5 Ways to Raise Your Word Count Rates

Scrabble, Word Games (Photo credit: windygig)

The point of these techniques is to get the words flowing faster and freer and temporarily shut down the inner critic that can slow your flow of words.

1. Prompts. You can start with ones written by someone else but I recommend eventually making your own. When you write your own prompts, the topic is more likely to be in line with your writing subject, situation, and style.
2. Outlines. Sorry pansters, but plotters get points here. An outline can be made as general or as specific as necessary. And if you know where you are going, it is a lot easier to get going. And once going, get gone.
3. Time limits. Some people perform better under pressure but some people perform worse. Either way, a time limit can force you to temporarily circumvent your inner critic long enough to get something down to edit later – so long as you don’t let fear stop you.
4. Word goals. This, of course, forces you to put a certain number of words on the page, no matter what. Words, even bad words, have to come from somewhere and a large word goal will force you to delve deep into that well (or whatever) of your creativity.
5. Practice. It is a habit and a skill to be learned. As you continue to put words on the page, the words will start to come faster. Even your slow days will be faster than your “old” slow days.