# Five 80,000 word novels in a week



## libwin (Aug 22, 2015)

I read about an author who writes five 80,000 word novels in a week on another writing board.  I wish I had superpowers like that.


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## Lydniz (May 2, 2013)

1. I'm guessing it's not true.

2. I know the trade-off between speed and quality isn't as great as many people suppose, but how good do you suppose these books are likely to be (if indeed it is true)?


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## dianapersaud (Sep 26, 2013)

libwin said:


> I read about an author who writes five 80,000 word novels in a week on another writing board. I wish I had superpowers like that.


I'm guessing they write under pen names that they want to keep secret, right?

Assuming they take weekends off, that's one 80,000 word novel a day. Dictation software can help but that's still unbelievable. I'm a panster but I still have to do some prep work before I begin.

At that rate, they will be even more prolific than Patterson, and he uses ghost writers.


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## Jim Johnson (Jan 4, 2011)

Here's the secret: Writers lie for a living. 

That being said, I imagine it's possible to do so, depending on a writer's lifestyle and preparation. 400,000 words in a full week is ~57,000 words a day. With proper preparation and light outlines, I write about 3000 words an hour. If I had 19 hours a day for seven days straight to work on just writing new content, I could maybe do this. But it'd be hard on my hands and wrists and back since I don't dictate--I'd have to type it all.

And there are writers farther along the path than I who are either dictating 5-6000+ words an hour, or typing faster, etc. Others could probably make this happen.


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## Rick Partlow (Sep 6, 2016)

And that writer is James Patterson...and friends.  :-D


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## libwin (Aug 22, 2015)

I think it's possible if he is working 18 hour days 7 days a week. I read about an author who wrote a 50,000 word novel every day for 30 days a while ago.


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## Wired (Jan 10, 2014)

libwin said:


> I read about an author who writes five 80,000 word novels in a week on another writing board.


Are they selling?


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## libwin (Aug 22, 2015)

Acheknia said:


> You have your own superpower, being gullible


lol


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## Benjamin Douglas (Aug 1, 2015)

Chiming in to add that if anyone thinks it would be easy to dictate for 8-12 hours a day, whoo boy, try it. We writers think a lot more about the health of our hands and our backs than that of our voices... but those things get worn out pretty easily if you get into overuse, too.

*classical singer in my other life. We fret about voices instead of hands and backs.


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## IreneP (Jun 19, 2012)

Jim Johnson said:


> Here's the secret: Writers lie for a living.


You totally stole my line 

If I were to try and figure out how this might be true.... possibly they could do a detailed outline which they eventually flesh out 80,000?

I mean, you're talking an average of over 57k a day, writing seven days a week. I know some pretty prolific people and none of them approach that level.


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## WDR (Jan 8, 2014)

At my best, I can do 10,000 words in a day. I've hit that number a couple of times, but it is not often. My average is about 1500 words per day, including heavy-writing days and non-writing days. But to do over 57K words per day for an entire week? I have to confess I'm not sure that's probable for one person. (Note I used 'probable,' not 'possible.')


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## Lydniz (May 2, 2013)

There was a poster on here who completed Nanowrimo in the first 24 hours. He wrote 50,000 words and it took him the whole 24 hours.


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## Elizabeth Barone (May 6, 2013)

My wrists are crying at the thought of it!


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## Doglover (Sep 19, 2013)

I can only suggest that he has discovered a way to do without sleep.


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## EllieDee (May 28, 2017)

My first instinct is to call BS, but there conditions when people have an obsessive urge to write.  Hypergraphia and graphomania come to mind, although Wikipedia (the world's most reputable source, I know!) didn't give me an idea of the kind of output that can be expected.  So going off of other people's estimates on this thread, we're talking about dictating a novel 19 hours a day for a week, or typing 24 hours straight for a week.  Is it possible?  Conceivably.  Drugs or a mental disorder would help.


Huh, Lewis Carroll supposedly had hypergraphia.  TIL.


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## Word Fan (Apr 15, 2015)

libwin said:


> I read about an author who writes five 80,000 word novels in a week on another writing board.





libwin said:


> I read about an author who wrote a 50,000 word novel every day for 30 days a while ago.





Lydniz said:


> There was a poster on here who completed NaNoWriMo in the first 24 hours. He wrote 50,000 words and it took him the whole 24 hours.


  Lies! Lies! All lies!

It's about as true as this (and gets started and passed along the same way):

_"My best friend's sister's boyfriend's brother's girlfriend heard from this guy who knows this kid who's going with the girl who saw Ferris pass out at 31 Flavors last night."_


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## Lydniz (May 2, 2013)

Word Fan said:


> Lies! Lies! All lies!
> 
> It's about as true as this (and gets started and passed along the same way):
> 
> _"My best friend's sister's boyfriend's brother's girlfriend heard from this guy who knows this kid who's going with the girl who saw Ferris pass out at 31 Flavors last night."_


Heh. In my example he actually did it live online.

ETA linky: https://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,166386.0.html


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## Amanda M. Lee (Jun 3, 2014)

I could write 50,000 words in twenty-four hours. I write about 3K an hour. That's doable. I wouldn't want to do it, but I could do it. I could not do the other. No way, shape, or form. Kudos to them, though. If I had that super power I would already own an island where no one could bother me, lol.


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## Melody Simmons (Jul 8, 2012)

He employs ghostwriters?


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## H.C. (Jul 28, 2016)

It seems people aren't taking to account how much each hour compounds on the rest. I don't think people can write 10+ hours EVERY DAY with that kind of a pace. The quality would be total garbage.


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## PatriciaThomson (Mar 23, 2016)

Word Fan said:


> _"My best friend's sister's boyfriend's brother's girlfriend heard from this guy who knows this kid who's going with the girl who saw Ferris pass out at 31 Flavors last night."_


Thank you, Simone.


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## Word Fan (Apr 15, 2015)

Lydniz said:


> Heh. In my example he actually did it live online.


I didn't go through all 9 pages. "Live" as in live video? If it wasn't that, it wasn't "live." It was just hearsay.


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## Amanda M. Lee (Jun 3, 2014)

Herefortheride said:


> It seems people aren't taking to account how much each hour compounds on the rest. I don't think people can write 10+ hours EVERY DAY with that kind of a pace. The quality would be total garbage.


While I couldn't do it, I don't put my limitations on others. There are truly gifted people out there.


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## Ryan W. Mueller (Jul 14, 2017)

I once wrote 20,000 words in one day. I wouldn't recommend it. I couldn't imagine keeping up even that pace for an entire week, and that wouldn't even produce two of these 80,000-word novels.


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## Jim Johnson (Jan 4, 2011)

boba1823 said:


> Question for those of you can type 3000 words (ish) per hour:
> 
> Are you an all-fingers-using touch typer? Do you use a mechanical keyboard, or any special equipment/techniques?
> 
> Just curious. I never managed to get past the two-finger typing method, although I can do it without looking at the keyboard. I took a quick typing speed test and managed to hit 88 words in 60 seconds, with three errors - faster than I expected, but I'm sure my hourly rate would be pretty low with fatigue, correcting typos, etc. I've never actually timed my hourly output, but wondering if I should give touch typing another crack at some point.


Just regular hands on keyboard. I write on an Alphasmart Neo which is about the same as a full size keyboard. No fancy mechanicals or switches or anything. I'm not a ten-finger typist. Maybe six or eight most days. I write in 30 minute sprints and give myself breaks.


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## 10105 (Feb 16, 2010)

boba1823 said:


> Question for those of you can type 3000 words (ish) per hour:
> 
> Are you an all-fingers-using touch typer? Do you use a mechanical keyboard, or any special equipment/techniques?


I can if I don't correct in real time. It's only 50 wpm, which I can do. I use touch-typing but not necessarily the correct fingering. The real question is: Can I *think* of 3000 wph? Not likely. I'm a pantser and a good bit of my writing time is spent imagining what's going to happen next.


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## Rose Andrews (Jun 1, 2017)

I'm not saying this isn't possible (because stranger things have happened in this world) but where is there time in this to...pee? Idk...eat? Sleep? Spend time with loved ones? Relax and enjoy life on top of writing? Maybe this person is spouse-less and childless and has little responsibility outside of writing.


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## Rick Gualtieri (Oct 31, 2011)

Amanda M. Lee said:


> While I couldn't do it, I don't put my limitations on others. There are truly gifted people out there.


Yeah, except I think you're the standard of "Holy crap, she wrote how many words today" for many of us. If you're saying you can't do it, it kind of begins to push the boundaries of belief to either "they're lying" or "they're a cyborg from the future"


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## Gentleman Zombie (May 30, 2011)

Word Fan said:


> I didn't go through all 9 pages. "Live" as in live video? If it wasn't that, it wasn't "live." It was just hearsay.


Isn't that a little harsh? Especially when you admittedly didn't read the thread with the posted evidence? As far as 50k in one day its been done by a couple of NANOWRIMO folk. Like this guy http://www.elumir.com/v5/2012/11/05/how-to-write-50000-words-in-24-hours/

Now several 80k novels a week? Seems insane to me. But as said before I'm not going to put my limitations on others.


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## Doglover (Sep 19, 2013)

boba1823 said:


> Question for those of you can type 3000 words (ish) per hour:
> 
> Are you an all-fingers-using touch typer? Do you use a mechanical keyboard, or any special equipment/techniques?
> 
> Just curious. I never managed to get past the two-finger typing method, although I can do it without looking at the keyboard. I took a quick typing speed test and managed to hit 88 words in 60 seconds, with three errors - faster than I expected, but I'm sure my hourly rate would be pretty low with fatigue, correcting typos, etc. I've never actually timed my hourly output, but wondering if I should give touch typing another crack at some point.


My typing speed on a keyboard is 120 words per hour. My typing speed on an old fashioned manual typewriter was 80 words per hour, but I doubt I could even get an impression out of it now. It's not really a question of how fast one can type, but how fast one can type and think at the same time.

I could, perhaps, have done this years ago, but now I get very tired after a few thousand words and need to rest. The little grey cells dry up and I can't think well enough to write an actually coherent story that anyone would want to read.


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## Nic (Nov 17, 2013)

A good typist could be expected to type 80 wpm, which equals to 4,800 wph or 38,400 per normal work day. That's 192,000 a week and equals 2.4 novels per normal work week.  Even if said typist worked all week around and added 2 hours to their workday they would only rack it up to 4.2 novels of that length.

With a typist we are talking about someone who can ceaselessly type because they are being dictated to. They don't have to think up the text while working. Typing text and creating it have even in the best of situations different wpm speeds.

So, I think you've been had. Either that person very leisurely dictated those books first and typed it listening to her own dictation at speed, or it's a once off event after some bet or whatever. For a normal person it's not sustainable. I say this because someone mentioned mental illness above, which I know to exist. That's something else in my opinion.


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## Mark E. Cooper (May 29, 2011)

Maybe she has 3 co-writers. A lot of authors collaborate on projects nowadays.


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## RightHoJeeves (Jun 30, 2016)

Perhaps they consumed a bucket load of drugs, wrote for a week straight... and then spontaneously combusted.


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## JRTomlin (Jan 18, 2011)

boba1823 said:


> Question for those of you can type 3000 words (ish) per hour:
> 
> Are you an all-fingers-using touch typer? Do you use a mechanical keyboard, or any special equipment/techniques?
> 
> Just curious. I never managed to get past the two-finger typing method, although I can do it without looking at the keyboard. I took a quick typing speed test and managed to hit 88 words in 60 seconds, with three errors - faster than I expected, but I'm sure my hourly rate would be pretty low with fatigue, correcting typos, etc. I've never actually timed my hourly output, but wondering if I should give touch typing another crack at some point.


