Is it possible to write too much? My initial answer to this question is ‘no.’ Certainly not. I write every minute of free time available to me.
But it does make me wonder when I read about other authors who are publishing their first novel in five years.
Five years? Really? What have they been doing for five years? Did they really take five years to write that novel or do that have 5-10 other novels they’ve also written during that time span that they haven’t published yet?
Are some authors just more prolific than others? Are the non-prolific writers better because they take more time to craft their work? Or do their brains simply work slower, and they write more like a crock pot rather than a microwave?
These are what I think about. I consider myself a fairly prolific writer, especially when factoring in the actual amount of time I have to write, which is rather small.
I typically write 1 to 1.5 novels a year, plus a full-length play, plus 20 other shorter plays. Plus there are probably a few other items as well. This is done on my school breaks, mainly. I typically can’t get much done when I’m full blast in my day job.
But if I did write full-time, would I actually be more productive? Excellent question. Would I be producing three novels a year, or simply one (slow-cooker) novel?
What would have to happen for me to wait five years between novels?
It makes me realize how each writer is vastly different. I’m the type that flies – get an idea and go and go and go. When inspiration comes, there’s little stopping me. When inspiration is a little slower, I still go and try to explore inspiration and it typically comes to me. I find myself doing so little reading because I have so many writing ideas in my head that must find its way out or I will explode.
At the end of this post, I’m still on the same point. I do not believe (using my current understanding of the way I write) that there is such a thing as writing too much.
Not possible. Unless something changes, I hope by 2021, I have 5-7 new novels written, if not more.
Keep plugging away, everyone.
Author Mark W Sasse 
4 responses to “Is It Possible to Write Too Much?”
Cool post 🙂 You write much more than I do, though I’m aiming to increase my time spent writing now. There was an interesting examination of writers’ wake-up time vs. their productivity and it said that writers who woke up later tended to produce more work but won fewer awards, though that doesn’t quite show whether the slower writers write better work or not. It’s here if you’re interested: https://www.brainpickings.org/2013/12/16/writers-wakeup-times-literary-productivity-visualization/
Thanks for the link. That’s really interesting. Especially because I tend to see my most productive times either in the afternoon or before bed. I guess I’m just weird that way. Best of luck with your writing.
I’d love to write and do research full-time but then I really enjoy my characters so much I don’t want to race through their lives. I hate finishing a book–in a way.
I can identify with this to a point. I too really enjoy seeing the inner-workings of my characters’ lives, but I always reach a point where I am ready to move on and try the next creative endeavor. It might be my weakness. But, oh well! Thanks.