It seems counter-intuitive that an agent would suggest that writers slow down. After all, isn’t the volume of output one of the keys to an author’s success? There is a measure of truth in that, but today I’d like to explore the concept of Slow Writing.
Think of it as a leisurely walk in the woods as a child. I remember strolling through sticks and leaves exploring the forest surroundings. I would watch a bug crawl up a tree and listen to the birds calling out their warnings as I approached. If too close, a startled squirrel would skitter away. And after a turn finding a new running stream after a rain. I was fascinated as the water carved a new path in the ground seeking to find the end of its gravity-laden journey.
But if I simply ran as fast as I could through those trees I would miss every single one of those memories.
Recently I watched the blur of fingers across the laptop keys by the man next to me on the plane and wondered how he did it. Or the skittering twitch of that person typing with one hand on their phone, juggling a bag and a coffee mug in the other. In some ways writing has become a substitute for the spoken word and we are trying to “talk” as fast as we can to “get it done.”
And the loss is ours.
Consider
In the near future I would encourage you to think like a poet. A great teacher and editor, Roger Palms of Decision magazine, once told me that the best article writers he worked with were poets. Because they knew the importance of a single word.
Consider the perfect word for your next sentence. Is it laden with eloquence? Is it burdened by meaning? Will it shake its reader?
Roll the words around on your tongue. Let them move. Let them breathe.
Craft
It is a struggle to use those slow words as they take shape. There is a famous story of a friend asking novelist James Joyce if he’d had a good day writing. “Yes,” Joyce replied happily. How much had he written? “Three sentences,” Joyce told him.
Craft takes time. There are days where 10,000 words will flow from your fingers. Other days will be excruciating. But in the end a better piece of writing will appear.
Read these lines from the opening page of Tosca Lee’s novel Havah where she describes the first moment of the life of Eve, right after being created by God in the Garden of Eden. And then ask, are these the right words, at the right time, in the right place?:
Wake!
I opened my eyes again upon the milling blue, saw it spliced by the flight of a bird, chevron in the sky.
This time, the voice came not to my ear, but directly to my stirring mind: Wake!
There was amusement in it.
I knew nothing of where or what I was, did not understand the polyphony around me or the wide expanse like a blue eternity before me.
But I woke and knew I was alive.
Create
Slow writing is a discipline of waiting. A discipline of silence. A discipline of thoughtfulness.
Releasing the temptation of Task (with a capital “T”) fills us with guilt in the beginning because we aren’t “doing” anything. Ridding ourselves of the need to succeed today, now, this instant, may clear out our minds of dark clouds. It may be in that widening space that the words can begin to flow again.
Let’s see what a few days of Slow Writing can do for you.
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Thank you for this message. Now I don’t feel so “lazy” when I just sit and think, dream, think, dream, and think some more. My walk in the forest of my mind is somewhat like yours – slow, easy, thoughtful, imagination creating pictures in my mind and easing the pace of the day.
Your article is a timely word for a world that clamors for me to hurry up…that time is passing quickly. One word rightly spoken or written has the potential to change a person’s heart. A changed heart has the potential of doing the impossible. And nothing,after all, is impossible with God.
I found the article inspirational since I’m a slow writer most of the time. When I hurry though a chapter, I’m never happy with it.
Hi Steve:
For a Type A++++ personality, doing anything slowly can be difficult. Thanks for the advice…..it was great meeting you at ACFW this past weekend.
Best,
Sheri
I’ve been looking for the word for what kind of communicator am I? Poet, I thought, perhaps. But I don’t produce like a poet. Now I get it. A single word value in sound, shape, look, partnering around others, texture, exactness; graphically designed until I’m comfortable with it. It all keeps me slow. So that is what makes me the way I am. Visual word artist, poet. OK. Pretty powerful understanding. Makes me smile.
Another part of slow for the new-to-publishing person is to patiently wait with expectancy for what is the next sequenced step and how do I do it. Yet I need to continue doing the pieces to upgrade what I do know.
Thank you.
In your comment here to Shelly you gave a link on a previous post about Slow Reading. That was excellent. I am going back there now to do the link given there on things to know.
Giving links to previous posts is a great rounding-out an issue idea. Also it becomes another good reason to read all the comments and reread everything again. I appreciate your work. Thank you.
A wonderfully simple yet profound reminder of the value of slowing down and such a contrast to our hurry-up and finish mentalities. Thank you.
For ten years, as I kept researching, writing, and editing my novel, I wondered: Why is it taking me so long to write just one book? Surely, while other authors are publishing a book a year, I will never accomplish very much in my lifetime.
