Years ago, at the height of Game of Thrones popularity, Stephen King and George R.R. Martin sat down for a conversation. Before the end of their chat, Martin asked King: (and I’m paraphrasing here) “How the hell do you write your books so fast?”
If you’re unaware, Stephen King is a famously prodigious writer. George R.R. Martin is not. Stephen King has authored 65 books.1 George R.R. Martin…has not finished the series that made him famous.2
We are all George R.R. Martin here. I don’t know any writer, no matter how productive, who doesn’t wring their hands about writing more. There’s always one more idea, one more story to tell, and writing often feels like a catch up game. I think we’d all be Stephen King if we could, publishing multiple books a year. But we’re not, so in the vein of my post on how to read more, here’s some tips on how to write more.
Disclaimer: Your mileage may vary on any one of these. Nor would I expect you to try EVERYTHING on this list, but you do you. I’m aware we all have bills to pay and responsibilities™️, so think of this less as dictates and instead potential options. If you’re looking to update your writing practice in 2024, may these help your pen move swiftly.
Keep a journal
I’ve never been a great diarist. As a kid, I’d get very into journaling, and then abandon it a few weeks later. I was always struck by how long it took to write down all of my thoughts. While I loved The Princess Diaries and any format therein, I found it unrealistic. It was never the amount of thoughts; oh no, I always had plenty of thoughts.3 It was the sheer act of writing them down that derailed me. I do appreciate journaling as a practice though, especially as it allows me to process heavier emotions. So I’ve compromised in my adulthood: I have not one but TWO journals. Because of the aforementioned joint issues, sometimes writing by hand hurts my wrists too much,4 so in addition to my handwritten one, I also have a typed journal on my computer. There is no expectation that I write in them, ever, only that they are there if I need them. I have found this to be a much more realistic way to chronicle my thoughts without the added pressure. Plus, journaling counts as writing!
Great for: chroniclers, people who loved keeping a diary as kids
Bad for: people who have zero desire to write down their thoughts
Do morning pages
You might have heard of this practice; it comes from Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way. The idea is that as soon as you get up, you write 3 pages. Immediately. Stream of consciousness. No censoring, just writing. There is something to this - I know multiple people who have done The Artist’s Way in full and felt like they emptied themselves of useless thoughts so that they could focus on their work. Not censoring yourself in any way can also allow different things to come to the surface of your subconscious - who knows what’s brewing in there. Like with journaling, Morning Pages still count as writing. I own this book, but haven’t read it yet.5 So like everything in this list, I should maybe take my own advice.
Great for: people looking for a structured writing practice
Bad for: people who need time to become a person first thing in the morning
Go where the motivation is
This one is simple. Write what you’re interested in writing. You’re that much more likely to write, and that much more likely to WANT to write if you’re engaged with your work.
Great for: mood writers
Bad for: writing that needs to get finished
Data Science
Bear with me for a minute. I’m sure alarm bells are going off. What! I can hear you cry. You’re asking me, a non-sciencey literature person, to do Data Science?!?! Are you out of your mind??? Yes, but not for that reason. Seeing how much you write, and how that compounds, can be a useful motivational tool. I use Scrivener, but many word processing tools have statistics baked into them. For me, this is exciting because I can not only set daily writing or session goals, but I can also then see how much I’ve been writing!!!! We have yet to touch on my love of graphs, but oh boy, nothing motivates me more than seeing a GRAPH of my own output. I was on both Mathletes AND Math Counts in middle school, after all.6
Great for: number nerds, math people
Bad for: people who hate numbers
Reward yourself
This comes straight from one of my professors. She pointed out in class one day that as writers, we do a very poor job of recognizing ourselves. She had us create a goal schedule based on some facet of our writing (pages, word count, etc) and then plan out how we’d reward ourselves when we achieved them. Much like the data science aspect, seeing your wins stack onto each other makes it that much more motivating to keep going! So, think about one of your writing goals. Plan out how you’re going to achieve it, and how you’re going to recognize those successes along the way. In the immortal words of Donna Meagle:
Great for: bashful types who don’t recognize their achievements
Bad for: people who have no problem treating themselves (aka me)
Try someone else’s routine
The great thing about the Internet is that somewhere, most famous authors have detailed their writing routines. Christy Anne Jones, an Australian BookTuber that I follow, has a series where she tries author’s writing routines. The most recent one is Hayao Miyazaki’s, and she has also tried Ursula K. Le Guin’s, Neil Gaiman’s, Donna Tartt’s, and Virginia Woolf’s, among others. Point being: you can always try someone else’s routine and see if there is anything in it for you. You may discover new insights into how you like to work, or you could discover that you hate whatever new thing you tried and go back to your old routine. It’s all just information about how you write best!
Great for: people who want to try something new, people looking to get out of a rut
Bad for: people who need their own routine that cannot be disrupted at any cost
Bonus:
Read more.
If you’re unaware, you can’t be a good writer without reading a lot. So read more! Reading is writing. Go outside more! Walking is writing. Stare into the middle distance more! Staring is writing. You get the gist: anything is writing. As much as this is said in jest, I do also mean it seriously. Why? If you are not living, if you are not engaging with the wider world, you will have nothing to write about. Your creative process needs to be fed - you can’t just keep taxing yourself into extinction. So yes, if you’re feeling stuck or motivationally challenged, pick up a book or watch a tv show or go for a walk or do literally anything. Who knows what will spark your creativity or will allow your subconscious to process more effectively.
Great for: anyone who considers themselves a writer, those looking to procrastinate
Bad for: anyone with self control and who knows themselves well enough to know they will never get back to writing
I hope you found these tips helpful. What else do you to do revamp your writing routine? Let me know in the comments!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_King_bibliography
ugh I know this is wikipedia but please spare me. It was the only comprehensive list I could find.
No shade to him though, writing books is hard and he is clearly successful and doesn’t need my commentary.
#anxiety
Or just takes too damn long.
This is a common refrain. Expect to see it often.
I was truly Cady Heron in that scene in Mean Girls.