Friday 4 September 2015

Q is for Quality. Or Quantity? by Annie Burrows

On the first Friday of every month, Novelista Annie Burrows has been sharing a very personal view of what it is like to be a writer.  And is dealing with themes in alphabetical order.  This month, she's reached Q which she says is for Quality.  Or Quantity?

Firstly, apologies to anyone who came looking for a blog post from me in August.  I took a month off blogging here, and went to the RWA conference in New York.
Which actually rather neatly leads me into this article.  Because one of the workshops I really wanted to attend was intriguingly called "Writing a novel in 30 days - tips tricks and cautions."  In 30 days?  I'd be thrilled if I could produce a book in less than 6 months.  Lots of other writers seem to be able to do it.  So why can't I?

One of the ladies giving the workshop opened by saying the fastest she had ever written a novel was 7 days.  When challenged as to its length, she told us it was 95,000 words.  There were gasps all round.  The second lady on the panel claimed 75,000 words in 3 weeks, and the third 60,000 in 6 weeks.  And they were all from start to submission.  They weren't talking about first drafts!

However, one thing they all agreed on was that they do good first drafts, which don't need much re-writing. They didn't do a lot of plotting either, as they considered it a waste of time.  In short, they all just sat down and wrote.

By this time I was feeling very inadequate.  My first drafts are generally a total mess and need going over several times before I feel confident about sending them off to my editor.  I can sit down and write a story in 4/5 weeks, but it isn't fit for human consumption!  My revisions take ages and ages.  And ages.

I was starting to wonder if I'm being too pernickety.  Perhaps I should just bash out a draft and send it off...
But no.  I can't do it.  I can't let anyone see my work until I'm sure it's of a certain standard.  And my first drafts definitely aren't.

However, as the workshop progressed, and people started asking how exactly these three women managed to write so fast, and still have a life, it became apparent that actually, they didn't.  Have much of a life outside writing, when they were going at that pace, that is.  One started writing from 8am until 5 pm when she became an empty-nester.  One had a husband who worked in a high profile job which meant he wasn't home until 11 pm.  And all three admitted that their health suffered.  And that they have had to cut back a lot.

Their conclusion was that you have to write the best book you can and don't beat yourself up if it isn't done quickly.  In other words, go for Quality, not Quantity.  I'd been getting worked up over all the advice I keep reading lately, that I need to bring out books really frequently to keep readers coming back.  But they're not going to come back if my book isn't any good, are they, no matter how quickly I manage to get it out there?

I came away from that workshop with the feeling that it isn't just quality of writing that's important, either, but quality of life.
If I lived alone, and needed to fill up my hours with something, then maybe I too could write from 8 in the morning until 11 at night, and produce 4 books a year  I could be proud of instead of 2.



But I have a husband, two grown up children, and a borrowed dog to take into consideration.  And elderly parents who live at the far end of the country. And I don't want to turn into a heap of blancmange racked through with aching bones from sitting hunched over my computer all day and into the night.  I want to get outside with the borrowed dog and go for walks to keep myself relatively healthy.  Keep my house the sort of place my husband will look forward to coming home to every night, and for my kids to want to visit from their far-flung homes.

I want quality of life, as well as feeling I've written books I can be proud of.

So it looks as though I'm doomed to only ever turning out 2 books a year - 2 books I can get excited about, that is.

So bang goes my chances of making a ton of money!

This year Annie has produced just 2 books.  A mistress for Major Bartlett, which is available on Amazon,   
















 ...and The Captains' Christmas bride which is out in December, but can be pre-ordered here:



She is hoping to produce 2 more books in 2016.

24 comments:

  1. Thank you for those wise conclusions, Annie! I agree. I think you need quality of life not only for yourself, but also to fuel your writing. I know when I've finished a book I want to draw in and replenish the stocks of ideas, inspiration and enthusiasm. You might not make a fast buck now - but I have a feeling you'll have a longer, and more fruitful career. And life, which is what it's all about anyhow! :-)

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    1. Well, I will have a life, anyway Juliet, even if I don't make much money!

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  2. I agree, Annie, quality over quantity will keep readers coming back. I was at that same workshop, and learned nothing I can use to make myself more prolific. I can only write at a pace that will allow me to put out a story I'm proud to put my name on. And yes, I need a life outside my writing.

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    1. I didn't see you there Amelia! The one thing I did find useful was the advice to "know your process" - i.e. what works for you. I find I can't concentrate for longer than about 50 minutes, so I don't try and push myself beyond that any more or I end up having to delete a lot of rubbish.

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    2. Interesting post, Annie. I'm with you on needing to write multiple drafts before I can show my work to anyone else. And I hope you don't change your writing process because I love your books as they are!

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  3. And, as a post script to the blog, my back has gone into spasm, after a week spent frantically trying to get my latest book to my editor not too long past it's deadline. My body just won't be bullied into working that many hours per day.

    I now need help to get my socks on.

