I know many writers who are unfortunately forced to work day jobs really believe that, once they didn't have them, they'd finally be able to get all the writing done that they ever dreamed of. They imagine that, if they're able to get 2,000 words a day on average whilst working the day job, perhaps they'll probably be able to get 5,000 , or more, without it.
Well, I'm here to tell you all something I think is a bit depressing, but very true: With or without the gig you hate , I really don't believe the amount of words increases or decreases. In fact, it's possible you might even find yourself sitting down, once you're "unemployed", and writing that much less, when you do have the chance to write.
I believe this for one main reason, which is basically this: No matter how many hours an artist has available to them, the truth is that the ability to write tons of words in one day doesn't ever really seem to fluctuate that much. For example, we alll know that Stephen King is the biggest definition there ever was of a full time writer, and yet when one reads about his suggested daily word count, one comes to find it's really quite a low number: 1,000 words. King has had all day every day to write for decades now, and he's certainly been writing quite a lot, as his Many books prove, and yet his average is probably only about 1-2500 words a day. Maybe a bit more. Supposedly, never less.
And King isn't alone , of course, not by a long shot. In fact, from what I've gathered whilst researching prominent writers and their daily word counts, kings recommendation of 1,000 words is actually quite a high one. Ernest Hemingway, for instance, supposedly only ever wrote in the very early morning, and he'd usually only aim for about 3-400 words, before heading out for a full, long day, doing anything, it would seem, but writing.
So, if this is the case, why do so many writers think that not having day jobs will save their writing life --- even if it won't necessarily increase their words beyond a certain point? Are all these dreamers wrong to dream of the "full time " writing life, since tis is the case?
My response: NO WAY. And here's why: The truth of the full time writers life is that, though he really doesn't get *too many* more words down than the part time writer, what he does get is the peace and quiet to plunge him or herself, fully, into their writing . Plunging ones self fully into writing, however, doesn't necessarily mean sitting in front of an open word processor, struggling to write. What it instead means , in my opinion, is that you have the ability to sort of exist, imaginarily, in whatever your story is-- even whilst not writing it. Depending upon the sort of job you might be working , this can actually be impossible - since many jobs generally demand loads of attention--- and all this attention is when the struggling writer, I feel, loses his or her ability to formulate new, big ideas to run with. Full time writers generally don't have 10,000 words daily, in fact getting that many words on average sounds ridiculous even if you have all day...but what full time writers do get, I feel, is the ability to let the ideas come to a slow , comfortable boil. They also get the ability to do other things that I feel are actually even more important than high word counts, things like research, reading classics, and also just good old relaxation.
To put it simply, being a full time writer is sort of like that feeling one might get when one binge watches the same TV show for an entire week, instead of gradually going through the same amount of episodes, cut across months or maybe even years. The full timer basically gets engulfed by the ideas in his head, whereas the part timer is constantly being pulled back and forth. The word count doesn't change, but perhaps the ideas do. It's maybe even perhaps the case that a part timer might be more prone to writing stories within more of a realistic setting -- since they are constantly being reminded of one. A part time writer who also works as , say, a lawyer in reality, might not be able to make the switch to writing fantasy novels, as well as someone who just goes full time drifting in fantasy worlds, even when not at the word processor. A part time writer is probably more likely to be a writer of realistic stuff , in my opinion. Whether or not that's good or bad is up to the writer, of course....
In my own case, I tend to find that, during the periods of my life when I've been very active and forced to be surrounded by many real people day to day, usually my stories tend to take after those same people-- sort of like Bruce Springsteen's early songs always took after working people. I personally only begin to write fantasy mysef once I'm not in constant contact with people. In fact, even just keeping in touch with someone for a few days with long winded phone conversations has often thrown me completely out of any ability to write decent fantasy. And don't get me started on if I feel I am experiencing some sort of personal dilemma or trauma! At that point, my stories tend to usually take on something less novelistic and more like a series of first person diary entries.
What's all this mean to say then, my reader might wonder? Well I think it's this: A good writer, from what I can tell, is usually never just a writer. In fact, I'll go so far as to say that I'm almost suspicious of people who describe themselves continuously and solely as "writer"-- whether it's their real gig or not. A good writer, in my opinion, is instesd usually a number of things all rolled into one, that then may or may not come out through the writing. Hemingway was a hunter, a soldier, a fisherman, and a bit of a journalist. Gore Vidal was an astute chronicler of politics and an historian. Stephen King was an obsessive reader of horror books that had come before. William Gibson was very interested in playing around with new technology the moment it came out. And some new kid coming up now might be someone who has spent half his life on fantasy internet games whilst watching Netflix in the meantime...and that's where his stories will boil out of. As for myself, I have plenty of other obsessions beyond writing that regularly keep me fueled : I sing, I play instruments, I read obsessively about history, i follow the modern politics, I follow actors, I dabble in the world of costumes and wigs, and I try to learn languages when the mood strikes. I also am always on the hunt for a new friend from afar to keep a correspondence with. All of these things, I feel, serve to inform my writing. I certainly do not always wake up first thing in the morning and set off right away to begin writing, chained to my desk. I instead perhaps go for a two hour walk whilst listening to some new folk rock album, get back home, and then find some story I never expected to find, and crank out 1000 words ....
Now I want my reader to ask themselves: if, instead of doing all of these varied things, every writer only attempted to write, obsessively, 7-12 hours a day, in order to reach wild daily word counts like 6-10,000 words ....who would that writer really be? Especially after enough time had passed and that was literally the main habit they kept, 5-6 days a week? Quite frankly, I don't think I would ever advise anyone to ever write in that manner, just because I really believe that anyone who did would probably, at some point, wind up producing some seriously dry and repetitive material!
Would I recommend making occasional week long attempts at trying to reach those high word counts? Absolutely. From time to time, it's very good to just go "all in". But would I ever suggest that someone do that permanently and make an established daily habit of it? No way! For I fear that person, again, would stop producing anything decent , pretty quickly. I'll agree when writers tell you that you can't wait for inspiration to strike, and I'll also agree that you should try to write *almost* everyday, but I'll never say that writers should aim for production all the time. To me, art is very much like sex and love: Sometimes it just ain't the time, and when you try to force it, I feel it tends to become perverted, and "raped". Good characters and good manuscripts run the risk of being ruined by writers who try to produce too much too quickly. It's better to let your characters breathe. Don't rush them to conclusions and ends. Just let them be..
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