That's only about 50 words a minute which isn't actually terriblyl fast. For an experienced typist, it's a pretty sustainable speed for an hour or so. Typists who make their living at it certainly do that and faster, however, the wear and tear on your muscles and tendons is substantial. It's not particularly healthy to do for extended periods without breaks.

Writing new material is a different question though.


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## Doglover (Sep 19, 2013)

There was a time when I had to write in long hand, then type it afterwards, because I was incapable of typing and thinking at the same time. That came from years as a copy typist and I can still type a lot faster if I have something to copy and never look at the keys. To develop a story and type at the same time, takes a lot more effort than simply copy typing.


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## LifesHumor (Feb 5, 2014)

If I could write one 80,000 novel in five weeks, it would be a miracle.


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## Going Incognito (Oct 13, 2013)

Are you sure this person said 'write' and not 'read?'
And if so, could this be the same 'author' who came up with all of those romance titles from the other thread?


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## unkownwriter (Jun 22, 2011)

Even with my arthritis and carpal tunnel, I can type fast. I touch type and correct as I go, and can still do 100+ words a minute (I know this, because I was doing it on typing tests for a class). I often am typing faster than my computer can keep up with. Well, on good days. Bad days, I probably can't do half that, if I can type at all. But, that's how it goes.

A few months back, I was doing sprints on another board, and was supposed to stop after twenty minutes and post how I'd done. I ended up in the zone, and after forty minutes I had typed over 2500 new words, editing and correcting as I went. That was about 62 wpm. If I could consistently do that, even one "sprint" a day would get these books done, finally. Consistency is a good thing. One day, I'll have it.


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## Ashly Kim (Dec 30, 2014)

Acheknia said:


> You have your own superpower, being gullible


Bwahahaha


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## 10105 (Feb 16, 2010)

All my life I wished I could type as fast as I could think. I've finally reached that goal. My typing isn't any faster though...


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## Charmaine (Jul 20, 2012)

Assuming it's five 80,000 novels in 7 days. The math...

5*80,000 = 400,000 words in 7 days
400,000 / 7 = 57,143 words per day

Working 12 hours per day:

57,143 / 12 = 4,762 words per hour

4,762 / 4 = 1,190 words per 15 minutes

1,190 / 15 = 79 words per minute.

Call me crazy but it actually seems feasible to me. Baaarrrrreeeeellllllyyyyy feasible, but feasible


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## EvanPickering (Mar 8, 2016)

That's gotta be a seriously garbage first draft if someone's pumping out 80k words a week.

I'm sorry, I just can't believe that there's a narrative worth a damn you can pump out like that. Maybe that's just me though.


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## 10105 (Feb 16, 2010)

EvanPickering said:


> That's gotta be a seriously garbage first draft if someone's pumping out 80k words a week.


"That's not writing; it's typing." Truman Capote.


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## Amanda M. Lee (Jun 3, 2014)

EvanPickering said:


> That's gotta be a seriously garbage first draft if someone's pumping out 80k words a week.
> 
> I'm sorry, I just can't believe that there's a narrative worth a damn you can pump out like that. Maybe that's just me though.


80K words a week is a lot but it's doable. I do it all the time, but of course my narratives aren't worth a damn. The OP was talking about much more than that.


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## Rose Andrews (Jun 1, 2017)

EvanPickering said:


> That's gotta be a seriously garbage first draft if someone's pumping out 80k words a week.
> 
> I'm sorry, I just can't believe that there's a narrative worth a damn you can pump out like that. Maybe that's just me though.


Typing is different than narrating a story. Maybe this writer outlines heavily before she begins, but call me skeptical also.


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## Guy Riessen (Mar 27, 2016)

Totally doable. There's some lead-time set-up involved though. First you probably have at least a few years tied up in occult research, possibly world-travel involved. Then inevitably your soul is tied up in escrow for a few weeks, but once the sale is finalized... boom! 80k a week? Done and done.


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## D. Zollicoffer (May 14, 2014)

Maybe five 8,000 words novellas.


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## ........ (May 4, 2013)

Some people are getting truly astonishing speeds out of dictation. 8K an hour x 50 hours = 400,000 words. 7.14 hours a day seven days a week.


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## MladenR (Jul 1, 2017)

Melody Simmons said:


> He employs ghostwriters?


Yeah, he mainly writes 80 page outlines and has dozen writers who take his outlines and rite actual novels.


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## Yayoi (Apr 26, 2016)

libwin said:


> I think it's possible if he is working 18 hour days 7 days a week. I read about an author who wrote a 50,000 word novel every day for 30 days a while ago.


Wow, that's amazing because my first book isn't even finished yet and I started it August of last year.


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## Guest (Aug 16, 2017)

Wow that's simply incredible. I'd place a year's income on a bet that this mythical author rides unicorns and visits alien planets on weekends; just to relax after finishing off those marvelous 5 x 80,000 word novels during the week. He/she probably also sells swampland in Florida at special discount prices


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## Sebastiene (Dec 15, 2011)

Come November, go look around Nanowrimo.org until you find the million word people. I'm NaNo friends with one of them. My author bio is maybe 80 words? Her bio is something like 3,000 words.

All you really need is one obsessed teenager (male or female) and the sheer amount of words they can turn out is staggering. They have a rough idea of novel-form and GO.

There are people writing worse stuff on Amazon who take a lot longer to finish. Passion can make up for a lot, but not everything.

Hypergraphia is another possibility. I have a copy of the most recent big book about it. It... needs to be edited down, TBH.

I can't do it, but I wouldn't automatically assume they're lying.


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## Steve Vernon (Feb 18, 2011)

All work no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work no play makes Jack a dull boy...


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## hopecartercan (Jun 19, 2015)

Steve Vernon said:


> All work no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work no play makes Jack a dull boy...


 

Yep...that's the only way I'd be able to do it. Good one, Steve.


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## EvanPickering (Mar 8, 2016)

Amanda M. Lee said:


> 80K words a week is a lot but it's doable. I do it all the time, but of course my narratives aren't worth a damn. The OP was talking about much more than that.


Damn, I mean, maybe I just can't be that prolific. I didn't mean to disparage anyone's narratives I'm sure yours are awesome Amanda, I guess I'm more just flabbergasted I don't know how I could ever do that. I mean maybe once if I was the most inspired I've ever been in my life lol, but I don't know if could do it repeatedly.


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## michisjourdi (Jan 21, 2016)

I'm less curious about how it's possible, and more curious about how high quality the writing is. While I know that quality and entertainment can be subjective, if the first thing someone told me is that they wrote their 80,000 word book in a week, my first thought is not going to be, "Wow, I bet that's a great book." Sorry if I sound pessimistic.  

Personally, my word count doesn't get much better than around 4,000 a day. And that's on a good day. Fortunately, I write for kids, so it doesn't take me too long to finish a first draft.


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## michisjourdi (Jan 21, 2016)

I just did a little math for anyone who might be interested.

If you wanted to write one 80,000 word novel a week, you would need to write:
11,428 words a day
476 words an hour
8 words a minute

But this author writes five 80,000 word novels in a week. So, 400,000 words a week.

To write like this author, you'll need to write:
57,142 per day
2,380 per hour
40 words per minute

Oh, and that is only if you don't take breaks.


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## Nic (Nov 17, 2013)

michisjourdi said:


> I'm less curious about how it's possible, and more curious about how high quality the writing is. While I know that quality and entertainment can be subjective, if the first thing someone told me is that they wrote their 80,000 word book in a week, my first thought is not going to be, "Wow, I bet that's a great book." Sorry if I sound pessimistic.


Doubting the quality of such fast writing is sacrilege on this board  Even if you've read some of these "instant ebooks" and found them sorely wanting, it still is blasphemy to point at the naked emperor.


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## Going Incognito (Oct 13, 2013)

I don't know why I didn't think to ask before, but is this something he _does_ or something he _did_?
Cause there's a big difference between 'you wouldn't believe what I did one week when...' and 'this is my norm.'


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## WDR (Jan 8, 2014)

boba1823 said:


> Question for those of you can type 3000 words (ish) per hour:
> 
> Are you an all-fingers-using touch typer? Do you use a mechanical keyboard, or any special equipment/techniques?
> 
> Just curious. I never managed to get past the two-finger typing method, although I can do it without looking at the keyboard. I took a quick typing speed test and managed to hit 88 words in 60 seconds, with three errors - faster than I expected, but I'm sure my hourly rate would be pretty low with fatigue, correcting typos, etc. I've never actually timed my hourly output, but wondering if I should give touch typing another crack at some point.


There are websites, such at TypingTest.com, that can measure your typing speed. Keep in mind, this is a copy writing test where you are typing out copy that you are reading. The speed you type when copy writing is going to be different from when you are outputting narrative. Your creative writing/stream of consciousness writing speed may be faster than your copy writing speed, and those speeds will be different from the cat-sitting-on-my-arm typing speed.

I know in bursts, i can exceed 110 words per minute. My norm falls mainly between 50--60 words per minute at best when I'm in flow.


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## WDR (Jan 8, 2014)

When I first came up with the idea for Aggadeh Chronicles, I wrote the notes for it in about three weeks. The notes totaled about 180,000 words, give or take a few K. During that period I was averaging about 8--9 thousand words per each day.

That was a very furious and intense writing period. It was all stream-of-consciousness writing and I wasn't giving a damn about mistakes or incongruities. It wasn't even the narrative of the story itself. It was descriptions and thoughts about the world and locations in the world of the Aggadeh Empire. It wasn't in one large document, either. It was a series of different documents covering one topic or another. There is a lot of apocryphal stuff in it that will never make it into the main story. There are things I wrote tomes about that barely make a mention in the story. 

In the "real" world (ironic, isn't it?), I am more of a hybrid pantser/plotter as a writer when writing narrative prose. I tend to ponder a lot before I actually commit words to the manuscript. So I have long bouts of inactivity punctuated with short periods of of intense writing. However, when I get into flow, the writing continues at a fast pace for hours at a time.  So I am much slower than the above-mentioned episode when it comes to actually writing a novel. Attempts to just go with the flow and steam-of-consciousness the writing of my manuscripts just don't really work all that well.


On all that, I think it is entirely possible that someone could pull off a 50K--80K week. While I don't expect to see a finished novel come out of that, a functional manuscript is entirely possible.


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## Going Incognito (Oct 13, 2013)

WDR said:


> On all that, I think it is entirely possible that someone could pull off a 50K--80K week. While I don't expect to see a finished novel come out of that, a functional manuscript is entirely possible.


Ok, now multiply that by 5, cause the topic is 5 80k novels a week.


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## WHDean (Nov 2, 2011)

That's BS. You can leave aside the question of whether anyone could come up with a story that fast and just look at the time involved in putting it on paper. The average typist's speed is around 40 words per minute. An 80,000-word novel would take over 33 hours to type at that speed. Five 80,000-word books would take 165 out of the 168 hours available in 7 days. All the amphetamines you could handle won't give you that kind of stamina. 

Even at 60 words a minute, it would take over 22 hours to type 80,000 words. At 80 words a minute, which is double the average typist's speed, it would take over 16 hours to type out one of those books. The fastest typist ever recorded reached (= topped out at but didn't maintain) 216 words per minute. Even if you could maintain the rate that the fastest typist ever reached, it would still take you 6 hours to write 80,000 words.

