On: The Virtue of Slow Writers

[CharlesW]

> …someone who is slow and consist will be much more prolific throughout the course of a lifetime, than someone who is fast, but inconsistent.

In this parable¹, the teacher divided a ceramics class into two groups. One was graded solely on the quantity of work they produced, and the other solely on its quality. The result was that the "quantity" group also created higher-quality work.

King is a "quantity" guy, which means that the quality of his work is inconsistent, but he releases a lot of high-quality work.

GRRM is a "quality" guy, which means he may not finish the A Song of Ice and Fire series before he dies.

¹ https://excellentjourney.net/2015/03/04/art-fear-the-ceramic...

[halfcat → CharlesW]

The question remains:

Does quantity map to speed or consistency?

Maybe it depends whether it’s an individual or group effort?

For an individual, the feedback loop would seem to have a speed limit, as they’d need to evaluate the prior work and try to improve upon it.

Whereas in a team, individuals can churn out quantity and an editor can pick the best of the batch.