How Long Does It Take You To Write?

[schiezainc]

Forgive me if this topic has been covered a million times.

All things being equal, how long does it take you to write: A. a Game story, B. a Feature, C. a Column.

Now I know there are a lot of factors that change things, but if you're deadline was "Whenever you finish" and you could move at your own pace, and it was an average length article for you, how long do you think it would take from first key stroke to sending it?

I ask this because I, like I'm sure many noobs, want to know how long it takes you more experienced folk and want to know if I'm taking too long to file.

For reference, I'm at a weekly and can take my ever loving time. If I'm not on a tight deadline though, and no one's up my ass to finish it, i could take anywhere between a half hour and two hours to write an average story, depending on how the flow goes and what type of mood I'm in that day.

 

[spnited]

First of all, your deadline never should be "whenever you finish."

If you're writing a gamer for a daily, you know exactly when you need to have copy in (unless you're working for incompetents) and that is how long you have to write, whether you like it or not.

If you're working on a feature, we're going to discuss when it's going to run and when I, your editor, needs your copy. And that is how long you have to get it in, whether you like it or not.

As for a column, if you are asking this question, you are not experienced enough to be writing columns.

Sorry, people, old editors have standards to which we adhere.

 

[buckweaver]

Spnited's correct on all counts.

Also, if you wonder if you're taking too long to file ... you probably are.

That said, I wrote a quick 8-incher to fill the hole off a damn box score last night in 4-and-a-half minutes (boo, AP hockey writer/stringer in Glendale!) So, whatever.

 

[schiezainc]

First of all, your deadline never should be "whenever you finish."

If you're writing a gamer for a daily, you know exactly when you need to have copy in (unless you're working for incompetents) and that is how long you have to write, whether you like it or not.

If you're working on a feature, we're going to discuss when it's going to run and when I, your editor, needs your copy. And that is how long you have to get it in, whether you like it or not.

As for a column, if you are asking this question, you are not experienced enough to be writing columns.

Sorry, people, old editors have standards to which we adhere.

Well, i bring that up to basically mean that if it was up to you and the pressure of deadline wasn't there, what's the average time it takes you to write something. This really isn't about pressure/time sensative writing because we all know the two are different.

As I said, where I work is a weekly and there really is no pressure to have it done by X ' oclock because we don't have a SE and as long as I have it written in time for the paper's printing deadline, it's fine.

EDIT: That printing deadline BTW, is Wednesday morning at 10:30. This includes anything I happened to have covered from the previous weekend and/or any features I've held on to.

 

[spikechiquet]

A) 10-20 minutes to write a base, another 5-10 to transcribe notes/recorder, 35 minutes figuring out a lede (kidding), 10-20 writing and touching up. So a total of about 25-45 minutes

B) more time, but add the 35 minutes to think of a lede/research time

C) 10 minutes to write out my thoughts (500-800 words), another 30-60 touching up and trying to make myself not sound stupid

Just rough guesses

 

[mike311gd]

That's a tough question to answer because I'm facing a deadline almost every step of the way. Then I've got my inch count, which varies by what the desk wants/needs. So I don't know. Anywhere between 30-45 minutes for a gamer. But it's all dependent on the previous variables.

 

[spnited]

Exactly, mikey.
As for schiez, you're working for a weekly and it seems it doesn't matter how long you take to write.
So why is it relevant to you?

 

[schiezainc]

Exactly, mikey.
As for schiez, you're working for a weekly and it seems it doesn't matter how long you take to write.
So why is it relevant to you?

Well, the whole point of working at a weekly is getting better. I try to approach most things as if I were on a tight deadline so that when/if I'm lucky enough to move to a larger paper I'll be able to handle an actual hard deadline.

That and I'm hoping to have some sort of guage as to whether or not i need to shut up and wrap my thoughts up quicker.

 

[buckweaver]

Well, i bring that up to basically mean that if it was up to you and the pressure of deadline wasn't there, what's the average time it takes you to write something. This really isn't about pressure/time sensative writing because we all know the two are different.

That's the thing. There's ALWAYS a deadline, whether it's two days, two hours or twenty minutes. There's no "average" time for anything, because it depends on the deadline.

You take the time you need, and you use the time you have, to write the best story.

