How Do I Learn to Write Faster?

In My Humble Opinion
1

After about two years writing financial articles for a mid-sized newspaper, I’ve been approached by a monthly magazine to write a column for them. (No names, please.) Editors say they like my articles, but I’m concerned because I write slowly and fear that I will not meet the deadlines. (The column would be around 800 words.)

As I have no formal training/education as a writer, what can I do to improve my writing speed? I seem to be no faster today than when I first started.

As a confession, I will admit to never outllining my articles, nor writing down the main points before I start. I suppose I do not do these things because I assume that “good writers” don’t need these contrivances–that they should be able to hammer out a well-crafted article in short order. Frankly, sometimes I find myself wandering around and around, not knowing exactly where I want to be going, but burning up lots of time in the process. After a few hours, however, everything jells and I can finish it and it’s good.

Any tips or insight would be much appreciated.

2

That’s a somewhat pretentious attitude :stuck_out_tongue:

Good writers do whatever is necessary for them to write good… er, well:)

3

If you can afford the time to dawdle around and find the track of your article and go back and rewrite and edit and revise…then you might not need to plan so much.

However, if you’ve got a deadline - you’ve agreed to deliver an article each Friday at 4pm, say - planning and blocking out the gist of the article can really help. You know exactly where you’re going, so you don’t waste time on tangents (make a note of the tangents, though; sometimes they can turn into a useful article in their own right).

I don’t know if this is applicable to you, but you could also try and get ahead a bit, to reduce the pressure.

The idea that “real writers” don’t need to do that mechanical stuff is a bit…um…oh dear, do you think that op-ed writers sit on Parnassus, drinking ambrosia with muses? :wink: Nope. Doing a bit of groundwork before you get started really does help.

4

Thanks for the feedback.

I think my problem stems from my belief that really “good writers” write effortlessly–without outlining their articles, without planning, thinking ahead, etc.

5

Get yourself a copy of “On Writing Well” by William Zinsser (I’m sure about the title of the book, but not the author–it’s something close to that, though). It might help you a lot, and it’s really cheap.

6

dont prufreed.

:wink:

7

Q: How do I learn to write faster?

A: dont prufreed. :wink:

8

I learned to write on deadline when I worked in radio and we had all deadlines all the time. I’ve tried outlining, not outlining, deliberately writing an incomplete rough draft just to have something to whack up and trying to write a thoroughly polished first draft no matter how many little edits I had to make while I was doing it. There is only one tip I can give you, and it sounds so stupid, you’ll probably want to find me and smash me with your monitor.

Know what you want to say before you make the first keystroke. If you’re writing a column, don’t be content with just the subject of the column, but make sure you know the tone, where to use the quotes or anecdotes to illustrate your point and how you want it to end. Believe me, sitting alone for 15 minutes visualizing how you want the column to end saves about 4 hours of tearing up bad drafts.

9

Well, after seeing in your profile that you retired at 35, and after reading here that you’ve been offered my dream job (writing a column for a monthly magazine is what I dream of, although not financial stuff), I’m so envious and resentful I don’t want to give you any advice or encouragement. But what the heck. My job is teaching other people how to do what I never find the time to do (write). Sounds like you don’t really need the advice, but maybe some encouragement will help.

Outlining is not just for weak writers. I often don’t outline, if what I’m writing is coming together naturally, but if I’m writing something important, I’ll usually outline it even if I do it after writing the first draft. Doesn’t always save time, but it makes it better–it lets me see the organization and development of ideas, and often enough, it lets me see that some things need to be changed or rearranged.

You need to come up with 800 words a month? Come on, that isn’t that much. Get started as early as possible, because sometimes an idea doesn’t work and needs to be scrapped. Leave yourself enough time to start over. If you don’t need to start over, it feels good to have finished early, so you can relax–or start thinking about next month’s column. (I know it needs to be current and up to date, so you can’t write things too far in advance, but you know, as early as possible.)

After a draft, go do something else for a while. Get your mind off the writing, then come back and read it again, with a fresh perspective. Read it aloud.

Most important, I think, is to trust yourself. Remember you said this:

It always works out; just have faith that it always will. If they didn’t like your stuff, they wouldn’t have offered you the column. Good luck, and congratulations. And let me know who I have to sleep with to get that kind of offer.

10

I write a column for the SMU newspaper, weekly. Supposedly 800 to 900 words, though I usually run about 1,050 (only because we need to fill the space… I don’t recommend doing this in the “real world,” where an editor will arbitrarily lop off 150 words from your column if you do this – and usually from the end).

I’ve found the key to churning out words at an acceptable rate is caring about what you write. It’s not enough to to “write what you know.” If you know, but don’t give a damn, it will show in every word choice, every sentece.

I genarally don’t outline. Nor do I use many quotes (its considered bad form in opinion columns to use more than a quote or two, max, in any one piece). Try to keep exposition to a minimum. People can find out about a situation from a straight story – they’re reading you because they want to know what someone else THINKS about the situation.

Also, rewrite rewrite rewrite. I have a problem with this sometimes (because I often don’t start writing until about 3 hours before the column is due… I work best against a looming deadline). But rewriting is thekey to taking an amateurish peice and making it shine. particluarly if you’re going to stake out a potentially controversial position, because the rewrite period is your best chance to catch factual errors or glaring grammatical faux pas that might make you look like a fool. I also had several friends read my pro-gay marriage column before it was printed, since I thought that would be the one that garneered the most attention and feedback (I was right… about a dozens letters, surprisingly all of them complimnetary)… Here’s the column, if you’re interested.

Anyway, again, the key to writing a column is really caring about what you’re writing about. Think of something you could really talk about, at length, and write about that. Write like a converstation, if you need to in order to churn the words out. People like conversational tones.

Kirk

11

Also, learning to spell is another good idea, though from your post, your spelling is excellent.

It’s on my to-do list. Honest. It really is. Right after "learn the basic rules of capitalization… :slight_smile: Don’t judge a book by its cover, or a columnist by the blurbs he posts on a message board.

Hey, I think I spelled all those words correctly…

Krik
:slight_smile:

12

It’s almost always a bad idea to base your style on what other writers do. It’s about like telling your barber to cut your hair like Stephen King’s for effectiveness.

Writers have individual styles. Some outline, some don’t. Some work slowly and methodically, some let deadline pressure squeeze the words out of them. You have to find the style that works for you.

I did a monthly column for over a year, till the magazine folded (not my fault, I think). If I had to offer any advice, it would be simply, “relax.” My feeling is that you wouldn’t be asked to do a column unless you were thought to be a master of your material. Use that. Decide on what you want to say and tell it, as it you were trying to tell a friend about it. The first couple of columns will be the hardest, but you should soon fall into a routine.

And it is amazing how stimulating a deadline can be.

13

Moved to IMHO at the request of the OP.

– Uke, Cafe Society mod

14

I believe just the opposite. A “good writer” does everything he can to make his writing professional. I will compare it to my profession - software development. Developers who don’t do design at the beginning are easy to find. Indeed, too many of them want to just sit down and write code. Those who actually design their programs usually make much better products.

15

Come to think of it, the late, great Enrico Fermi once said that one’s pencil should never touch paper until the problem at hand was thoroughly thought through, though that’s tough for those of us who aren’t world-class geniuses.

(last parenthetical added for alliterative purposes.)