And has anyone in the world ever typed 40 words a minute for more than 1 hour straight, let alone for 33 hours straight? Your wrists wouldn't let you. An adult diaper might keep you from the bathroom, but no one can eat and type at the same time, even with someone feeding them.

We also need to account for accuracy. The average accuracy rate is around 92%, leaving around 6,400 typos to correct after working for somewhere between 16 and 33 hours straight with no breaks. I know readers have different tolerance levels for errors. But who would put up with reading anything close to 6,400 typos, which is 8 out of every 100 words for 80,000 words?

Dictation doesn't help. It takes about 8 hours to read a finished 80,000 word book aloud. Even if you could compose a story at the speed of reading (yeah, right!), no dictation software in the world turns out perfect copy, leaving hours of editing still to do. The current error rate is supposed to be around 7%, but anyone who uses speech recognition can attest that it's generally higher. Even if it were 5%, you'd still have 4,000 errors to fix, 1 in 20 words.


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## Amanda M. Lee (Jun 3, 2014)

I type a solid 80 words a minute on a regular basis. Of course, I used to work as a reporter and honed my skill. I write fast but could never write five books in a week. As for wrist issues, I have supports and never have an issue. I only do about 12K a day in six hours, though. I also take frequent breaks.


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## Amanda M. Lee (Jun 3, 2014)

Oh, and just to add, a lot of people can dictate 4K to 8K an hour. It's not all about typing.


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## dianapersaud (Sep 26, 2013)

Amanda M. Lee said:


> I type a solid 80 words a minute on a regular basis. Of course, I used to work as a reporter and honed my skill. I write fast but could never write five books in a week. As for wrist issues, I have supports and never have an issue. I only do about 12K a day in six hours, though. I also take frequent breaks.


What supports do you use for your wrists? I have carpel tunnel and the ones I'm currently using are okay but not perfect. I've tried dictation but I keep having to stop and correct every typo and it makes me slower than typing.


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## Amanda M. Lee (Jun 3, 2014)

dianapersaud said:


> What supports do you use for your wrists? I have carpel tunnel and the ones I'm currently using are okay but not perfect. I've tried dictation but I keep having to stop and correct every typo and it makes me slower than typing.


I got these gel pad things from Amazon that reset right on the corners of the computer. I have a Mac and the edge of the computer was cutting into my wrists before hand. The gel pads worked like a dream and they were only like $8.


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## dianapersaud (Sep 26, 2013)

Amanda M. Lee said:


> I got these gel pad things from Amazon that reset right on the corners of the computer. I have a Mac and the edge of the computer was cutting into my wrists before hand. The gel pads worked like a dream and they were only like $8.


Thanks
I never tried gel pads for support. I think my husband has one I can steal to try out.


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## Anarchist (Apr 22, 2015)

I'm not saying the author in question is lying. Nor am I saying she's telling the truth.

But ultimately, seeing is believing. Had Roger Bannister posted on Facebook in 1954 that he had ran a 4-minute mile, I'd have been skeptical.


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## StephenBrennan (Dec 21, 2012)

Yeah, maybe if they're like copy and pasting paragraphs together. Got a folder labelled "Beginnings", a folder labelled "Endings", and another labelled "Sh*% Happens."

Call me skeptical.


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## Word Fan (Apr 15, 2015)

Anarchist said:


> ...he had ran a 4-minute mile...


"he had _run_" or "he _ran_"


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## WHDean (Nov 2, 2011)

Amanda M. Lee said:


> I type a solid 80 words a minute on a regular basis. Of course, I used to work as a reporter and honed my skill. I write fast but could never write five books in a week. As for wrist issues, I have supports and never have an issue. I only do about 12K a day in six hours, though. I also take frequent breaks.





Amanda M. Lee said:


> Oh, and just to add, a lot of people can dictate 4K to 8K an hour. It's not all about typing.


It would take you 7 six-hour days to write an 80k book at 12k per day, and 35 straight days to write five 80k books. If you took weekends off, it would take you 49 days, or 7 weeks. Have you ever written five 80k books within 35 or even 49 consecutive days? Then what makes you entertain the possibility that someone could do it in 7 days, one fifth or one seventh of the time?

Dictation is not more realistic. At 4k to 8k per hour, it would take 20 to 10 hours to dictate 80k words, and 100 to 50 hours to dictate five 80k books. At 4k per hour, you'd have to dictate at or above that rate for over 14 hours per day for 7 straight days. Dictating five 80k books would take over 7 hours a day at a constant rate of 8k an hour for 7 straight days.

For comparison, consider that the average for audiobook reading is 9.5k per hour. At 8k per hour, you are composing a story at almost the same speed a complete and polished story is read aloud by professional narrators, and you're doing that for 7 hours a day. Even 4k is only half the speed or audio readers. On top of that, the 7-14 hours per day doesn't take into account the time needed to fix the inescapable error rate of voice recognition, which is somewhere between 1 in 15 and 1 in 20 words.

It's not _physically_ possible.


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## DanaFraser (Apr 5, 2016)

Ryan W. Mueller said:


> I once wrote 20,000 words in one day. I wouldn't recommend it. I couldn't imagine keeping up even that pace for an entire week, and that wouldn't even produce two of these 80,000-word novels.


I wrote 18k by hand (and part of it by flashlight) in one day. There was no tv, no internet, no electricity (like 2003 or whenever the great northern blackout was). Of course, it was in the middle of a story where I had already been thinking for days if not weeks (despite being a "pantser") of where things were headed. Took me twice as long to type it into the manuscript because my handwriting was raw excrement after the first 5k words


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## Anarchist (Apr 22, 2015)

Word Fan said:


> "he had _run_" or "he _ran_"


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## Amanda M. Lee (Jun 3, 2014)

WHDean said:


> It would take you 7 six-hour days to write an 80k book at 12k per day, and 35 straight days to write five 80k books. If you took weekends off, it would take you 49 days, or 7 weeks. Have you ever written five 80k books within 35 or even 49 consecutive days? Then what makes you entertain the possibility that someone could do it in 7 days, one fifth or one seventh of the time?
> 
> Dictation is not more realistic. At 4k to 8k per hour, it would take 20 to 10 hours to dictate 80k words, and 100 to 50 hours to dictate five 80k books. At 4k per hour, you'd have to dictate at or above that rate for over 14 hours per day for 7 straight days. Dictating five 80k books would take over 7 hours a day at a constant rate of 8k an hour for 7 straight days.
> 
> ...


I would not try to do it. That doesn't mean it's not possible. There are highly-gifted individuals who can do a lot more than me. Just because I can't do it, that doesn't mean others can't. Do I believe this individual did it? I have no idea. It doesn't affect me either way. I know what I'm capable of and I'm not capable of that. This month, for example, I will write 260K. Most people would say they're not capable of doing that. Does that mean I'm not capable of doing that? No.
Also, as a side note, that 12K in six hours is not "nose to the grindstone" time. I generally watch television and take numerous breaks while writing. If it was "nose to the grindstone" time I could probably do it in four hours. If I extrapolated, that means I could only write 72K in a twenty-four hour period. As for dictation, I know people who can dictate 6K an hour. That's how proficient they are. Dictation actually slows me down. That's not how it is for all people, though.


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## 10105 (Feb 16, 2010)

Interesting topic. I can do 3500 words an hour. My column used to be about that long and it took about an hour to type it. But that was always preceded by some lengthy cogitation and research. I had it written before I started typing. Transcribing the gray matter.

I wrote much of my first novel while driving long trips. I'd run dialogue in my head or out loud and memorize it. I don't consider that time in any estimate of how long the book took. I was driving. It would have been lost time anyway.


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## Nic (Nov 17, 2013)

I still don't think it is physically possible except for someone in a manic episode. Then it might be possible when they are manic, but it wouldn't be sustainable. 

Like WHDean all I need to look at are basic physical and physiological needs of the average human body to come to that conclusion.


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## Amanda M. Lee (Jun 3, 2014)

Nic said:


> I still don't think it is physically possible except for someone in a manic episode. Then it might be possible when they are manic, but it wouldn't be sustainable.
> 
> Like WHDean all I need to look at are basic physical and physiological needs of the average human body to come to that conclusion.


Yes, but who says the individual is average? Maybe he or she is the Michael Jordan of typing. We also have no idea how much editing has to go into those manuscripts after the fact. I doubt they're publication ready.


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## DanaFraser (Apr 5, 2016)

I would say one thing is definite - they don't spend time on the internet


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## Nic (Nov 17, 2013)

Amanda M. Lee said:


> Yes, but who says the individual is average? Maybe he or she is the Michael Jordan of typing. We also have no idea how much editing has to go into those manuscripts after the fact. I doubt they're publication ready.


Why would an individual who is 

an exceptional typist (to the point of actual athleticism)
able to withstand physical and mental stress for an entire week
capable of sitting for entire days without getting any of the problems typical for such a behaviour (i.e. pulmonary embolism)
mentally astute enough to actually think up complete plots at the required speed (I'm not even suggesting good plots, just complete ones)
and single-minded enough to forego any other activity for this

do this for the dubious effect of creating 5 or more novels which most likely won't get them much recompense, whether monetary or otherwise? Anyone so extraordinary, and they'd need to be very extraordinary for this feat, could achieve more when concentrating on a cause and result much more worthy than this.


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## 10105 (Feb 16, 2010)

I just ran a performance test. My keyboard is capable of accepting about 30 characters per second. My 80,000-word novel has 440,000 characters. If I could type as fast as my keyboard can accept characters (I wish), without potty breaks, meals, or time-outs, that novel's first draft would have taken four hours to type. That's 10 novels a five-day week and an eight-hour work day. But I'd probably be dead or permanently disabled from a urinary track infection, arthritis. malnutrition, or insanity. But, as some have said, it's possible.


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## WHDean (Nov 2, 2011)

According to an audiobook maker, a 1 hour narration takes about 1.5 to 2 hours for professional narrators to read, which means an 8 hour 80k book takes between 12 and 16 hours to read, and each 1 hour of completed audio takes between 3-6 hours. So an 8 hour 80k audiobook took between 24 and 48 hours to record at the 9.5k/hour rate I mentioned above. And 5-6 hours is considered a long shift for a professional narrator. All this means your magical book writer composes books through speech recognition--and corrects them!--in somewhere between one-half and one-sixth the time it takes a professional narrator to read a finished book. Not only that, but your magical writer does this for 7-14 hours a day, seven days a week.  

No wonder writers get scammed so often. Come to think of it, I have a nice bridge to sell you people.


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## Amanda M. Lee (Jun 3, 2014)

Nic said:


> Why would an individual who is
> 
> an exceptional typist (to the point of actual athleticism)
> able to withstand physical and mental stress for an entire week
> ...


Perhaps they plan on monetizing it to be the next writing guru? Why does anyone do the things they do? Why do people spend years perfecting a skill to claim a world record only to have it fall a month later? You're putting your rational mind against what may be an irrational reason. We don't know. I don't know why you would want to do it either. That doesn't mean someone didn't do it. Also, a lot of people use standing desks so they don't have to sit for twenty-four hours a day. I know a lot of people who walk while dictating, for example. I can't do it but I certainly wish I could.


