Speedy Scribes: The Price 5 Writers Paid for Flash Fiction

Writing a novel is not always slow going. But the lucky few, like Jack Keroauc and Ray Bradbury, who've penned one quickly, pay a price.
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A Clockwork Orange

England lacked a dystopian vision. Anthony Burgess lacked cash. After three weeks of work, our droog rectified the situation.
Pace: 2,785 words/day Price: An albatross. As Burgess himself wrote: "The book I am best known for, or only known for, is a novel I am prepared to repudiate."

Self-aggrandizing blowhards and undergraduate creative writing workshops have convinced the world that penning a novel is slow, painstaking, life-consuming work. Tell that to Sara Gruen. Inspired by National Novel Writing Month, a net-based challenge to pound out 50,000 words in 30 days, Gruen produced a first draft of her novel in just four weeks. That book? Water for Elephants, a number-one best seller that became a hit movie.

Gruen's breakneck speed isn't unique. Notable authors throughout history have compressed the years-long hardship of novel-writing into a few weeks—or even days. Many of the speedy scribes earned boatloads of cash from their efforts (those jerks). But speed ain't cheap: Working that quickly invariably takes a toll.