Success is in the small things–sometimes–because it is the deliberate delay of writing and the careful study of the craft that will resonate deeply with readers after they’ve read a well-written sentence-by-sentence, scene-by-scene novel, causing them sink back into their couch and sigh and reflect and grow. So I must continue to stop and evaluate what I’m writing, why I’m writing, and how I’m writing.
Do I want to simply be that author who churns out book after book in haphazard fashion, or do I want to be the author who prays over each written word, until God has helped me to write a masterpiece to share with the world?
I may never be a Susan May Warren or Janette Oke or Ted Dekker, but perhaps I might be a Harper Lee or Margaret Mitchell or Elizabeth Gaskell, encouraging the world one word–book–at a time. Slowly.
Tisha,
I must be very clear that this post is in no way a criticism or critique of those who write and publish much faster.
I represent Susan May Warren and know that she has a gift. She is very deliberate and careful in her writing but she can do it at a speed that makes it appear easy. Her manuscripts go into her publishers very clean and her readers love her writing.
Sure, Susie’s output is prodigious. But it is not slap-dash or haphazard. We just had a meal together last week and talked about her work strategy. She has spent a long time working long hours to get to this point. It just seems like she “cranks ’em out” when in actuality that is part of the strategy!
But remember it is a gift honed through years and years of discipline and learning.
I have clients who write one novel every three to four years.
I have other clients who write one novel every three to four months, or even faster.
Both are right in their methods.
I also know how hard Ted Dekker works on his books and how he wrestles with the text and the plots to make them impact his readers.
So, let’s be careful that we don’t fall into a comparison of volume in output as being somehow less literary than what I wrote here and called Slow Writing.
My intent is to challenge each of us to consider our words and make sure they are the right ones to put on the page. If they come at lightning speed it still may be Slow Writing because it too years to get to the point where you can create quickly but with quality.
Other writers are gifted with the ability to write slowly. Neither is wrong in their approach. Merely different.
Thank you for the clarification, Steve, and for teaching me this deeper value of writing/strategy.
My word choice “haphazard” is incorrect, as I did not intend to or even want to slam writers who write quickly and label them as uber pansters who don’t care for their readers and the written word. I do apologize, for the word choice gave the impression that this post was criticizing fast writers. And I didn’t even take it that way! Ugh, words. Guess I should have rolled that one around in my tongue a little longer. 😉
I attended Susie’s and Rachel’s post-conference session this past weekend at the ACFW conference, and greatly admired their knowledge and writing ability.
I guess I’m just one of those Slow Writers. 🙂
Again, thank you.
It’s late in the day, but I’m so glad I had the chance to stop by and read your post today, It’s what I needed. As I struggle to learn one aspect of craft that has eluded me, I am definitely working SLOWLY on my book. And your words confirm that this speed, in this season, is exactly what I need.
Thank you.
Thank you! I feel very unproductive when I hear someone say they wrote several thousand words in a day when I have struggled with 1 paragraph, evaluating every word, every nuance, sentence structure, am I showing and not telling and have I grasped the right voice.
Thank you for affirming us slow writers
In the times of 48-hour books and NaNoWriMo speed writing, it’s refreshing to read about ‘slow writing’.
Slow food. Slow travel. Slow writing. Sounds like a trend.
Thanks, Steve. I’m an artist as well as a writer. My husband says he is always a loss when someone asks him how long it took me to complete a painting. He knows I may have visited many sites at various times of day to check light and shadows, studied photos of a particular building, plant, or animal, or collected various photos as well as having a live meeting for a portrait. By the time I put brush to canvas, the piece is so clear in my mind, the work often goes quickly. For other pieces, I work that all out with the brush and palette knife at a contemplative pace. So did the painting take a month or a few days–or hours? I think writing can be a lot like that, too.
Thank you for this slowly written post. I often feel overwhelmed by the word counts authors produce every day. Some days 3 sentences are enough!
I am a slow writer so really appreciate words like yours, Steve, that show how slow writing can be a good thing. Thanks for the encouraging post!
This is the 3rd time this week I’ve heard this message–once through a podcast (TED Radio Hour), once through a FB Live on Hope*Writers, and now. I think God’s trying to tell me something. 🙂
Dear Steve,
I am ill, and God has put me in a place to imagine a new life on the other side of treatment. Striving, achieving, writing fast are all things I have had to let go of in this time of illness and healing.
I am only beginning to realize I can start act III of my life in a new way, a way characterized by slow writing, and purposeful, faithful living.
Your post was a great encouragement to me.
Thank you!