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## Amanda M. Lee (Jun 3, 2014)

WHDean said:


> According to an audiobook maker, a 1 hour narration takes about 1.5 to 2 hours for professional narrators to read, which means an 8 hour 80k book takes between 12 and 16 hours to read, and each 1 hour of completed audio takes between 3-6 hours. So an 8 hour 80k audiobook took between 24 and 48 hours to record at the 9.5k/hour rate I mentioned above. And 5-6 hours is considered a long shift for a professional narrator. All this means your magical book writer composes books through speech recognition--and corrects them!--in somewhere between one-half and one-sixth the time it takes a professional narrator to read a finished book. Not only that, but your magical writer does this for 7-14 hours a day, seven days a week.
> 
> No wonder writers get scammed so often. Come to think of it, I have a nice bridge to sell you people.


How do you know he corrects them? Maybe he just vomits it out and then spends two months cleaning it up. We also don't know if this is a regular occurrence or a planned thing for exposure so it was a one-time thing.


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## Crime fighters (Nov 27, 2013)

Is this possible? Not sure. It's certainly not possible for me, but there's a lot of skepticism in this thread from people on the lower end of word counts too. I've written 32K in a day before. On the days I do sit down and write, it's never under 10K. Whether people want to admit it or not, it's possible to write a very good book in minimal time. My best-selling book was written in six days. And I never write second drafts. I turned it over to my editor as soon as I wrote The End, and received it back a few days later with less than 50 errors. 

Critically, it's done very well. 

Everyone has different skills and speed. What's simply not possible for one person is possible for others. I know my limits, and 5 80K books in a week is impossible for me. I imagine it's impossible for everyone in the world, but maybe in wrong. I'm skeptical, but open to the possibility.


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## WHDean (Nov 2, 2011)

Amanda M. Lee said:


> How do you know he corrects them? Maybe he just vomits it out and then spends two months cleaning it up. We also don't know if this is a regular occurrence or a planned thing for exposure so it was a one-time thing.


The OP didn't say draft 5 novels. It said wrote 5 novels.

But leave that aside. Look at the narrator numbers for draft reading. It takes on average 1.5 to 2 hours for a narrator to read 1 hour of polished text that has already been written. So even professional narrators routinely make mistakes and need breaks. How is it even conceivable that a writer could _compose_ original text in half the time it takes a professional reader to _read_ text that's already been composed and polished for reading? It's not.



Lauriejoyeltahs said:


> Your missing everyone saying that chances are it's not ready to publish at the end, and that fact that no one is saying this kid ALWAYS does this. Is it possible once? Or even once every 2-3 months ? Yeah I think it is. Especially if your plotter. I've had 9000 word count days when I knew exactly what I wanted from a scene. Those days I started at 3pm when my husband went to work and took a 25 min break every hour and a half. I finished up for the day at 9:30pm when it was time to start making dinner. No it's not sustainable for me because most of the time I am panster. But I don't understand why sustainability is such a big deal, the question really is (in my mind) can it be done. Yes I think it can, I don't know anyone who can maintain an unreasonable pace at ANYTHING forever. With the exception of the psychotic most people eventually crash. I still think it was more of "oh look what I can do" than "oh look what I do everyday".


The OP said wrote five 80k books in a week, not plotted those books for months beforehand, and then edited and re-wrote for months afterwards. So I didn't miss "everyone saying" these things, I ignored them because if you're going to add in all these caveats, you've already conceded that he did not write five 80k books in a week.


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## Amanda M. Lee (Jun 3, 2014)

WHDean said:


> The OP didn't say draft 5 novels. It said wrote 5 novels.
> 
> But leave that aside. Look at the narrator numbers for draft reading. It takes on average 1.5 to 2 hours for a narrator to read 1 hour of polished text that has already been written. So even professional narrators routinely make mistakes and need breaks. How is it even conceivable that a writer could _compose_ original text in half the time it takes a professional reader to _read_ text that's already been composed and polished for reading? It's not.
> 
> The OP said wrote five 80k books in a week, not plotted those books for months beforehand, and then edited and re-wrote for months afterwards. So I didn't miss "everyone saying" these things, I ignored them because if you're going to add in all these caveats, you've already conceded that he did not write five 80k books in a week.


I don't know. I tend to take "writing" for writing. I don't really include outlining, editing and whatnot when I say I wrote a book in "X" amount of time. That's how long it takes me to publish a book. That's just me, though.


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## SerenityEditing (May 3, 2016)

WHDean said:


> But leave that aside. Look at the narrator numbers for draft reading. It takes on average 1.5 to 2 hours for a narrator to read 1 hour of polished text that has already been written.


But narrators (at least the few audiobooks I've listened to) read more slowly than the average speech speed. They're pausing in the tense moments, hesitating when the characters' dialogue calls for it, breaking between lines of dialogue to signal a shift from person A to person B, and they have to worry about how their voice sounds because their voice is part of the finished product. Just slamming out the words to get them on paper and ready for editing can go _much_ more quickly than that. As long as the speech-to-text program can recognize what you're saying, it doesn't matter if your voice cracked or you slurred a little or you rushed that climactic line.

The average speed of speech for American English speakers is generally quoted as being 150-200wpm, conversational speech falling on the higher end. If someone's dictating at 175wpm, for 50 minutes an hour (leave a one-minute break every ten minutes to take a sip of water, five minutes at the top of the hour to go pee), that's 8750 words per hour. That would take just over nine hours to dictate 80Kw. Even assuming a slower speech rate of 150 wpm, that's 7500 words per hour (or 50 minutes), so just over ten hours. Totally doable. It presumes the author already has most or all of the story in mind, but isn't that the case for many authors?

I used to do medical transcription, and with a well-prepared text expander I could easily hit 250wpm typing, and when I got the "good doctors" - the ones who didn't hem and haw and eat sandwiches and make phone calls while they were dictating - I averaged 60-70K words a day. Now obviously that's completely different from *creating* 60-70K words a day - I was just a machine transforming the doctors' words from a voice file to text on the computer; there was no independent thought on my part, and to be honest my brain was almost completely disengaged half the time - but the idea of 80K words a day doesn't really even raise my eyebrows.

I certainly wouldn't like to be the one _editing_ those drafts, probably wouldn't have high hopes for the quality of the story, and I have to believe that if the author did this, it was as a one-time, probably attention-seeking thing, but saying it's impossible... It's definitely impossible for me, but so are a lot of things that plenty of other people do regularly.

As to the question of why would someone do this, the Guinness Book of World Records is full of other examples. Fastest time to put on a duvet cover, most Jell-O eaten with chopsticks in one minute, fastest time to type the alphabet backwards on an iPad* - some people are driven to do things just because they can, or because others can't.

*https://www.thrillist.com/gear/17-easy-to-break-world-records


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## jaehaerys (Feb 18, 2016)

Cocaine is a hell of a drug.


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## WHDean (Nov 2, 2011)

Amanda M. Lee said:


> I don't know. I tend to take "writing" for writing. I don't really include outlining, editing and whatnot when I say I wrote a book in "X" amount of time. That's how long it takes me to publish a book. That's just me, though.


Sure, if the OP asked how someone could make such an unbelievable claim, one could say the writer had 100-200-page drafts beforehand, he was an extremely fast typist, used speech software, everything went right (no plot problems), he was taking Adderall, and he took weeks after to edit the books into final form, then, maybe it enters the realm of possibility. But even this seems too much.

Take an extremely prolific writer like Ray Bradbury who routinely wrote a short story a week and for long periods of time. He said he wrote "The Veldt" in three hours. But he didn't claim to have written six more stories in 3 hours the same day, and then continue this for a week.



SerenityEditing said:


> But narrators (at least the few audiobooks I've listened to) read more slowly than the average speech speed. They're pausing in the tense moments, hesitating when the characters' dialogue calls for it, breaking between lines of dialogue to signal a shift from person A to person B, and they have to worry about how their voice sounds because their voice is part of the finished product. Just slamming out the words to get them on paper and ready for editing can go _much_ more quickly than that. As long as the speech-to-text program can recognize what you're saying, it doesn't matter if your voice cracked or you slurred a little or you rushed that climactic line.
> 
> The average speed of speech for American English speakers is generally quoted as being 150-200wpm, conversational speech falling on the higher end. If someone's dictating at 175wpm, for 50 minutes an hour (leave a one-minute break every ten minutes to take a sip of water, five minutes at the top of the hour to go pee), that's 8750 words per hour. That would take just over nine hours to dictate 80Kw. Even assuming a slower speech rate of 150 wpm, that's 7500 words per hour (or 50 minutes), so just over ten hours. Totally doable. It presumes the author already has most or all of the story in mind, but isn't that the case for many authors?
> 
> ...


You're falling into the composition fallacy, sticking together discrete properties to form an implausible whole. The fact that someone can do each of these things independently and for short periods of time doesn't mean anyone can do them all for long periods of time. A sprinter who can run the 100-meter dash in 10 seconds can't necessarily run 10,000 meters 1,000 seconds.

No one talks more than a few seconds at a time at 175 wpm in unprepared speech, which is why I used the per hour rate of narrators as a benchmark. You're suggesting that the speed at which we normally say "How are you?" and "See you later" can be maintained at a constant 175 wpm rate for 9 consecutive 50 minute stretches. You also missed the fact that professional narrators consider 5-6 hours a long shift.

If you've transcribed speech, you know that no one speaks for even 10 minutes straight at 175 wpm, let alone for 9 hours. And that 10-minute stretch at 175 wpm is not coherent, unblemished narrative. It rambles, starts and stops, digresses, repeats--nothing even close to the quality of a finished story.


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## RedFoxUF (Nov 14, 2016)

Here is my guess: This 'writer' is a scammer trying to explain why they've published 80 books in 90 days (the last scammer profile I looked at on Amazon was doing about that).  It's a psy op.


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## Guest (Aug 26, 2017)

To everyone who thinks it's possible to write 5 x 80,000 word novels in 5 days: Please PM me - I have some lovely swampland in Florida to sell you at a special discount price


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## Nic (Nov 17, 2013)

Amanda M. Lee said:


> Perhaps they plan on monetizing it to be the next writing guru? Why does anyone do the things they do? Why do people spend years perfecting a skill to claim a world record only to have it fall a month later? You're putting your rational mind against what may be an irrational reason. We don't know. I don't know why you would want to do it either. That doesn't mean someone didn't do it. Also, a lot of people use standing desks so they don't have to sit for twenty-four hours a day. I know a lot of people who walk while dictating, for example. I can't do it but I certainly wish I could.


Typing at those speeds at a standing desk? They are an acrobat as well now? Already two of the cited qualities are too much of a coincidence.


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## Nic (Nov 17, 2013)

Boyd said:


> Tommyknockers was written in a weekend


But for how long afterwards was he in dream-la-la-land or in general recovering? He didn't go on and write two more of his doorstoppers without a pause.

That's the point. No one said a well-prepared person couldn't during a short, possibly manic, possibly drug-aided span of time create one book. Even a large one. The stress is on "one".


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## Doglover (Sep 19, 2013)

StephenBrennan said:


> Yeah, maybe if they're like copy and pasting paragraphs together. Got a folder labelled "Beginnings", a folder labelled "Endings", and another labelled "Sh*% Happens."
> 
> Call me skeptical.


Isn't that how a certain trilogy of best selling 'novels' is put together?


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## Doglover (Sep 19, 2013)

Jeff Tanyard said:


> I remember watching that miniseries when it first aired. The whole thing's on youtube now. I just watched the trailer. It's a lot cheesier than I remembered.


But the book was so much better. I remember when I read that: I was in hospital, having surgery on my spinal cord and reading about people having wires attached to their brains to provide cheap energy. Of course, I was more upset about the dog.


