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]

LOL ...!

You may have seen that I was asking louiselux about the whole process of timed writing on my LJ a day or two ago. I tend to think these out before I ever sit down to write, and I don't know if that's quite on. The Hakkai story incubated from just about the moment she put the prompt up until Thursday evening (in contrast, my story "Night Shift" cooked for about 2 weeks before I started writing). Now, theoretically, the shorter one was more true to the ideal - I realized that I wanted something tending a little more het for redbrunja and meganbmoore to find if I sent them over there, decided on Yaone and the fact that she had essentially started a whole new life, went to change out a load of wash, folded it, put in the new wash, came back, and started writing.

But ... I'm less happy with that one. I don't know why. It may just be Yaone - I don't get into her, but I've been writing her because others do, and I think I should try writing outside myself a little. I love to write Gojyo and Hakkai because I feel elements of them within myself.

[avierra.livejournal.com]

LOL It's funny you did that, because I was thinking the exact thing, how varied all the stories were in both length and content. (This new comm has made me so very happy).

Geeks ftw! :)

[macavitykitsune.livejournal.com]

Interesting. I've just joined the challenge so I've not participated yet, but my speed could be....anywhere, to be honest. I've taken hours over drabbles and written a 2000-word oneshot in two. It's weird. But this is really thought-provoking. Thanks!