to 1000-1400 words. But I didn't publish it right away because I wrote it in my mother tongue. I also need to make edits and revisions here and there before I translate them.

Even then, I need to check again (proofreader stuff, eliminate word repetition, so that my writing looks rich in words, etc.) before I publish it.

I usually update my story twice a week (2 chapters/week).
 

Paul_Tromba

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I know not everyone has the time or effort to continuously pump out content every day whether it be due to irl issues or just being lazy…but, on average, how many words you write in a day, or perhaps, a week?
I usually write between 800 and 1200 words a day depending on the day just because that's all I can write in the hour I have to do so. Though, I do write a lot more on Sundays since it's my day off. Probably between 3000 and 5000 on Sundays depending on how I'm feeling. I wish I could write more but I just don't have the time.
 

Agentt

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My main series was a comedy satire weird thing that i used to write just for 2 people here, it was like our little lounge where i could write any weird stuff. I could make people dinosaur, or have them become immortal, or just turn villians into teddies.
For that, I used to write 1 chapter everyday, 1000 words.

For my side series, which was a real story, the word limit deviates from 200-700 words depending on how good I am feeling
 

Jet

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That's why I don't feel comfortable mingling in. The numbers you guys sit at are absolutely ridiculous. Over 300k a year. Jeez, that's like several regular novels every single year. Even accomplished authors rarely reach that.
Well, guess, even that is but a joke to the supreme deities like Yansusustories or Steven King. Yet scary pace for the mortal realm. Personally, I'm struggling to produce a meagre 5-6k a month.
 

Generik0

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Used to write 5,000-word chapters every day. Until the Procrastination arrived. Now I'm only able to write 100 words per day.
 

AliceShiki

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In the days I do write, I do about 2k words a day... Then in the next day I would be editing this 2k words chapter. So... Assuming I'd write/edit 5 days/week, that would be about 5k words written and edited per week.

... It's hard to overcome procrastination to do that though... Most of my work in overcoming procrastination goes into my translation job... >.>
That's why I don't feel comfortable mingling in. The numbers you guys sit at are absolutely ridiculous. Over 300k a year. Jeez, that's like several regular novels every single year. Even accomplished authors rarely reach that.
Well, guess, even that is but a joke to the supreme deities like Yansusustories or Steven King. Yet scary pace for the mortal realm. Personally, I'm struggling to produce a meagre 5-6k a month.
Well, 5-6k a month can't really compete in the webnovel market, so uhn... To be quite direct, this pace isn't enough for Scribblehub if you want to try monetizing your stories. It can work for a story that is written for a hobby of course, or as a small side earning if you try self-publishing it later as an e-book... But if you wanna try competing in the webnovel market, you just need to do at the very least a release per week, preferably a few releases per week actually.

It's perfectly fine to write at your pace though. Personally speaking I haven't written anything for the story I'm currently working at in like... 3 months or something? It's hard to overcome procrastination... But I want to overcome, and am working towards it at my own pace... Because well, I do wanna write at a consistent pace and eventually make a living from writing, so I need to churn out chapters at a decent pace every week.

If you don't have any goal like that, just do things in the way you want. Writing is supposed to be fun after all, and you should do it at the way that you have the most fun with~
 

Jet

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@AliceShiki Didn't realise that SH was such a highly competitive environment. I also find it hard to imagine how writing 2k words a day can be fun. But I'd like to put that number into perspective. Just so to be clear.

2k a day means that you would write the entirety of original Middle-earth chronicles in a year. That includes Silmarillion, Hobbit, Lord of the rings and Red book. You could also write "In search of lost time" in a matter of 2years. And that's the longest widely accepted classic work I can think of, tbh. The crazy thing is that you shall have 200k more words to spare. So, would produce another very long novel that very same year lol.

I'd like to point out that those novels are magnum opuses, respective authors had spent pretty much the entirety of their lives on. Stuff like War and peace isn't even worth a mention, as it's child's play at this level.

Another fun fact is that if you start writing in yours 20s, you would be able to overtake Alexander Dumas' entire bibliography by your early 60s. One of the most prolific writers in human history, mind you. Who cheated, btw. Because an entire department of people had written for him on regular basis. But you are beyond all that, so shall manage all that all by yourself.

That's what writing 730k words a year translates into.
 
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blanksphere

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@AliceShiki Didn't realise that SH is such a highly competitive environment. I also find it hard to imagine how writing 2k words a day can be fun. But I'd like to put that number into perspective. Just so to be clear.

2k a day means that you will write the entirety of original Middle-earth chronicles in a year. That includes Silmarillion, Hobbit, Lord of the rings and Red book. You can also write "In search of lost time" in a matter of 2years. And that's the lengthiest widely accepted classic work I can think of, tbh. The crazy thing is that you shall have 200k more words to spare. So, would produce another very large novel that very same year lol.

I'd like to point out that those novels are magnum opuses, respective authors had spent pretty much the entirety of their lives on. Stuff like War and peace isn't even worth a mention, as it's child's play at this level.

Another fun fact is that if you start writing in yours 20s, you would be able to overtake Alexander Dumas' entire bibliography by your early 60s. One of the most prolific writers in human history, mind you. Who cheated, btw. Because an entire department of people had written for him on regular basis. But you are beyond all that, so shall manage all that all by yourself.

That's what writing 730k words a year translates into.
Maybe in the future, historians will come to know SH as one of the starting places of legendary authors! :blob_highfive:
 
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1,000 to 2,000 words in two hours. if I feel motivated and it's a slightly complex plot. But, my speed is improving as I write more and have a basic routine, to glance at.
 
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