Timed writing challenge

[freeradical9]

The short fics that have been put up at saiyuki_time ever since the first challenge prompt went up on Wednesday have really been quite impressive--not just in the number being posted, but also in the level of quality overall. It impresses me that the plotlines are so coherent, given the speed with which the story has to be written, and the absence of time to edit much at the end.

There seems to be quite a bit of variation in story length. So, having an inquiring mind and being the geek that I am, I took a look at the fics for which exact times had posted and calculated a "writing rate" (average number of words per minute) for each story. Editing time (if specified) is included, to reflect the thought process involved, and not just typing speed.



For the "Rebirth" prompt, 30 minute time limit

1 writer at 8 words/min
1 writer at 9 words/min
2 writers at 12 words/min
1 writer at 15 words/min <----this is freeradical9--a happy median!
1 writer at 20 words/min <----chomiji, you are here!
1 writer at 26 words/min
1 writer at 27 words/min

Numerical mean=16 words/min


For the "First times" prompt, 60 minute time limit

2 writers at 6 words/min
1 writer at 8 words/min
1 writer at 9 words/min
2 writers at 11 words/min
3 writers at 12 words/min
1 writer at 13 words/min
2 writers at 14 words/min
1 writer at 15 words/min
1 writer at 17 words/min
2 writers at 18 words/min <---chomiji, here you are, again! ^_^ (Hey, can I borrow some of your speed?)
1 writer at 20 words/min
1 writer at 22 words/min

Numerical mean=13 words/min

Comments

[smillaraaq.livejournal.com]

I suspect most people vary a lot in their writing--some pieces are like pulling teeth, and others practically write themselves.

Oh, yes, totally. My drabblet there was a total teeth-puller, and the WPM reflects it. It's not that I didn't go in knowing exactly what would happen, and not that I didn't even have most of the sentences already in my head. This was something that had been incubating for months and was mostly not getting set down because I didn't want to face it quite that closely -- echoes of the structure of the fic itself, where chibi Gojyo is trying not to look and not to think about things that are unbearable. The words usually come out faster for me, but this time it just *hurt* to write because there wasn't any sort of hopeful ending to leaven the pain.

[freeradical9.livejournal.com]

I can see how the hurt of the concept (a difficult topic and a difficult situation) could really slow down writing speed. It's good, in a way, that the challenge popped up, because it provides a forum to start to explore painful issues in a limited way--to allow a working-out of ideas without being too overwhelming.

[smillaraaq.livejournal.com]

I might not have noticed quite how badly I kept trying to back away from this one if there wasn't the timer going to remind me that I couldn't afford the distractions, but it was very atypical for me. Usually when I've gotten into a truly focused writing groove, I get a sort of tunnel vision and my attention doesn't wander at all. But here, an awful lot of the elapsed "writing" time was actually wasted on fiddling with the Winamp playlist, rereading the Yeats (even though I have it all but memorized), looking up lyrics I was thinking of for the cut text (even though they were also practically memorized), or glancing at the timer itself...anything to delay going back to the notepad window.