Writing Fast

It amazes me how fast some writers can produce. On her blog the other day Margaret Moore USA Today best selling author of historical romance, compared her first draft daily page count to a runner's sprint. She complained that she had slowed to a jog and had only written 65 pages that week-- compared to 85 the previous week and 105 the first week. And she says, if she can write another 65 to 75 pages, it may well take her to the end of her first draft.

I think that's fantastic. I suppose that's not unreasonable, but I wish I could write that many pages in a week! I know there are writers out there who do that and more. But I'm not one of them, at least most of the time. Granted, there have been occasions when I got in the zone and rolled with it, ticking out page after page of stellar words so fast it made my head swim. I’ve even finished more than 300 pages in less than a month. But not usually. If I get 4 or 5 pages done on the days I can write, I'm doing good. And of course, first drafts are just that. The real writing begins in edits and revisions -- lots of them, as Margaret is quick to point out as well.

The way I tend to write may be why my page count is what it is. I usually do edits and revisions as I go. If I'm writing a novel/novella, I will edit chapter by chapter; I edit short fiction at the end of the day, or first thing before my next writing session.

For the most part, I think many of us traipse along getting it done as fast as we can, revisions and all, but not so fast your mind can hardly keep up. Am I right? So here's my question -- How fast do you write? And how prolific are you? Meaning have you ever finished a manuscript so quickly and well written that it needed little or no revisions?

And to keep us all on our toes, here's what Margaret Moore had to say after reading this post and the comments:

Oh, baby, you better believe I rewrite! And revise. And cut. And move scenes. And rewrite some more. I do *at least* three complete drafts of a book and usually five. That's from page 1 to the last page, with many, many more revisions of individual scenes along the way. I can spend hours on three pages. And I've often done over thirty drafts of the first scene of Chapter One. So when I've written x number of first draft pages, that in no way compares to x number of finished, ready-to-submit pages...

(continued in comments)

Thanks Margaret!

Kaye

Memorable Characters

Warrick paced across a rush covered floor in the castle's great hall. He waited
for Jonathan, his liege. A leather-bound claymore slung low about his waist and his hand rested upon it. His large frame sported a plaid in the colors of his clan. The tartan fell below rough-hewn body leather and gleaming chain mail armor. Hailing from the Highlands, he bore the scars of numerous battles won and lost. Many called him Warrick the Bold. Jonathan called him his most trusted friend and confidant...

(Warrick, secondary character from Knight of Magic © by Kaye Manro)

There is so much discussion on the subject of characters these days and rightly so. Without good characterization where would our stories be? Though by far the most important aspect of our story is our heroes, heroines and villains. But don't forget those endearing secondary characters, the ones who people our stories and assist our main characters. It’s easy to concentrate on the h/h and forget to make the support cast strong as well.

When I have a story idea, one of my favorite things to do is to people my fictional world with a great supporting cast. However, it is not always easy to make them come to life. True, good character sketches help. And descriptive narrative as I have written about Warrick can go a long way. But how do they become really real? Maybe this is the toughest part for aspiring writers, even seasoned writers. If we don’t create them well, our support people can turn out unrealistic or two dimensional.

Lea Schizas is holding a character building workshop this month. If you are interested here is the link:

Date: February 24

Time: 7pm EST

Place: Chat Lounge 1

At: http://www.themuseonlinewritersconference.com/

Price: Free

What about you? How do you create the best and most alive supporting cast for your story? And as a reader, what do you like best about secondary characters?

Kaye