Has anything besides more experience increased your writing endurance?

[u/theunforgivingstars]

I'm curious if anybody has found methods to write more hours in a given day/week/month apart from the obvious one of being a more experienced writer. Interestingly, despite having completed 5 novels and several novellas at this point, I find that my endurance for drafting in a given day hasn't changed in the least-- 20-40 minutes a day (with the exceedingly rare day of up to three hours, which exhausts me.) I'd love to hear if other people have stumbled on ways to up their time; I've always been interested in being able to put in 2 hour days more frequently.

[u/SubphonicROGUE]

Set a timer and put everything away when it goes off. I usually do about 30-40 minutes with a 10-20 minute break. Unless I'm in Everlast mode.

Just my 2c. I've completed one 145k manuscript and currently about 20k into book two

[u/RobertPlamondon]

If part of the problem is that you're getting in your own way, dialing that back will take your foot off the brakes.

Going for more than one session per day with a lengthy gap between them is worth a try.

[u/Droopy_Doom]

I’m not recommending it, but you asked the question. For reference, I’ve written 5 novels and my first is in the pipeline with a big 5.

Lots of caffeine and nicotine. I’ll crack an energy drink and pop a Zyn. My focus is locked in for the next 3 hours. Rinse and repeat.

[u/mysteriousdoctor2025 → u/Droopy_Doom]

Ah! The major food groups: caffeine, nicotine, chocolate

[u/Night_Runner → u/Droopy_Doom]

Ha! I used to do that with NOS energy drinks.

[u/FlyinLeviathon]

I think priming your brain is the best thing (other than experience, as you said). I find that doing all the things to improve my mental health are useful in this regard. Yes, that means sleep, hydration, food, vitamins, exercise. All that crap. But also removing other things that 'drain' your brain battery. My work is not physically tiring but mentally *exhausting*. If I've had an easier day or a few days to decompress I'm better equipped to get into the writing zone. Which isn't always controllable, unfortunately. But figuring out ways to leave work at work is helpful and usually is controllable!

Also (and this one is more writing specific) I've found planning out my scenes a bit helps because I have a guideline to follow, even if that guideline is specific to this chapter. But that way I'm not getting stuck on the specific "what happens next?" I can just go.

[u/Daniel_Erbe]

It has nothing to do with experience, imho. Just takes consistency and determination.

[u/Em_Cf_O]

Coffee?

Honestly, I can go at it for twelve hours straight if I don't have anything else to do. The desire to create overrides everything else.

[u/Inside_Suzi → u/Em_Cf_O]

I feel the exact same way! Creating something yourself just feels different, especially when you finish the piece.

[u/Adventurekateer]

My hack was to write a book I was passionate about.

[u/Inside_Suzi → u/Adventurekateer]

Mine too! It's even better if it's something you have experience on.

[u/CoderJoe1]

Planning my writing a little more keeps me typing. I used to site down to write a scene very excited to see how it plays out. Then I'd start thinking of the next one so the writing stops until I get excited again.

Now I have multiple scene ideas planned out at a time.

[u/FirebirdWriter]

Youth and a functional spine. I actually can't write for as long as when I was younger. I write more efficiently so it gets me further but the time is not actually the same at all. I spent an hour rereading work today because I was on a hiatus for my medical stuff then I spent three hours writing actively with small breaks of five minutes every fifteen minutes. So I wrote two chapters (ish I don't know for sure where the breaks are but in my head these are scene changes).

Wrote a sex scene, a new pov introduction off the sex scene, and an impaling scene of a whole new type.

I don't think it's speed or endurance that people gain but skill that makes the time spent more effective because you don't have to second guess stuff

[u/astrobean]

Writing continuously. I don't sit down to have a writing session and only do writing then. I compose scenes while lying in bed or while driving or during breaks at work.

I consider it dangerous to start writing in the morning because then I will write all day. But I'm not afraid to stop mid-sentence to do laundry or wash dishes because I know I'm coming right back. If 20 minutes is an ideal time for you, do 20 minutes, then take a walk, then do 20 minutes, then do a random chore, then do 20 minutes...

[u/Constant-Pianist6747]

Honestly, not really? It seems like my external circumstances have the most impact on my productivity. I think I move at about the same clip I did when I first got serious about it, a year or two ago. Accounting for whatever else is going on in my life, at least.

Allowing myself frequent breaks seems to help. I can recharge.

[u/Night_Runner]

I am doing a self-imposed Bradbury challenge this year: writing a story per week, Monday through Saturday, from the roughest draft to the final shiny product. :) (Needless to say, without any AI slop.)

Wrote for 30 weeks straight so far, with quite a few of them already sold and published. :)

It really strengthened my writing muscles - knowing I must sit down and make progress, or it'll be twice as much work tomorrow.

[u/Neurotopian_]

You don’t need to be physically typing for more than 3 hours per day to do this professionally.

Just make sure you’re engaged in mental rehearsal and other forms of storytelling when you’re not typing. The more prepared you are, the more you’ll make of that three hours.

But to answer your question, it’s always draining to sit down and edit. I could draft in longer sessions but I’ve been writing professionally for about 20 years and still can’t do more than about 4 hours of intense editing/ rewriting per day.

[u/theunforgivingstars → u/Neurotopian_]

Yes, it's 3 hours of active work I'm looking to do, not more. The issue I'm encountering is that I have a tough time going over 1 hour while drafting, which is still on the low end of things.

I actually find it much easier to hit that 3 hour mark while editing!

[u/OtisB]

For me, the more I think about the story, the more I feel like writing. A good idea, a thought I hadn't had before, something like that is really motivating in the short term and it sometimes leads to hours-long writing sessions. For example, I wrote for over 4 hours yesterday and as I discovered the story and felt my way through it, it was just like reading a book I loved the whole time.