 

[buckweaver]

Well, the whole point of working at a weekly is getting better. I try to approach most things as if I were on a tight deadline so that when/if I'm lucky enough to move to a larger paper I'll be able to handle an actual hard deadline.

That and I'm hoping to have some sort of guage as to whether or not i need to shut up and wrap my thoughts up quicker.

But, if you're trying to get better, just test yourself.

Institute a tight "deadline" for yourself, and don't miss it. If you're covering a 7 p.m. basketball game, give yourself a 10 p.m. copy deadline and see if you can crank out 12 inches on time. If you're covering a a 7:30 football game, give yourself a 10:30 deadline and go for 15 inches.

For a short feature, try to come up with an idea, report it and write 20 inches all in an 8-hour shift.

Obviously, some of these are extreme but it's not that unusual compared to the situations that many writers face. You've got the luxury of rewriting your stuff for a weekly, so you're not under "real-time" pressure. But that'll help you get used to something close to a daily deadline.

 

[mike311gd]

Well, the whole point of working at a weekly is getting better. I try to approach most things as if I were on a tight deadline so that when/if I'm lucky enough to move to a larger paper I'll be able to handle an actual hard deadline.

That and I'm hoping to have some sort of guage as to whether or not i need to shut up and wrap my thoughts up quicker.

But, if you're trying to get better, just test yourself.

Institute a tight "deadline" for yourself, and don't miss it. If you're covering a 7 p.m. basketball game, give yourself a 10 p.m. copy deadline and see if you can crank out 12 inches on time. If you're covering a a 7:30 football game, give yourself a 10:30 deadline and go for 15 inches.

For a short feature, try to come up with an idea, report it and write 20 inches all in an 8-hour shift.

Obviously, some of these are extreme but it's not that unusual compared to the situations that many writers face. You've got the luxury of rewriting your stuff for a weekly, so you're not under "real-time" pressure. But that'll help you get used to something close to a daily deadline.

That's exactly what I did when I used to work at an afternoon paper. It became extremely boring for me to come back to the office and write at a leisurely pace. So I tested myself like Buck explained. Now the mandated deadlines aren't a problem -- for the most part. There are some days, however, that the deadlines do seem a bit unreachable. But you do what you've got to do.

 

[-Scoop-]

A. 15-20 minutes

B. Around 40-50 minutes

C. 30-40 minutes

 

[the_lorax]

Totally depends. If I'm churning out a dime-a-dozen profile to make the East Boondock High softball coach stop calling me about his shortstop, I'll pump it out in an hour, including interviews (assuming I can get a hold of everyone). But if I'm writing the centerpiece 25' feature to run on the day of the state championship, you better believe I'm gonna take some more time. And I'm lucky enough to have editors who will give me a day or two to do nothing but research/do interviews for that story before I even sit down to write. If I didn't, I'd make do, but the story wouldn't be as good.
But on deadline? Just get the damn thing done.

 

[dragonfly]

It's funny you posted this. I was having a similar thought today. I had a page 1 takeout running, but hadn't transcribed the quotes I got last week, and still needed to do an interview or two.

Anyway, the last two days had been hellish, so I was already kind of burnt out. But the story was due, and they needed it by 2 or 3 p.m. so there was no time to dawdle.

I finished all the transcription by noon, did the extra interview, researched for an hour and started writing about 1 p.m.

Not ideal!

But knowing I needed to have this in in an hour or two, I decided it was best to keep it simple. So I went with a straightforward lede and then just let the story tell itself. It felt rushed, and I knew I'd slapped it together, but it actually came out OK. I think the time pressure actually made me write better. This was the kind of story where if I'd spent a long time writing it, i could've overthought things and gone too far with it. But because I needed to bang it out, I just tried to bite off what I had time to chew.

Anyway, it checked in around 40 inches. I had it in by 3 and then took the rest of the afternoon putting together a graphic.

doesn't always work out this way. and i'm always scared of mistakes when I write this quickly.

 

[STLIrish]

How long does it take me to write?
However long I have.

 

[forever_town]

Institute a tight "deadline" for yourself, and don't miss it. If you're covering a 7 p.m. basketball game, give yourself a 10 p.m. copy deadline and see if you can crank out 12 inches on time. If you're covering a a 7:30 football game, give yourself a 10:30 deadline and go for 15 inches.