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## Amanda M. Lee (Jun 3, 2014)

Nic said:


> Typing at those speeds at a standing desk? They are an acrobat as well now? Already two of the cited qualities are too much of a coincidence.


Then you should definitely not try any of this. You don't believe, so don't try. I'm not going to try either because I have a schedule I like, but I don't believe in limitations. I think people should write hard and strive hard.


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## passerby (Oct 18, 2015)

Amanda M. Lee said:


> . . . I don't believe in limitations. I think people should write hard and strive hard.


 ^^^


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## SerenityEditing (May 3, 2016)

WHDean said:


> If you've transcribed speech, you know that no one speaks for even 10 minutes straight at 175 wpm, let alone for 9 hours. And that 10-minute stretch at 175 wpm is not coherent, unblemished narrative. It rambles, starts and stops, digresses, repeats--nothing even close to the quality of a finished story.


It's the very fact that I have transcribed speech - and, for some doctors, had to use the playback controls to slow it down enough to be able to understand it, even with the constant stops and rewinds via the footpedal - that convinces me that it's entirely possible for some people to speak at ridiculously fast speeds for long periods of time. But 175 is not anywhere close to being "ridiculously fast."

Here's an example of someone speaking at about 200 words per minute with Dragon transcribing, at 100% accuracy, as he goes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsohqUgjqK0. There are loads of court-reporter training videos available with spoken speeds up to 225 wpm, and they all sound perfectly natural to me. This guy - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8gdB_F--S7E - uses a word trainer to demonstrate different speeds. 300 sounds rapid/manic, but 200 is still a little slow to my ears. I'm genuinely curious if 200wpm seems too fast or unsustainable to other people - maybe this is why I hate watching videos and would always prefer to read the article? Everyone always talks too slowly, lol.



> No one talks more than a few seconds at a time at 175 wpm in unprepared speech


I guess I'm a nobody, then?  I do it all the time (though, to be sure, I wouldn't have had a clue what my usual speech rate is before seeing the video examples). I'm just not sure we can consider "telling a story" to be "unprepared speech." I'm not a writer, but I do have a tendency (annoying, I am reliably informed) of always making a story out of everything. I can't say "There was a robbery at the grocery store today" if there's an opportunity for me to say "So I decided to go to the grocery store to get some Italian bread - I'd been craving spaghetti but when I really thought about it turns out what I was actually craving was garlic bread, and it's just not the same on hamburger buns, you know? - and anyway, as I was pulling in to the parking lot I noticed this guy in a beat-up old SUV driving around the far end of the parking lot. But I didn't think anything more of it, figured he was probably waiting for someone to finish shopping, so I went in and..." And I can PROMISE you that whole story (all probably-twenty-minutes of it) is going to be delivered at a speed of at LEAST 175 wpm. Because I already know what happened, and it's been percolating in my mind all day while I wait for someone to tell it to, so I have the delivery all mapped out.

If you walked up to me out of the blue and said, "Hey! Make up a story about a robbery at the grocery store, right now!" yeah, that would take a lot longer and would involve lots of pauses for thought. But none of the authors I know write like that, as far as I know. They pull in bits and bobs of stories, characters, locations, twists from their lives every day and let them simmer until a story starts to coalesce, then they think about that story while they're at work or in the grocery store (getting Italian bread while there's a guy with a gun in his jacket behind them) or waiting at the doctor's office. They chase down motivations and throw out subplots while they're stuck in traffic, they work out a way to really maximize the climactic moment while they're working out at the gym, they wake up from a dream and realize there's a whole new way to approach the ending. And that ending won't fit into the story they're working on right now, but as soon as they finish this book they're going to get started on the next one, and they're really excited for it because they have so many great ideas for it.

To my knowledge, I've never met an author who sits down with a completely blank mind to start writing a novel. I'm sure they exist, though! Just because I've never done it, and don't personally know of anyone who does, doesn't mean there aren't plenty of people who do. And that's totally fine. It "neither breaks my leg nor picks my pocket" if they DO exist, just as it doesn't harm anyone here if someone did or didn't write five 80K novels in a week. (Though I would hope everyone has the sense to know they don't have to follow suit - like, just because Diana Nyad swam from the Bahamas to Florida, let's not all go jump into the ocean to save airfare as we head off for our tropical island vacation, lol.)

Has OP said who this author is, or where s/he heard/read about this feat? I'd be interested in getting some info from the horse's mouth instead of all the hypotheticals and speculation. Google isn't terribly helpful.


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## SerenityEditing (May 3, 2016)

RedFoxUF said:


> Here is my guess: This 'writer' is a scammer trying to explain why they've published 80 books in 90 days (the last scammer profile I looked at on Amazon was doing about that). It's a psy op.


I do like this theory, lol.

Going back to OP's post, s/he says "an author who *WRITES* five 80K novels a week," which indicates it's an ongoing, continuous thing. And that, no, I can't swallow that. Aside from the question of running out of material, even in optimal conditions it would be too taxing on the body, regardless of whether s/he was typing or dictating, to maintain on a regular, long-term basis.

But as a stunt, as a challenge-to-self, as a bet with someone, as a "I need to get my writing career off the ground but I can't afford to quit my day job so I'm going to write all five books on my vacation and spend the next year getting them ready to publish" - I don't have a moment's doubt that it's possible as a one-off or as an occasional thing. I wonder if we're all talking past each other on that point? It's possible to eat 70+ hot dogs in ten minutes* once, or maybe a few times a year or even once a month, but if you do it every day it'll probably kill you.

*https://nathansfamous.com/promos-and-fanfare/hot-dog-eating-contest/


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## Nic (Nov 17, 2013)

Amanda M. Lee said:


> Then you should definitely not try any of this. You don't believe, so don't try. I'm not going to try either because I have a schedule I like, but I don't believe in limitations. I think people should write hard and strive hard.


I wouldn't even think of trying to write 5 novels a week, mainly because I know how the quality would be like. I see no sense in creating something of inferior quality.

There certainly are a few writers who managed to write excellent novels within a few days, but they were and are _a few_, both such novels and such writers.


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## Amanda M. Lee (Jun 3, 2014)

Nic said:


> I wouldn't even think of trying to write 5 novels a week, mainly because I know how the quality would be like. I see no sense in creating something of inferior quality.
> 
> There certainly are a few writers who managed to write excellent novels within a few days, but they were and are _a few_, both such novels and such writers.


I think you've made a wise choice.


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## Mark Philipson (Mar 9, 2013)

Wow, even the character in my current novel, and she was injected with an experimental drug, could not match that output.


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## Nic (Nov 17, 2013)

Amanda M. Lee said:


> I think you've made a wise choice.


It's a pity not more people are wise enough.


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## Nic (Nov 17, 2013)

SerenityEditing said:


> I do like this theory, lol.
> 
> Going back to OP's post, s/he says "an author who *WRITES* five 80K novels a week," which indicates it's an ongoing, continuous thing. And that, no, I can't swallow that. Aside from the question of running out of material, even in optimal conditions it would be too taxing on the body, regardless of whether s/he was typing or dictating, to maintain on a regular, long-term basis.
> 
> ...


This nails it.


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## Amanda M. Lee (Jun 3, 2014)

Nic said:


> It's a pity not more people are wise enough.


I'm sure it is. Somehow I think you'll get over it, though.


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## Nic (Nov 17, 2013)

Amanda M. Lee said:


> I'm sure it is. Somehow I think you'll get over it, though.


I'm not sure that I like the current tendency of writing more quantity over producing more quality. Which is precisely what this discussion is about. Authors getting taken in by someone alleging to produce at a greater speed and volume than they could, or in fact anyone could.

As a reader I find it lamentable that so many writers labour like mules to produce the cheapest pulp, rather than at least halfway readable works.


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## Amanda M. Lee (Jun 3, 2014)

Nic said:


> I'm not sure that I like the current tendency of writing more quantity over producing more quality. Which is precisely what this discussion is about. Authors getting taken in by someone alleging to produce at a greater speed and volume than they could, or in fact anyone could.
> 
> As a reader I find it lamentable that so many writers labour like mules to produce the cheapest pulp, rather than at least halfway readable works.


I don't much worry about what others are doing. I worry about myself. I've found it's easier to enjoy life that way.


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## Anarchist (Apr 22, 2015)

Amanda M. Lee said:


> I don't much worry about what others are doing. I worry about myself. I've found it's easier to enjoy life that way.


True for me, too.

Drama llama threads are entertaining. But getting one's jimmies rustled about others' tactics and claims seems like a recipe for stress.


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## Guest (Aug 26, 2017)

Nic said:


> I wouldn't even think of trying to write 5 novels a week, mainly because I know how the quality would be like. I see no sense in creating something of inferior quality.
> 
> There certainly are a few writers who managed to write excellent novels within a few days, but they were and are _a few_, both such novels and such writers.


This isn't a quality vs quantity test. No one writes 5 novels per week. Why is this even a discussion?


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## Nic (Nov 17, 2013)

Anarchist said:


> But getting one's jimmies rustled about others' tactics and claims seems like a recipe for stress.


I don't think this is about "others' tactics" so much as the lack of easily accessible quality and also a lack of craftmanship and culture.

As a reader, but also as a fellow writer, it directly touches me when I watch writers - especially those starting out in the profession - ditch every attempt at creating even just decent art in favour of what comes across as an arms race of pulp. Yes, of course I am aware of the fact that even the lowliest pulp will sell in high enough numbers to support its creators. That doesn't mean I have to approve of these authors influencing all others.


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## Nic (Nov 17, 2013)

ShaneJeffery said:


> This isn't a quality vs quantity test. No one writes 5 novels per week. Why is this even a discussion?


Because there are people who argument that a) it is possible, and b) something to aim for.


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## Amanda M. Lee (Jun 3, 2014)

Nic said:


> Because there are people who argument that a) it is possible, and b) something to aim for.


Who argued it was something to aim for?


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## Amanda M. Lee (Jun 3, 2014)

Nic said:


> I don't think this is about "others' tactics" so much as the lack of easily accessible quality and also a lack of craftmanship and culture.
> 
> As a reader, but also as a fellow writer, it directly touches me when I watch writers - especially those starting out in the profession - ditch every attempt at creating even just decent art in favour of what comes across as an arms race of pulp. Yes, of course I am aware of the fact that even the lowliest pulp will sell in high enough numbers to support its creators. That doesn't mean I have to approve of these authors influencing all others.


I think it touches a lot of writers when people tell them what they should and shouldn't be doing, too. I mean, what happened to experimenting? Learning? Why should one group tell another group what they should and shouldn't be doing? I say "live and let live." If you're living well you don't really worry yourself about what others are doing. Worrying about what others are doing is a waste of time ... and you could be spending that time cranking out substandard pulp and making money.


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## Guest (Aug 26, 2017)

Nic said:


> Because there are people who argument that a) it is possible, and b) something to aim for.


I hope you're not one of them. I have a hard time believing anyone actually thinks someone writes 5 novels per week. Whoever's given cred to this rumor needs their head checked.


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## Amanda M. Lee (Jun 3, 2014)

ShaneJeffery said:


> I hope you're not one of them. I have a hard time believing anyone actually thinks someone writes 5 novels per week. Whoever's given cred to this rumor needs their head checked.


I'll tell my doctor.


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## a_g (Aug 9, 2013)

ShaneJeffery said:


> Whoever's given cred to this rumor needs their head checked.


