Tag: pulp speed

Pulp Fiction Writing Challenge Week 1

Hey! thanks for joining me for my Pulp Fiction Writing Challenge. This is the first week so the details will come along as we go. You can participate in the comments, or better yet…

I’ve created a Facebook Group if you want to participate. 

The challenge will run for four weeks each month, starting on the 1st, and the last challenge ending on the 28th.

The Challenge: Write a complete book in 1 week.

The Rules:

  • Book may be outlined ahead of time.
  • Book may be any length, so if you know you won’t have much time to write, plan on something shorter.
  • You only need to complete the first draft.
  • Score yourself. Track how many successful weeks you have against how far along the challenge is.

While I created this challenge for me, it would be cool to have a writer’s group of fellow crazies. Let me know if you are along for the ride.

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Pulp Speed Writing Day 25 – August and Year to Date Goals Update

25 days in and August is over. Yesterday I edited through a couple of Chapters in my WIP, because that’s all I had time for. That’s the low writing count (222 words), but I edited through 1,978 words. 14,709 of 71,404 completed (21%).

I’ve only been tracking these stats since I started this pulp speed writing challenge streak,  but here’s how I’m looking for August and the year.

Also, it’s September 1st, so I’ll be starting this week’s pulp writing speed challenge. I’m going to write a novel in 1 week. For writing time, I’ve got Sunday, Monday (limited), Wednesday, and Thursday. As of right now. My schedule is always in flux. I’ll probably write another blog post about this specifically.

AUGUST

  • Word Count: 42,822
  • Average Word Count Per Day: 1,381
  • Books Published: 1 (Spilling Blood Season 3, novel length collection)

2017 So Far

  • Word Count: 174,699
  • Average Word Count Per Day: 719
  • Books Published: 10 (6 short stories, 3 Novellas, 1 Novel Length Collection)

The goal was to hit 1 million words, and with a little bit of crazy, hit two million. Yeeeeaaaahhhh… Maybe the 1 million. With a lot of luck. 4 months left to do it in.

 

Day 25 Word Count: 222

ACCUMULATED STATS –

  • Word Count: 40,369
  • Average Word Count per Day: 1,615
  • Current Writing Streak: 25 days
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Pulp Speed Writing Day 23

So Day 23 doesn’t look very impressive, but I started editing. I chopped 31 word doc pages from the entire book, and then deleted almost another 1,000 words from Chapter 1. I ended up adding another 121 words to Chapter 1, and ended with 2,218 words left in the first chapter.

So I’m thinking about writing a serial in Wattpad, and maybe release a chapter every couple of days. I’d have to risk maybe 30 minutes a day… I don’t know… is it worth it? Maybe I’ll do a pen name romance to progress that career. I dunno.

So I’ve got a to-do list for today…

  • Edit Work-in-Process
  • Finish Paperback of Spilling Blood Season 3
  • Outline Next Book
  • Outline Romance Serial for Wattpad (optional)

I still only know that I have two days open next week, one of which will be spent at the Twin Falls County Fair. I’ll still have the morning, however, so if my ducks are in a row, I’ll be okay. I’m going to plan on writing a 20k-25k book, at this point. Honestly, I’ll know better tomorrow.

I’ve got a list of ideas I need to read through to see which concept catches my attention. And it’s gotta be something I don’t want to make full length.

Assumptions for Pulp Speed Book –

  • Each chapter to average 1,500 words targeting a 20k book. It will likely go longer, based upon my past writing history, thus the 25k upper end.
  • Probably 13 chapters. I have 7 days to write it, so that’s two chapters a day, 3,000-word daily target.
  • I have two open days for maximum output, which needs to make up for the bad days. My writing suggests 4,000 words is realistic, so I’ll push to pass 5,000.
  • Since at the moment I’m averaging under 12,000 a week, there’s a definite challenge to this goal.
  • Michael Moorcock used to write 60,000 in 3 days. Just throwing that in there.

So maybe tomorrow will be the day I’ll announce what I’m writing.