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  4. Amen, sister! I cringe when I hear about workshops like this.

    I generally do my first drafts in 30 days, but the revision stage for me is very, very long. As I do research for my next novel, I'm doing a bit more planning ahead of time to try to reduce the number of drafts I need to get the book into shape. I won't, however, sacrifice health or well being to succeed. I want to get better at my craft and put out good, solid efforts, and that takes time.

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    1. I hear you, Nadine - I too want to get better at my craft, and put out books I can be proud of. And my body just won't be bullied into working longer hours, it seems, which is the only way I could possibly increase my output.

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  5. A wise and inspiring post, Annie. I'm exactly the same. Writing is so important to me I have to do it every day—but not to the exclusion of family life. It's much better to submit the best books we can, than simply submit to the pressure to perform. That can only lead to disaster.

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    1. Thanks for your kind response Christina. Like you, writing is very important to me, too, and I have to do some every day. But not too much!

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  6. I thought I was doing well because I produce 2 a year... clearly this is not the case!!!! I can't write a first draft in less than 3 months.... :)

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    1. Terry - please don't think that 2 books a year isn't a huge achievement. I wrote this post because I got in a bit of a tizz, when reading online about all the people who manage to produce half a dozen books a year, and all the posts about how the best way to make a lot of money is to publish something every month or so. Some people do seem to be able to produce great books at this frequency, but I'm not one of them! And I'm not even going to try to compete like that. It would be too stressful, and I'd end up either writing rubbish, or running myself into the ground. I'm just going to write the best book I'm capable of writing, and I'm not going to beat myself up any more if I can't do it in 5 minutes!

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    2. Thanks Annie - fear not, my remark was tongue in cheek, and I feel as if I'm on a different planet from these 'hard sell' people sometimes! Yes - like you I know how long it takes me to write a good book, and that's that. I know there are people who see sales rather than quality as all. There will always be readers who are, shall we say, less discriminating that others, too.

      I think the self-pub/indie press writers' world can be divided into those who write because they want to and always have done (I wrote many novels that went farther than my spare room, long before Amazon KDP) and those who saw the new self-pub thing as a money making opportunity. Sometimes the two meet in the middle with great results, but so often they don't, as I am sure you will agree :)

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    3. Oh, thank goodness Terry! I would hate to think I'd piled on the very sort of pressure I've only just managed to shake off myself!
      x

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  7. What a sensible viewpoint, Annie. Thank you for that. I do get rather tired of being told that if one is truly a writer it should take up your whole life. I think life balance is essential. Writing is very important to me, but so are my family, friends and other aspects of life. What's the point of it all otherwise?

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    1. Yes, that's how I feel, too. I do love writing, but I need a life as well. Or I'm sure I would burn out.

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  8. I write much more slowly these days, perhaps because I'm feeling older, perhaps because I'm home-schooling three children now, but I agree that getting a CLEAN first draft is essential to writing fast. If you have to do substantial edits/redrafts, you're sunk as far as speed is concerned. I don't believe any 95K book produced in a week could be any good, btw. My mother's fastest time was an M&B in a long weekend, but she was at the height of her game then and always an inhumanly fast writer. I wish I was that fast ... But it's unlikely ever to happen now. Sigh.

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    1. I'm only surprised you manage to get any writing done at all while you're home-schooling three children!

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  9. ps, I'd just like to say that John Boyne wrote the first draft of The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas in a weekend. BUT!!! It's a short book, he is exceptionally talented, by 'a weekend' he meant about 18 hours per day without a break, and he has an army of professional editors at his disposal. Maybe it's not so much the time taken on the first draft (mine are pretty crap!) as the time spent on turning it into a publishable novel afterwards - I spend as long on that as I do the first draft. :)

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    1. Well, good for John Boyne. He is clearly one of those people who CAN write fast. And I know that there are plenty of people who seem to be able to write fast, and well. They can do the Quality and Quantity. However, I couldn't physically sit typing for 18 hours. My back would seize up, I'd have a throbbing headache, and after about a third of that time my output would be complete gibberish.

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    2. Annie, me too - mainly, it's the BACK thing - I start off sitting properly, and then... I go through loads of Deep Heat spray!

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  10. If you just bash out a book and (self) publish it, you will be torn to shreds by critics. If you do ditto and submit it, you will be rejected. True craftsmanship requires time, commitment and thought. The rest is crap and lest down good writers who spend 1/2 years perfecting their craft. I, too, have come across this mentality. All I can say is: if you just want to write, for yourself, and as an achievement, go ahead.. For the rest, be professional.

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    1. Thanks H cat. I do want to be professional. I just always thought that eventually, as I got more experienced, I would be able to write faster. It hasn't happened. Which is why I started to look at people who do produce good quality books at twice the rate I do, and try to get tips from them. It seems to come down to two things - one, having the knack of producing an excellent first draft which doesn't require too much editing, and two, having the physical stamina to sit writing for about 8 hours a day. I have neither!

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