Yet 124 comments of discussion later it's still being discussed...

You know what would be great? If the op came back and dropped a link on us (if it's a public forum and not behind a paywall) so we can verify what was _actually_ said, instead of basing reactions on what was _supposedly_ said without any context at all.


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## Guest (Aug 26, 2017)

Amanda M. Lee said:


> I'll tell my doctor.


Wait you've given cred to this rumor Amanda? You're on board - folks are writing 5 novels per week? Oh dear.


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## Amanda M. Lee (Jun 3, 2014)

ShaneJeffery said:


> Wait you've given cred to this rumor Amanda? You're on board - folks are writing 5 novels per week? Oh dear.


I have no idea if anyone is doing it. I know I couldn't do it. That doesn't mean, as some sort of gimmick, I don't think other people aren't capable of it. I don't put my limitations on others and given what i know about some folks -- especially the ones who use dictation -- I think it's possible. Do I think it should be done? Probably not. I don't really care, though. I simply don't believe I'm the smartest person in the room and happen to know there are people out there capable of extraordinary things.


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## Guest (Aug 26, 2017)

Amanda M. Lee said:


> I have no idea if anyone is doing it. I know I couldn't do it. That doesn't mean, as some sort of gimmick, I don't think other people aren't capable of it. I don't put my limitations on others and given what i know about some folks -- especially the ones who use dictation -- I think it's possible. Do I think it should be done? Probably not. I don't really care, though. I simply don't believe I'm the smartest person in the room and happen to know there are people out there capable of extraordinary things.


There is a number though, right? A number of books per week that makes you go - No, that isn't real. Is your number 50 then? Imagine how 50 80,000 word novels per week, written by one author sounds to you - as a rumor - cause that's exactly how 5 80,000 word novels per week sounds to me.

I don't doubt that there are some fast runners out there, but have you ever seen someone run as fast as a speeding car? Don't think so.


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## Amanda M. Lee (Jun 3, 2014)

ShaneJeffery said:


> There is a number though, right? A number of books per week that makes you go - No, that isn't real. Is your number 50 then? Imagine how 50 80,000 word novels per week, written by one author sounds to you - as a rumor - cause that's exactly how 5 80,000 word novels per week sounds to me.
> 
> I don't doubt that there are some fast runners out there, but have you ever seen someone run as fast as a speeding car? Don't think so.


I've never seen someone run a marathon before either. That doesn't mean it doesn't happen. No one saw people fly in a plane before it happened, and yet it still happened. I think it's entirely possible that someone could've done it as some sort of marketing ploy or whatnot. Ultimately, the question is, why do people get so upset at the suggestion?


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## a_g (Aug 9, 2013)

Boyd said:


>


Spot on.



ShaneJeffery said:


> There is a number though, right? A number of books per week that makes you go - No, that isn't real. Is your number 50 then? Imagine how 50 80,000 word novels per week, written by one author sounds to you - as a rumor - cause that's exactly how 5 80,000 word novels per week sounds to me.
> 
> I don't doubt that there are some fast runners out there, but have you ever seen someone run as fast as a speeding car? Don't think so.


I'm curious why you keeping having a go at Amanda. She's not the one making sweeping generalizations in this thread. In fact, if I'm reading her comments right, she's the one who's saying that she keeps her eyes on her own work. She's doing her and letting others do them.

There are a few people who are calling shenanigans on what the op _claims_ to have read _and yet only paraphrased_. I find it odd how people are getting their feathers in a ruffle over what amounts to the telephone game.


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## Guest (Aug 26, 2017)

Amanda M. Lee said:


> I've never seen someone run a marathon before either. That doesn't mean it doesn't happen. No one saw people fly in a plane before it happened, and yet it still happened. I think it's entirely possible that someone could've done it as some sort of marketing ploy or whatnot. Ultimately, the question is, why do people get so upset at the suggestion?


5000 80,000 word novels per week. Have we reached your number yet for that's ridiculous.


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## Guest (Aug 26, 2017)

a_g said:


> Spot on.
> 
> I'm curious why you keeping having a go at Amanda. She's not the one making sweeping generalizations in this thread. In fact, if I'm reading her comments right, she's the one who's saying that she keeps her eyes on her own work. She's doing her and letting others do them.
> 
> There are a few people who are calling shenanigans on what the op _claims_ to have read _and yet only paraphrased_. I find it odd how people are getting their feathers in a ruffle over what amounts to the telephone game.


Amanda is saying anything is possible.

That is a false statement.


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## Amanda M. Lee (Jun 3, 2014)

ShaneJeffery said:


> 5000 80,000 word novels per week. Have we reached your number yet for that's ridiculous.


Nope. I would have to care what someone else was doing first and there's really not a number that will get me there when it comes to writing however many words per week.


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## a_g (Aug 9, 2013)

ShaneJeffery said:


> Amanda is saying anything is possible.
> 
> That is a false statement.


So what you need from her is to finally relent and agree with you?


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## Guest (Aug 26, 2017)

Amanda M. Lee said:


> Nope. I would have to care what someone else was doing first and there's really not a number that will get me there when it comes to writing however many words per week.


Let's clarify. I said - anyone who is giving cred to this rumor that someone's writing 5 novels per week needs their head checked. Why? Because those numbers do not compute and are ridiculous.

You put up your hand, said "guess I need to see my doctor"

IE - You are giving cred to this rumor of 5 books per week.

I say not possible.

You say possible.

I say - as a test - is 50 books possible?

You say anything's possible.

I say is 5000 books possible?

You say I don't care.

I guess the joke's on me right. I might as well talk to a brick wall.


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## Doglover (Sep 19, 2013)

ShaneJeffery said:


> I hope you're not one of them. I have a hard time believing anyone actually thinks someone writes 5 novels per week. Whoever's given cred to this rumor needs their head checked.


I've seen a facebook ad several times which offers some sort of program to write a 60,000 word novel in 30 minutes without writing a single word. Perhaps this is what this 'author' is using. I haven't clicked on it, because it seemed a little too bs and not what I want from my work, but the offer's there. Next time I see it, I'll click and see what's what.


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## Amanda M. Lee (Jun 3, 2014)

ShaneJeffery said:


> Let's clarify. I said - anyone who is giving cred to this rumor that someone's writing 5 novels per week needs their head checked. Why? Because those numbers do not compute and are ridiculous.
> 
> You put up your hand, said "guess I need to see my doctor"
> 
> ...


No, I simply said that I don't dismiss the initial claim because I don't think it's impossible. I didn't comment on any other numbers because I don't really care what other people claim to do. I don't take it as a personal affront when someone says they can do something because I'm happy when they feel accomplished. What someone else says they can do doesn't affect me. I have no idea what people are capable of. There are gifted people out there, so it's not my place to say who can do what and in what amount of time. I don't like limitations. I like to believe the sky is the limit. The question is, why are you so determined to claim limitations for someone else?


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## Guest (Aug 26, 2017)

Amanda M. Lee said:


> No, I simply said that I don't dismiss the initial claim because I don't think it's impossible. I didn't comment on any other numbers because I don't really care what other people claim to do. I don't take it as a personal affront when someone says they can do something because I'm happy when they feel accomplished. What someone else says they can do doesn't affect me. I have no idea what people are capable of. There are gifted people out there, so it's not my place to say who can do what and in what amount of time. I don't like limitations. I like to believe the sky is the limit. The question is, why are you so determined to claim limitations for someone else?


You don't think 5 novels a week is impossible. Fine. I would want to ask you why that is beyond "anything is possible" and people are "magical". I want to take it apart piece by piece.

But when you say you don't think 5 novels per week is impossible, you're really saying you don't think 10 novels or 20 or 50 or 500 novels are impossible. To which my brain stands up and goes HELLO!!! I KNOW THAT IS IMPOSSIBLE! Normally, I wouldn't care. But I guess we hold you to a higher standard from people who know jack.


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## Guest (Aug 26, 2017)

Doglover said:


> I've seen a facebook ad several times which offers some sort of program to write a 60,000 word novel in 30 minutes without writing a single word. Perhaps this is what this 'author' is using. I haven't clicked on it, because it seemed a little too bs and not what I want from my work, but the offer's there. Next time I see it, I'll click and see what's what.


This is believable.


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## Guest (Aug 26, 2017)

boba1823 said:


> I've decided to believe that it is possible that a person could write five 80,000 word novels in a week.
> 
> (Whether or not any given individual has actually done it is... really kind of beside the point. The interesting point, anyway.)
> 
> ...


At least there are limits to what you believe. If someone thinks 5 novels - or 50 novels per week are possible, but they draw the line at 500 hundred, at least you can debate them. At least you can actually have a discussion.


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## Amanda M. Lee (Jun 3, 2014)

ShaneJeffery said:


> At least there are limits to what you believe. If someone thinks 5 novels - or 50 novels per week are possible, but they draw the line at 500 hundred, at least you can debate them. At least you can actually have a discussion.


Where did I give a number of exactly what I thought was possible?


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## libwin (Aug 22, 2015)

I can't post the link to the thread because it is not a public board. The author says he is married with no children, and he can write 80,000 words in one day. I have looked at some of his books on Amazon. He has more than 100 titles. The books range from 100-370 pages. There are a few series. I won't give out his author name.  He would probably get tons of one star reviews from a few posters in this thread.


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## Guest (Aug 26, 2017)

Amanda M. Lee said:


> Where did I give a number of exactly what I thought was possible?


You didn't. "At least there are limits" was praise for boba


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## Guest (Aug 26, 2017)

Lorri Moulton said:


> Anything is possible. It may not be probable, but Amanda is right. It is possible to sail around the globe, we don't fall off at the edge. We can fly in an airplane and even to the moon. Things thought impossible fuel our imagination and often result in someone proving they ARE possible.


No anything is not possible. GOD!!! Is it possible for me to write 5 zillion novels this week? At what point do you admit there are boundaries


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## Anarchist (Apr 22, 2015)

Amanda M. Lee said:


> I've never seen someone run a marathon before either.


And before Dean Karnazes, I'll bet lots of people thought it impossible to run 50 marathons in 50 states on 50 consecutive days. But some folks are capable of accomplishing extraordinary feats.


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## Amanda M. Lee (Jun 3, 2014)

ShaneJeffery said:


> No anything is not possible. GOD!!! Is it possible for me to write 5 zillion novels this week? At what point do you admit there are boundaries


I guess that depends on what you believe. Some people believe in miracles, other in extraordinary humans who have almost mythical abilities. It's not my place to draw the line. I don't understand why anyone would want to do that because limitations are ... quite frankly ... a total bummer.


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## Amanda M. Lee (Jun 3, 2014)

Anarchist said:


> And before Dean Karnazes, I'll bet lots of people thought it impossible to run 50 marathons in 50 states on 50 consecutive days. But some folks are capable of accomplishing extraordinary feats.


Exactly. That's all I'm saying. I'm not commenting on quality or quality of life choices. I simply don't think it's impossible. I know it's impossible for me, but I am not everyone and I've met some really incredible people throughout the years, including people who could read entire books in a short amount of time and speed talkers who can say more in a minute than most people in an hour. I know some people who can do 6-8K dictating an hour. I mean ... the math doesn't rule it out.


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## Doglover (Sep 19, 2013)

libwin said:


> I can't post the link to the thread because it is not a public board. The author says he is married with no children, and he can write 80,000 words in one day. I have looked at some of his books on Amazon. He has more than 100 titles. The books range from 100-370 pages. There are a few series. I won't give out his author name. He would probably get tons of one star reviews from a few posters in this thread.