Day 23 Word Count: 121

ACCUMULATED STATS –

  • Word Count: 39,688
  • Average Word Count per Day: 1,726
  • Current Writing Streak: 23 days
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Pulp Speed Writing Day 22

As expected, I finished the rough draft of my WIP. It’s not pretty yet, but the story is told. Out of the 83,000 words in this book, after I trim out the stuff that no longer belongs, I’m left with 70,800. I’m pretty happy with that.

When I edit, I add words. I read a lot about how during the second draft you should chop somewhere around 10%, but I’ll add at least that much. maybe twice that. I’ll go back and flesh out descriptions, add more dialogue, make the dialogue a bit smoother, maybe further develop a few story arcs and weak characters.

Of course, I’ve got a bit over 12,000 words I’ve already chopped, but that’s from when I only had a 40k book. And I’d thought I was almost done then.

Anyway, I’ll spend the next several days seeing how far I can get through the editing, but expect the Pulp Fiction Challenge to Start on September 1st.

Day 22 Word Count: 3,988

ACCUMULATED STATS –

  • Word Count: 39,567
  • Average Word Count per Day: 1,799
  • Current Writing Streak: 22 days
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Pulp Writing Speed Day 21 – Week 3 Growth, September Goals

wp-image-1036085911Day 21 brought me closer to my desired writing quota, hitting over 4k in two hours. My average words per hour were 2,800, but I was in the zone when the 30 minute alarm went off the last time and I might’ve gone a bit long, which skews the average. Anyway, that’s not significant.

You know, calling this, writing speed is a misnomer. The goal isn’t exactly speed, it’s quantity. If I’m shooting for 5k, it doesn’t matter how many hours it takes, as long as I put in the time. I’m not focusing on speed at all, except for how fast it takes to put out a  book.

Granted, writing speed is a huge factor, depending on how quickly I want to get away from my computer desk. If two hours is all the time I have to write, it makes sense to get as much out of it as I can. It’s productivity.

Anyway, my WIP is at 79k, of which I am happy with 66k.

And now I see the light at the end of the tunnel. I am hoping to finish the rough draft today (day 22).

I could have written much more but we went to The Sawtooth National Forest, did some hiking and played in the river.wp-image-109703582

Week 3 Growth

Week 2 had seen a drop from Week 1, but Week 3 blew both weeks out of the water. That comes from finding time to write on days that I normally wouldn’t think I’d have time, or would feel too tired. Those feelings didn’t change, but I still made time. The other factor is I was going through less old writing this week, writing more new material.

This next week will have me going through my WIP, polishing it into a finished draft, which may drop the productivity.

I will, however, also be starting a new book in 4 days. It’s not a perfect starting point based on my week, because my week begins based on when I started this writing streak. And then I’m using the beginning of the month as the focus for new writing projects.

September’s Goals

  • Write 4 Books in 4 weeks.
  • Publish 3 of the 4 before the end of the month
  • Release Paperback of Spilling Blood Season 3
  • Release Ebook of WIP (watch for title announcement)
  • Release Paperback of WIP

 

Day 21 Word Count: 4,206

 

STATS FOR WEEK 3 –

  • Word count: 15,130 (up 5,628 over last week)
  • Average Word Count per Day: 2,161 (up 804 per day over last week)
  • Current Work in Progress Word Count: 78,967 (actually usable: 66,812)

ACCUMULATED STATS –

  • Word Count: 35,579
  • Average Word Count per Day: 1,694
  • Current Writing Streak: 21 days
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Pulp Speed Writing Day 20 – Telepathy. Dunh dunh DUNHHHHH!!!!

I know what your thinking right now, and let me tell ya something, you, you should be ashamed! There could be telepathic children nearby reading your thoughts (AS YOU THINK THEM!).

Woah, hold on, don’t make this about me, you dirty minded and crude individual you. This is about you. IT’s ALL ON YOU!!!! THIS IS CAPS LOCK!!!! Do you think about your mom with that mind? Sorry, that one sounded a lot weirder than I intended.

Telepathy, am I right?!

So yeah, thanks for showing up today. Have a seat, (oh, yeah, you’re probably reading this sitting down, BUT NOT THAT GUY! THAT ONE ON HIS CELL!!! He’s clearly standing, though… wait, it’s too late to prove me wrong, bucko! I saw you standing! I SAW YOU!!!!) and I’ll get on with my pulp speed report.