For a short feature, try to come up with an idea, report it and write 20 inches all in an 8-hour shift.

Obviously, some of these are extreme but it's not that unusual compared to the situations that many writers face. You've got the luxury of rewriting your stuff for a weekly, so you're not under "real-time" pressure. But that'll help you get used to something close to a daily deadline.

I work for a weekly. Depending on how important the story is, I'll write on a tighter deadline so I can get it on our Web site even if it's not a day when my paper goes to press. When I covered the murder trial last month, I'd race back to the office to file my copy and then post it on the Web.

That way, I give myself the equivalent of a daily's deadlines even though I'm at a weekly. That's why I feel confident that I could bang out a gamer pretty quickly and that I could bang it out on a daily's deadline.

Having said that, there are challenges to writing for a weekly that don't exist for a daily. I have to figure out how to make my copy compelling when it's likely that the story will be old news by the time people read it and people will already know the final score by that time.

 

[Ben_Hecht]

How long does it take me to write?
However long I have.

ESPECIALLY stuff which requires TONS of research, assignment tends to fill all available time . . . especially since you can't crosscheck/check yourself too much.

Of course, this leads directly to alcoholism for many, but that's another story for another day.

 

[mustangj17]

A. 25 minutes - an extra ten if I'm not on deadline and I can make it longer.

B. 2-3 hours- I research a lot whenever I write columns. And I get very meticulous about wording. It's a ***** sometimes but I love the finished product.

C. Around an hour. Unless its an exceptionally long feature, or halfway through I realize I need more info or better quotes. On my longest feature, I've spent maybe five hours editing and writing, and rewriting, but that was like a two-parter.

 

[m2spts]

Face it, no matter how fast you get the story in, the desk is always going to have the final say.
Having done both -- and I agree with what Dwain Esper always said, "(any assignment) beats the desk" -- it's a good idea to keep it simple and get it done.
Play around with some ideas during the game. I always wonder how some of the legends of our business would have done with cut and paste.
Don't be afraid to use running matter, but save INSERT SPACE for any quotes or commentary you may want to insert.
Be 10-15 minutes ahead of deadline.
Have an idea 3/4 through the game what you're going to write about. And start writing. Get that lead down, with a couple of graphs to follow, then INSERT for late-game stuff, quotes, and then go back to your game matter. There's no reason why you can't have 15 or so inches by the end of the game. Adding five to ten inches is no big deal.
If you have an idea, put it on your computer. I've done game stories that had 10-15 different ideas or "clever" lines -- often, none of them was used, but it kept me in the game.
Now, how long?
Deadline game story -- a 20 incher should take no more than 15 minutes, at best. Write a first-edition story at deadline, then spend 10-15 minutes in the dressing room, and improve on that first story.
Deadline column -- a 20-25 inch column could be done in the same amount of time, with some of it written during the game. This is time spent writing after the event is complete, of course. Give yourself 10-15 minutes in the dressing room.
Deadline feature -- a 25-30 inch feature may take 20 minutes or so, once your interview is done.
For more leisurely features, don't spend more than an hour. I always told myself, if I couldn't get the first draft done in an hour, I should be doing something else.
For columns, about the same.
Thoughts???

 

[Prince of Persia]

This is a tough one to answer for me as well. I'm sure like everyone else, if you're in a press box/row with a laptop in front you, you're writing as you go along. For a college bb game for example, I'll have 10-15 inches of notes/thoughts/analysis by halftime. At halftime, I'll edit it down to 8-10 inches and voila, half my story is already written. During the second half, I'll take more notes, run through possible leads in my head (which I do the moment I get to the arena), etc. During that 10-minute window before the locker room opens, I'm getting the basics in the story like W-L, high scorer, next game box. I like to have 10-15 inches of a story written before I hit the locker room. Most of that is some first half running, key moments in first half, etc. I think from the moment that final buzzer sounds, I want to get my stuff to the desk within 45 minutes. Sometimes it takes longer, but I've never missed a deadline, even the impossible ones. I'm too paranoid about missing one as I'm sure everyone else is.