Why do you think that? I certainly would never give a one star review on a book I hadn't read, but the fact that there is no back up to the claim is what is making it so implausible.


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## Guest (Aug 26, 2017)

Amanda M. Lee said:


> I guess that depends on what you believe. Some people believe in miracles, other in extraordinary humans who have almost mythical abilities. It's not my place to draw the line. I don't understand why anyone would want to do that because limitations are ... quite frankly ... a total bummer.


Whether you like it or not this is a world with boundaries. I cannot levitate off the ground. I cannot turn myself invisible. I cannot run faster than a car.



Amanda M. Lee said:


> the math doesn't rule it out.


At least you're using math. If the math doesn't rule out 5 novels per week I'm willing to listen. If you're saying 20 novels is the level of impossiblility per week, and can show me how 19 can be written per week, I'm willing to open my ears.

What I won't do is encourage people to gullibly believe 80k words per day is possible. It should be dismissed as ridiculous. Especially from posters who aren't showing us case study examples, let alone their own pen names.


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## Nope (Jun 25, 2012)

.


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## Becca Mills (Apr 27, 2012)

libwin said:


> I can't post the link to the thread because it is not a public board. The author says he is married with no children, and he can write 80,000 words in one day. I have looked at some of his books on Amazon. He has more than 100 titles. The books range from 100-370 pages. There are a few series. I won't give out his author name. He would probably get tons of one star reviews from a few posters in this thread.


Thank you, libwin. I haven't finished catching up on the thread yet, but I hope you've stuck to your guns on protecting this person's identity. There's no way we'd be allowing this loooong argument about whether he's lying if he were at all identifiable. That'd be profoundly obnoxious.


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## Doglover (Sep 19, 2013)

P.J. Post said:


> way tl:dr
> 
> But as an aside from the argument, to new writers out there: *as speed goes up, quality goes down. *


Who says so? That's an argument that has been done to death, an illogical argument on a par with 'you can't keep a dog and cat together' or 'you can't teach an old dog new tricks'. Both these are untrue as so is your assertion. Some authors can write very fast and still keep the quality. Others take a much longer time and there will be no difference in quality.


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## Amanda M. Lee (Jun 3, 2014)

P.J. Post said:


> way tl:dr
> 
> But as an aside from the argument, to new writers out there: *as speed goes up, quality goes down. * \


I've seen the light.


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## Becca Mills (Apr 27, 2012)

ShaneJeffery said:


> No anything is not possible. GOD!!! Is it possible for me to write 5 zillion novels this week? At what point do you admit there are boundaries


Shane, I'm sure Amanda recognizes that physical reality includes boundaries and curtailments of possibility. I think she's _philosophically _opposed to placing limits on other people. So, she's articulating a steadfast moral value -- you don't tell other people what they can't do. Period. Good for her for being consistent.


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## Amanda M. Lee (Jun 3, 2014)

Becca Mills said:


> Shane, I'm sure Amanda recognizes that physical reality includes boundaries and curtailments of possibility. I think she's _philosophically _opposed to placing limits on other people. So, she's articulating a steadfast moral value -- you don't tell other people what they can't do. Period. Good for her for being consistent.


It's kind of weird. I just finished re-watching Lost and John Locke is stuck in my head. "Don't tell me what I can't do." It kind of stuck with me for some reason. I'm excited for possibilities at the present moment.


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## libwin (Aug 22, 2015)

Doglover said:


> Why do you think that? I certainly would never give a one star review on a book I hadn't read, but the fact that there is no back up to the claim is what is making it so implausible.


The impossible is achieved every day. Your limitations are yours, not that authors.


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## Guest (Aug 26, 2017)

Becca Mills said:


> Shane, I'm sure Amanda recognizes that physical reality includes boundaries and curtailments of possibility. I think she's _philosophically _opposed to placing limits on other people. So, she's articulating a steadfast moral value -- you don't tell other people what they can't do. Period. Good for her for being consistent.


Alright, Becca, so the discussion here is about 5 X 80k books per week - Q: Is that possible?

My Answer is : No. Reason: Common sense, aka I don't believe it's possible.

What I expect from people countering this argument is a demonstration of how a certain amount of words is possible. Which further instigates the question - Isn't it worth taking a look at what everyone's ideas are about what is humanly possible for average, and then extrodinary beings in the field of writing? What is the limit that is possible?

To say there is no limit is wrong. It also detracts from the actual limit. It's an unintelligent discussion. I mean at a certain point we have to agree on basic principles for one another to communicate, to be taken seriously. You understand this right?


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## Guest (Aug 26, 2017)

libwin said:


> The impossible is achieved every day. Your limitations are yours, not that authors.


If it was achieved then it wasn't impossible.


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## Amanda M. Lee (Jun 3, 2014)

ShaneJeffery said:


> Alright, Becca, so the discussion here is about 5 X 80k books per week - Q: Is that possible?
> 
> My Answer is : No. Reason: Common sense, aka I don't believe it's possible.
> 
> ...


Many people in the thread have pointed out it's possible. For example, one way is: Author X dictates 6K an hour. That means, in a little over 13 hours, he's written 80K. You can add in bathroom and meal breaks and still get eight hours of sleep. Do it five days in a row and you're done. Or only work 10 hours a day and work through the weekend. Still done.


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## Guest (Aug 26, 2017)

Amanda M. Lee said:


> Many people in the thread have pointed out it's possible. For example, one way is: Author X dictates 6K an hour. That means, in a little over 13 hours, he's written 80K. You can add in bathroom and meal breaks and still get eight hours of sleep. Do it five days in a row and you're done. Or only work 10 hours a day and work through the weekend. Still done.


Well there you go. That's a reasonable argument. That's all I wanted.

Obviously you want to test the rest of the work out - quality wise. Is it selling, is it finding an audience, etc.? I mean you could very well open the books and he doesn't even have a grasp of basic english.

In any event it opens up questions about dictation vs typing. The ceiling for dictation etc.

You know, actual data, stats, numbers, examples worth comparing, analysing.

Not a fan of the anonymity about this though.


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## Wysardry (Jun 24, 2016)

Whilst I cannot know whether the particular person mentioned did write five 80,000 word novels in a week or what method they used if they did, I don't believe it is physically impossible.

According to this Wikipedia article on words per minute, people have reached speeds high enough to create 400,000 words in 7 days.

Stenotype seems to be the fastest handwriting method, with top speeds of around 350 words per minute (21,000 words per hour). If the words were spoken (dictation), the record is 637 wpm.

So, it is theoretically possible (for a skilled person) to physically write five 80,000 word novels using shorthand even if they only write for 4 hours per day for the 7 days.


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## Becca Mills (Apr 27, 2012)

ShaneJeffery said:


> Alright, Becca, so the discussion here is about 5 X 80k books per week - Q: Is that possible?
> 
> My Answer is : No. Reason: Common sense, aka I don't believe it's possible.
> 
> ...


Shane, I don't think there's much point in insisting on clear shared principles when what we know about this person's books and writing schedule is so constrained by his anonymity, which we need to preserve. No one is going to have their minds changed when we know so little about the situation.

FWIW, Amanda has said that writing five 80K novels a week would not be remotely possible for her, and she's at the forefront of my mind as the author in whom writing speed and book quality come together in the most ideal combination. That, in and of itself, is a valuable contribution to what we know.


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## Nope (Jun 25, 2012)

.


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## Amanda M. Lee (Jun 3, 2014)

P.J. Post said:


> _I can drive my car with my tongue, too, but that doesn't make it a good idea._ - Chris Rock.


I don't believe that was part of the argument, just whether it was possible.


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## Becca Mills (Apr 27, 2012)

ShaneJeffery said:


> Not a fan of the anonymity about this though.


It'd be one thing if the author in question were trying to sell us his method for writing 250 novels/year: _Just take this $299 course, and you can do it too!!!_ In a case like that, rigorous examination would be appropriate. But that's not the case at all. Rather, we're chatting about something someone said about themselves in a closed group. So, yeah. Anonymity is essential.


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## Nope (Jun 25, 2012)

.


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## Becca Mills (Apr 27, 2012)

P.J. Post said:


> _I can drive my car with my tongue, too, but that doesn't make it a good idea._ - Chris Rock.


I heard somewhere that steering wheels have waaaaaay more bacteria on them than toilets do.


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## Amanda M. Lee (Jun 3, 2014)

P.J. Post said:


> Well, epistemologically speaking, anything is possible, except, maybe...editing 80k a day.


I can edit 80K in a day but I'm a terrible editor, which is why I pay people now.


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## a_g (Aug 9, 2013)

libwin said:


> I can't post the link to the thread because it is not a public board. The author says he is married with no children, and he can write 80,000 words in one day. I have looked at some of his books on Amazon. He has more than 100 titles. The books range from 100-370 pages. There are a few series. I won't give out his author name. He would probably get tons of one star reviews from a few posters in this thread.


Fair enough. That was more information than you gave at the beginning.

He's single.
Book page count range from 100-370 pages.
The fact there are series and you said that he has about 100 titles available.

Far more than what you stated at the beginning, which was my point. All we have is your paraphrase of what he said. I don't need to know his name. I don't _care_ to know his name.

I don't even care if he really does write 5 80k books a week _or_ if he does it consistently. I am not going to say that he _can't_ do it, either.

I'm saying that a lot of people in this thread were making assumptions about a writer and his process that they had _no knowledge about_ and proclaiming it an impossible feat _even though simple calculations said it may be physically possible_. Sure the bodily ramifications of such a punishing pace may be pretty severe, except we know nothing about the author to make any judgment except as measured against our own limitations.

That was one of my sticking points.


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## a_g (Aug 9, 2013)

ShaneJeffery said:


> Alright, Becca, so the discussion here is about 5 X 80k books per week - Q: Is that possible?
> 
> My Answer is : No. Reason: Common sense, aka I don't believe it's possible.
> 
> What I expect from people countering this argument is a demonstration of how a certain amount of words is possible.


Un-freaking-believable. You say 'I don't believe' and you expect someone to pony up charts and graphs and calculations to prove you wrong, even though a few times in the thread the back-of-the-envelope calculations had been done?



ShaneJeffery said:


> I mean at a certain point we have to agree on basic principles for one another to communicate, to be taken seriously. You understand this right?


This is laughable.


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## Anarchist (Apr 22, 2015)

Becca Mills said:


> I heard somewhere that steering wheels have waaaaaay more bacteria on them than toilets do.


That's it. From this point forward, I refuse to put my tongue on steering wheels and toilets.


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## Wayne Stinnett (Feb 5, 2014)

Math is always the stumbling block for tall tales. 

Five 80K novels is 400K words. Divided by seven is 57,143 words per day. Assuming eight hours of sleep and sixteen hours of writing (no breaks for bathroom, coffee, lunch, dinner, or anything), that's 3,571 words per hour, doing nothing but non-stop writing, from waking up to going to sleep. All day. Every day.

Yeah, that's BS.


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## Becca Mills (Apr 27, 2012)

Anarchist said:


> That's it. From this point forward, I refuse to put my tongue on steering wheels and toilets.


Chicken.


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## Becca Mills (Apr 27, 2012)

Let's keep it kind, folks.


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## Nope (Jun 25, 2012)

.


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## Wysardry (Jun 24, 2016)

Wayne Stinnett said:


> ... that's 3,571 words per hour, doing nothing but non-stop writing, from waking up to going to sleep.


