Word count by the end of holidays (1 Viewer)

[answermydream]

I'm writing slowly yet surely, but I'm not sure if I should be freaked out if I don't have a substantial amount written by the end of the holidays. This is obviously the best time to get a whole lot of it done, but it's just really hard to just bash out a few hundred words, let alone a few thousand! At first I thought I would write 1,000 words per week for the six weeks but that just didn't work out for me. An ex-student and friend who did Ext.2 said to aim for 3,000 by the end of the holidays - just aim to get halfway.

What are everyone's thoughts? How much is everyone getting/aiming to get done by the end of the holidays?

 

[Shadowdude]

I finished a full draft by the end of holidays.

If you do EX2, like I did, you should already have a good idea of what you want to do - so you just write it. None of this stupid "Oh okay, I have to stop now - I've written 1000 words" stuff.

 

[answermydream]

It's more of the fact that I can't make it to 1,000 words

 

[Shadowdude]

Do you even have an idea of what you want your work to be? Because if not, then you should be brainstorming and not even attempting to write.

 

[answermydream]

Yeah, I know exactly what I'm doing with my MW

 

[Shadowdude]

So... the writing should be easy for you. That said, why are you struggling to write if you already have an idea?

Don't worry about perfection - just write the full thing and just edit it later. It could be a bit of a waste of time, but I found that the general shape of the story was still kept from my First Draft all the way to the Final Draft.

If nothing else, it gives you a basis to edit.

 

[answermydream]

I don't know, I think I'm just suffering writers block. The ideas and the plot line are clear enough in my head, I just can't get anything substantial and cohesive down.

 

[Shadowdude]

Oh, that problem.

Go work on something else. Write something else, and then come back to it.

Then document that in your journal. "I had writer's block so... I wrote something else about something completely different and came back to it"

 

[answermydream]

I will try that, thanks If you have any other tips let me know

 

[Shadowdude]

Write for as long as you need to. Stop if you have to.

The words you write come from nowhere, and if you stop yourself when you're on a roll - you may never get that sentence you were going to write down ever again. So... keep writing.

 

[Aliyas]

I was hoping to have a full draft done by the end of the holidays, but I've only written about 800 words thus far. -_-

 

[moriarty]

I managed 7000 words in two weeks after doing eff all for half my holidays and it's all thanks to Stephen King's On Writing. he may not be a brilliant writer, but that's a brilliant book.

 

[answermydream]

I managed 7000 words in two weeks after doing eff all for half my holidays and it's all thanks to Stephen King's On Writing. he may not be a brilliant writer, but that's a brilliant book.

That's a superb effort! I might read that myself for some inspiration.

 

[silentdreamer]

That's a superb effort! I might read that myself for some inspiration.

I just read it myself, and it really is a fantastic book and worth a read
I really need to get moving on my major work though, i've barely done anything...

 

[RANK 1]

i wrote like 14k words in the 2 weeks leading up to my english exam

 

[answermydream]

I just read it myself, and it really is a fantastic book and worth a read
I really need to get moving on my major work though, i've barely done anything...

I haven't really done any substantial cohesive writing. I've written a few 50-500 word paragraphs here and there, but nothing is set. I'm really worried I'm behind too, but I've spoken to my English teacher and to people who have previously done Ext.2 and they said not to worry too much, just keep belting out some words (even if you think they're horrible) and if you have writers block, just continue on with research. I'm planning on having a complete draft done by the end of Term 1, that way Term 2-part of 3 is re-writing, editing and changing.

 

[silentdreamer]

I've changed my idea several times already and each time i've scrapped what I had written before. I'm not too worried, but i tend to work better under pressure and not work at all otherwise, which really is a bad habit i should fix. Your plan sounds good and nicely spread out though, so you should be fine