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

[chomiji]

Errrg ... I dunno. The natural split for the Gojyo thing is the 3 days ... but actually the first one is going to be the longest, because it's got the whole thing about how they get out of town and why they end up where they end up. I might have to break it down further, into scenes.

The Kosuke thing is a similar problem. There are definitely several sections, but they're not at all even in length.

Another part of the problem is my reluctance to start when I don't have all my factual bits in hand. For the Kosuke story, there are some bits of Sanada family history I need (and sanada was going to help me with that - I need to bang out a list and e-mail her). For the Gojyo thing, I need some info about people in a coma state, under primitive medical conditions. I could probably just ignore the whole issue - Goku ain't human - but that isn't how I do things, dammit. I probably ought to just post my questions on http://community.livejournal.com/little_details/ - that's what it's for.