3751 words per hour is just under 60 words per minute, which is well within the normal range for the _average_ professional typist using a standard keyboard. An above average typist and/or one using some form of stenotype could work even more quickly (maybe 4 times as fast).


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## crow.bar.beer (Oct 20, 2014)

Wayne Stinnett said:


> Math is always the stumbling block for tall tales.
> 
> Five 80K novels is 400K words. Divided by seven is 57,143 words per day. Assuming eight hours of sleep and sixteen hours of writing (no breaks for bathroom, coffee, lunch, dinner, or anything), that's 3,571 words per hour, doing nothing but non-stop writing, from waking up to going to sleep. All day. Every day.
> 
> Yeah, that's BS.


Why assume eight hours of sleep, though? Some people never get that much. Cut that number in half and bump the words per hour up a bit and we're definitely talking about something that is physically possible.

* * *

There are _so_ many readily available examples of humans excelling and breaking records in every other domain. The variety of what we are all each individually capable of is something most people don't even realize. The way some people's brains function is absolutely foreign to others, but that doesn't make it any less real, and science will back me up on this.

When so many authors here have already identified that, at the very least, the parameters of writing that fast or writing that much in a short amount of time are within the realm of reason, it's not a stretch _in the slightest_ to contextualize that with something else: idiot savants.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Savant_syndrome

I think why some are finding the idea that this is possible so darn offensive is they feel threatened by the notion other people could be so prodigious at the same skill set they themselves wish to excel at. Surely there _must_ be a catch! 

What I'm also finding pretty remarkable at the moment is the lack of imagination in a field where imagination is kinda the whole point.


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## Evenstar (Jan 26, 2013)

Just read this whole thread from start to finish and I literally can not work out what the argument is about!

Are you people bickering just for the sake of it?

Pretty much every single person here seems to agree (to a variety of degrees and passion) that it is jolly unlikely, darn near impossible, totally unsustainable and leaves no room for anything else, but is just maybe perhaps physically do-able. Does that not sum it up? 

So if we all just settle on the reality that it is most likely untrue but can't with certainty be ruled out, then doesn't that catch all points of view?


I read that our computer keyboards have more germs than anything else in the house. Go and wash your hands.
I also keep being told that tea has more caffeine than coffee, but it still doesn't wake me up in the morning like a coffee does. So what's up with that??


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## Alan Petersen (May 20, 2011)

Since I can't do it, it can't be done.


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## Nope (Jun 25, 2012)

.


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## Anarchist (Apr 22, 2015)

Jeff Tanyard said:


> On the other hand, you can take a dump on your steering wheel without raising your risk of bacterial infection.


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## Paranormal Kitty (Jun 13, 2017)

Wasn't there a book or a movie with a character who couldn't stop constantly writing? Like it was some kind of mental illness?


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## Wysardry (Jun 24, 2016)

paranormal_kitty said:


> Wasn't there a book or a movie with a character who couldn't stop constantly writing? Like it was some kind of mental illness?


The Life of Barbara Cartland?


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## Rose Andrews (Jun 1, 2017)

Wayne Stinnett said:


> Math is always the stumbling block for tall tales.
> 
> Five 80K novels is 400K words. Divided by seven is 57,143 words per day. Assuming eight hours of sleep and sixteen hours of writing (no breaks for bathroom, coffee, lunch, dinner, or anything), that's 3,571 words per hour, doing nothing but non-stop writing, from waking up to going to sleep. All day. Every day.
> 
> Yeah, that's BS.


Thank you. I so agree.


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## Going Incognito (Oct 13, 2013)

Boyd said:


>


Slow news day, apparently. 
Maybe someone should go stuff or scam something real quick. Or we could reopen the Bella thread and spread the stressing back out over two threads.



Anarchist said:


> Drama llama threads are entertaining. But getting one's jimmies rustled about others' tactics and claims seems like a recipe for stress.


Most definitely been entertaining tho.


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## CABarrett (Feb 23, 2017)

crow.bar.beer said:


> There are _so_ many readily available examples of humans excelling and breaking records in every other domain.


We have some pretty cool examples of writing records, too. I stumbled over this list while trying to remember this article about a Brazilian writer who churns out books, which seems relevant to the ongoing debate.

Humans are amazingly weird creatures. That's really what keeps us all in business, isn't it?


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## mojomikey (Apr 9, 2014)

Amanda M. Lee said:


> I'm sure it is. Somehow I think you'll get over it, though.


Amanda, you rock. Can't wait to read more of your comments.

You are living proof that fast writing does not equal sucky writing.

I'm wondering where the cutoff is = where does fast writing automatically turn into sucky writing? 1K a day? 5K a day?

I admit, an 80K novel a day does push the boundaries. But I routinely hit 10K/day and I still sell my stories to Huffpost and my readers....


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## Doglover (Sep 19, 2013)

libwin said:


> The impossible is achieved every day. Your limitations are yours, not that authors.


Did I mention my own limitations? I'm sure I didn't.


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## AlanKemp (Aug 26, 2017)

I would love to believe it, but I don't buy it. Surely the quality would take a nosedive as fatigue sets in!


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## Nope (Jun 25, 2012)

.


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## Alan Petersen (May 20, 2011)

mojomikey said:


> I'm wondering where the cutoff is = where does fast writing automatically turn into sucky writing? 1K a day? 5K a day?


6,666 a day is the cutoff.


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## jaehaerys (Feb 18, 2016)

Some people are talented at being able to turn out great prose just by "riffing". I feel like that's something Stephen King is really good at. I believe he even listens to rock music while writing. I can't listen to music with lyrics while I'm writing because hearing other words while thinking of what I'm writing totally throws me off. I'm not great at riffing either, I'm quite a bit more deliberate so I can't do the super high word counts everyday. Power to those that can. But five 80k novels a week? That's some serious stream-of-consciousness going on, I'm not sure how many people in the world could do that and turn out good prose, which isn't to say it can't be done, just that I think it's gotta be a rare talent.


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## LifesHumor (Feb 5, 2014)

I should try to do one 80,000 book in one week to see if I could do it.


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## Nope (Jun 25, 2012)

.


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## tvnopenope (Sep 14, 2015)

I don't know about anyone else, but I know I can't write five 80k novels in a week.


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## K&#039;Sennia Visitor (Jan 14, 2014)

I couldn't write an 80,000 word novel, even if I had 80 years. That is way too many words for one story. But that's just me and my monkey brain. 

  Whether it's possible for any other person to write five 80,000 word novels in a week, I have no idea. If someone says they have, then awesome possum. More power to them.


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## Wayne Stinnett (Feb 5, 2014)

Wysardry said:


> 3751 words per hour is just under 60 words per minute, which is well within the normal range for the _average_ professional typist using a standard keyboard. An above average typist and/or one using some form of stenotype could work even more quickly (maybe 4 times as fast).


You're talking speed. I'm talking stamina. An above average typist can easily hit that mark, yes. For a few minutes, or maybe even a few hours. Sustain it for 16 hours a day, seven days a week, without interruption? Um, no. Simply not possible.


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## Doglover (Sep 19, 2013)

Wayne Stinnett said:


> You're talking speed. I'm talking stamina. An above average typist can easily hit that mark, yes. For a few minutes, or maybe even a few hours. Sustain it for 16 hours a day, seven days a week, without interruption? Um, no. Simply not possible.


It can be done, Wayne, but that's typing, not writing. I used to work in London in the legal profession and could easily do loads of overtime, typing at higher speeds than that, but then I'm just copy typing. That's not the same at all as having to think about characters, story and plot. It's no different from working any machine for that long; no brain power involved at all.

Nearly forty years ago, when I had young children and no time to write except evenings, I thought of a great story. I had to write longhand then copy it out the next day because I could not think and type at the same time and anyway, a typewriter would have woken the kids. I would get so involved in the story, I'd be at it till 2 or 3 in the morning sometimes. No internet then, so it all had to be perfect for a publisher, which meant retyping the whole chapter every time something was added or removed.

The result of this sort of work was I woke up one morning in hospital with a small blood vessel bursted in my brain. So, whether it can be done isn't really the question; more is it safe?

BTW congrats on winning the e-festival novelist of the year.


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## K&#039;Sennia Visitor (Jan 14, 2014)

For some authors it is just typing though. 

I remember one prolific author on here, a long time ago, saying that full story plots just appeared in her brain like a movie, and that all she had to do was type what she saw. 

I remember being so jealous at the time cos I don't even get full plots in my dreams. But then when I'm awake the only thing I see in my head are concepts, not even full pictures. 

But for people who are lucky enough to have cinematic movie screens in their heads while they're awake, it seems that being a super fast typist is all they would need to achieve super speeds.


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## crow.bar.beer (Oct 20, 2014)

Queen_of_Shorts said:


> For some authors it is just typing though.
> 
> I remember one prolific author on here, a long time ago, saying that full story plots just appeared in her brain like a movie, and that all she had to do was type what she saw.
> 
> ...


Exactly, every brain is different, and the gap between those differences could fill a book.


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## Wysardry (Jun 24, 2016)

Wayne Stinnett said:


> You're talking speed. I'm talking stamina. An above average typist can easily hit that mark, yes. For a few minutes, or maybe even a few hours. Sustain it for 16 hours a day, seven days a week, without interruption? Um, no. Simply not possible.


If they could type four times as fast, they would only need to work for four hours per day instead of sixteen. If they worked five and a half hours per day, they could even have weekends off.

They would have time to take breaks between typing sessions.


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## David Wisehart (Mar 2, 2010)

Is it humanly possible?

Yes, of course.

What is the human limit?

My guess: fourteen 80K novels per week.

The math:

8K words per hour (dictation; some people do more)
20 hours per day (Uberman sleep schedule: 20 hours work, 2 hours sleep, and 2 hours for whatever; maybe take a "limitless" drug for focus)
8K wph x 20 hours = 160K words per day
160K wpd / 80K words per novel = two 80K novels per day
Two 80K npd x 7 days per week = 14 novels per week

Will the books be any good?

Depends on the writer. Experienced writers tend to write better than newbies, at any given speed.

Also, the fourteenth fast novel is likely to be much better than the first. And the fourteenth novel is only a week away.

"as speed goes up, quality goes down"

Nonsense. The reverse isn't true: slowing down doesn't mean better writing. A sentence written in ten minutes isn't guaranteed to be any better than a sentence written in ten seconds. Every writer has an optimum speed. Many writers get faster as they get better. Some get better as they get faster.

That said, the person in question probably didn't write five novels a week, but hired ghostwriters.


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## Pandorra (Aug 22, 2017)

Ok I can do 50k in a week but that's with 14 hour days using voice and where I can stay absolutely focused.. which isn't usually the case! 


Would I be able to repeat it after trying it once? I don't think so.....


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## Tara KH (Aug 31, 2017)

I wish I had a superpower that would let me crank out books like this. I struggle with 5k a day. The most I've ever done was 9k in one day.


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## Pandorra (Aug 22, 2017)

I usually average about 5k in 4 hours on the slick parts, (where I know exactly what I want to happen) 2-3k if its dialog or I'm filling in blanks as I go so I have to hit the notes and edit as I go. 


Sometimes I am pleasantly surprised by how much I get done when the scenes start to flow and come together... Other times, even when I know I have to write something and know what I want to say, my brain is just to exhausted to want to go there and that's usually when I spent 12 hours straight doing something utterly stupid .. like watching YouTube or telling my more critical friends what I am working on! lol


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