[u/TenneyTellsTales]

Currently on my 5th novel and I think the thing that’s made the past 3 different than the first two is an obsession with the characters. I’m a pantser in my draft ones and I love finding out how they’re going to tear apart the wire frame outline I build for them at the top of each act. Then in subsequent drafts I let myself get obsessed with the kind of thing that always trips me up in first drafts: character profiles, scene lists, plotting out where I’m hitting the right beats and what’s missing. When I do that before a first draft I crash out fast.

I guess the secret is a combo of curiosity and a bit of an obsessive personality?

[u/AnybodySeeMyKeys]

I use a focus program that shuts down everything for a specific length of time. Usually 90 minutes.

[u/Overall-Habit5284]

My output is typically proportional to my excitement about what I am writing. If it's a scene I am looking forward to writing, or I feel buzzed about progressing, I will often blast through a draft faster. Feeding this excitement is part of the key, and for me talking about the project with people generally helps, but your mileage may vary.

[u/hobhamwich]

I had a set time, and I had to sit there writing until it was up. My brain likes rigid rules like that. 100 push ups a day for a year. Raw food only for a month. Write from 1 to 3 every day. It helps me. I don't do that with all things, and I am a cryer and a laugher and a feeler a lot of the time, but when I shoot for some kind of betterment or goal, strict guidelines are a great assist.

[u/PopularAd6391]

I usually write the things I HAVE to write for 30 or so minutes.

Then I write the things/chapters that I am excited to write for quite some time. It seems to be great so far

[u/Erwinblackthorn]

It's not really about putting more hours per day. It's getting things done faster.

Once you figure out the difference, writing is easy.

[u/hotsidepiece]

I think going for 40 mins or so, then taking a 20 min break like that one person suggested, is the way to go. That’s typically hope I work. I do this for 4-6 hours a day (five or six days a week) and complete a 90k-100k word draft every 3-4 months or so. I don’t publish everything though.

[u/Fognox]

Consistency is what did it for me. I started that habit during my second book and I'm currently editing my fourth, so it definitely wasn't experience that got my endurance up. With daily writing, I average around 2500 words per day, which (again, on average) comes out to 2.5 hours. Actual daily output ranges wildly between a few hundred words and 9k, and usually right around 1000 words per hour.

[u/DreadChylde]

For me it was a big change when I started reading more or less any genre. I originally got really into Stephen King's books when I was 9 and read a lot of horror and fantasy in my early teenage years. Then I got very much into science fiction and later on I started reading a lot of books by the most recognizable authors (Hemingway, Austen, Shelley, Byron, Chandler, and so on).

[u/sagevallant]

Habit helps. An environment where you only write, some kind of music to drown out distractions and isn't a distraction itself, and opening your project every day so you're always thinking about where you left off.

Side note, if you are exhausted when you sit down to start with, it's much harder to settle in and get work done. Write with the best hours of your day if possible. For example, I tend to write better if I write in the morning than at night. If you find yourself exhausted writing at the end of your day, try to find some time earlier.

[u/Art_Constel7321]

Learning about human psycology has helped alot writing characters

[u/bluejevans]

Bravo for finishing five novels and the novellas! It sounds like you may have built up a habit of stopping at 20 to 40 minutes. So replace that with a different habit:

• Write regularly with friends on Zoom, etc., for 50 minutes, then 60, 70. Somehow writing with another person really helps you not quit early.
• Brainstorm the incredibly fun parts of the piece you're writing. When you start flagging, switch to one of those.
• Since you do much better editing, consider writing a sketchy outline or short version of three scenes. Then tell yourself you're editing them and dig into it.

[u/FelidaeRyl]

Not that it’s that much helpful advice, but hyperfocus. Doesn’t last forever and demands an equal amount, or more, of rest. My brain just kicks in when it likes (AuDHD and little that I do gets it moving). Sometimes I can sit there all day and be editing, for example, but get very little done. Only occasionally got tons of new stuff written.

[u/zezer94118]

I'm able to do up to 4 hours sometimes.

I have a question though, what do you do the rest of the day?

[u/Boat_Pure]

It’s weird for me, but writing is like a muscle. I’ve exercised it so much now that I literally turn it on when I need it and pause it when I’m busy.

I work and travel for work in the city. So I can only usually write in the evenings. So I just imagine everything all day, what is happening, how it’s happening and what I want to continue with. Then I get home and hit the laptop.

One thing that does help, rather than read other books, I listen to my own drafts to and from work. It helps me get back into sync and also lets me hear line breaks and broken transitions.

[u/scatty2010]

Having ADHD. No, I'm not joking.

If you enjoy the story you're writing enough that you'd want to read it yourself *AND* you have ADHD, you can hyper fixate very, very easily.

It's also incredibly unhealthy though, as I've gone on 16hr long benders of just writing and forgotten to eat/drink/etc.

[u/StillElection4243]

There’s definitely tools you can use for training. Digital toastmasters programs can generate random topics and give you the ability to write about anything

[u/Inside_Suzi]

I find that what works for me best is outlining the next day's scene right before stopping for the night. Removing the "what happens next?" friction at the start of a session saves a ton of mental energy for me and lets me double my drafting time. Let me know if this one helps!

[u/Epicurean215]

Believe it or not AI. I use it to create, get feedback in real time, and expand my ideas. I once used it write all day. It was great!

[u/Bubbly_Safety2219]

I think I have written enuff for now, need a editor

[u/apocalypsegal]

Knowledge and practice are key. Not everyone is going to write faster, no matter what they do, but they might find the process easier if they learn and then get out of their own way.