In Defense of Slow Writers

I'm told that many self-published authors write multiple novels per year. I have absolutely no idea how that's possible. I'm talking novels, mind you; not novellas. I've had years in which I published three novellas, but three novellas put together don't even equal one standard-length novel.

I would have to stand over their shoulder and watch them do it to see how it's done. Are all their novels crap? Do they just vomit out words and say, "good enough"? I can kind of get it with regard to romance novels. They're generally short, and let's face it, they are hardly literary classics. Romance novels are empty calories that people binge-read. (Sorry; I'm entitled to my opinion.) But other genres aren't so forgiving. Fantasy and sci-fi require world building, I'm told. How fast is a writer able to do that? I have enough trouble describing the real world. 

Maybe these writers are faster than me because they outline, whereas I need to figure things out as I go. I will never understand outlining. Is writing from an outline basically stenography? Okay, well, this is what comes next. Let's go. I never know what comes next.

But it's not as if I sit for hours trying to brainstorm my next scene. I'm writing; letting the story take me where it wants to go. And still I'm slow. Yes, I'm a stickler for word choice. I want the writing to be exactly right, so I fiddle with my passages. While it's true that I sometimes tell myself to just get on with it, that I can fix it in editing, I detest editing. I do it, but I hate it. Part of my problem with the editing process is that I'm no longer in the moment, where my creative juices flow. I'm reading my manuscript dispassionately. The story is better if I get it right the first time through.

I published Inn Dreams on June 9 and almost immediately dove into Second Chance, which was already half written. And here I am in November and I'm only starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel (faintly). Yes, my writing sessions have been curtailed, but I wasn't exactly going gangbusters prior to that. 

When one reads self-publishing forums, it's remarkably easy to begin questioning oneself. In the thread I was reading tonight, one guy (or gal) said he/she generally publishes six novels a year. And it's not as if that person is a full-time writer. I couldn't do it even then.

I'm never going to get faster at this, but it's okay. My pace works for me. After all, which is worse? Having six published novels that don't sell or only one?