I wrote 2,770 words on a day I didn’t have much time to write, so TAKE THAT, LIFE DISTRACTIONS!!!! HAHAHAHA!!!!! Today’s Sunday, nobody’s up, and I’ve got a little time before I head into the mountains. That’s today’s distraction – trees, water, and mountains.

I can feel this book nearing it’s ending. I feeeeeeel it. I think I can almost announce it soon. Despite all the delays, despite the haters… well, that one hater, that bastard, but nobody likes him either. Karma hates a hater, and even Taylor Swift says he’s gotta hate hate hate hate hate, so whatever. So yes, DESPITE!!!! It will be my longest published book, and I’m sure, instant classic. Seriously, you don’t want to miss it, because I’m putting a lot of my life into it, and therefore it lives too. Believe!!!

So… 20-day streak so far, average word count is crawling upward, the right way, finally!!!, and on a bad writing day, pushing me toward actual pulp speed writing. It’s a’comin’ (Idaho slang, word!!!). Average of 5k soon… Average wordsmithing per hour: 2,401. BAM!

Day 20 Word Count: 2,770

ACCUMULATED STATS –

  • Word Count: 31,373
  • Average Word Count per Day: 1,568
  • Current Writing Streak: 20 days
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Pulp Speed Writing Day 19

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I knew I wouldn’t have much time on Friday, but I still set aside 30 minutes to get in some writing. The WIP is moving steadily forward, and I’m slowly deleting the outline as I complete the new sections.

Saturday is not looking promising, and I’ll be happy to get in 30 minutes. Just to say I showed up. There are 6 days left to complete the rough draft before the end of the month, which should be plenty of time, but then life and curve balls and all that.

Still planning on writing a book in a week the first week of September, regardless of what’s on my plate, and length based upon the number of free days I have (details in earlier post).

Day 19 Word Count: 978

ACCUMULATED STATS –

  • Word Count: 28,603
  • Average Word Count per Day: 1,505
  • Current Writing Streak: 19 days
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Pulp Speed Writing Day 18

I put in a solid two hours of writing, getting me 4,372 words on my WIP. I am averaging 2,186 words an hour. The book is currently over 71k, with 59k being material I’m happy with. I suspect the finished book will now push 70k also.

As far as writing time, I don’t think I’m using my time all that well, and I think I on days like this I should be able to at least double it. At least it’s increasing in the right direction.

There’s not much of a guarantee that I can accomplish much over the next two days, so I’m going to just try and squeeze in what I can.

Day 18 Word Count: 4,372

ACCUMULATED STATS –

  • Word Count: 27,625
  • Average Word Count per Day: 1,535
  • Current Writing Streak: 18 days
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Pulp Speed Writing Day 17

I didn’t think I’d have much time on Day 17, but surprisingly, I found it at the end of the night. I had about 45 minutes and worked on new material in my WIP. I still have almost two full pages of outline notes that need to be written, so it’s not as close to completion as I’d like.

I do have the first bare bones concept for a new story for the first week of September, when I’m going to put my new efforts to the test. I’ll share that every step of the way, so you can see me either succeed or fail. It’ll be fun. I’ll reveal it on the 1st. A book in a week. It’s length will be decided then, based on the week’s other commitments (see Day 15’s bullet list).

Coffee’s kicking in… time to start Day 18.

Day 17 Word Count: 1,701

ACCUMULATED STATS –

  • Word Count: 23,253
  • Average Word Count per Day: 1,367
  • Current Writing Streak: 17 days
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Pulp Speed Writing Day 16

Day 16 was a day of suspense and wonder, of shock and awe, and then a little bit of writing.

I had another 500 word day (bleh…), 528 to be exact, but revised/edited/wrote a total of 3,476, which means the WIP is much farther along. That pushes it over 50k, up to 52,818 fairly organized story bits. That’s out of 65k. I reclaimed some of the older writing.

Let’s hit the stats!

ACCUMULATED STATS –

  • Word Count: 21,552
  • Average Word Count per Day: 1,347
  • Current Writing Streak: 16 days

I currently have nothing planned to interfere with writing tomorrow. I’m heading into the Climax, Act 4. It looks like it may be a 60k novel.

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