Typing Test for Writers — How Fast Should Writers Type?

How fast should a writer type? It is a surprisingly complex question. Raw WPM matters less for writers than for data entry clerks or court reporters, because writing involves far more thinking than continuous typing. But typing speed still shapes your daily word count, the depth of feedback you can give editors and beta readers, and how efficiently you can revise. This guide covers famous author speeds, the real maths of WPM and output, why accuracy matters more than speed for writers, the dictation debate, and how NaNoWriMo changes the calculation.

Sweet spot: 50–70 WPMAccuracy over speedNaNoWriMo mathsDictation comparison
The 60 WPM ceiling effect: At 60 WPM you can theoretically produce 3,600 words per hour. In practice, a skilled writer sustains 40–50% of max typing speed during creative first drafting because thinking, pausing, and micro-editing interrupt continuous typing. That gives an effective output of 1,440–1,800 words per sustained hour — still impressive, and faster typing pushes that ceiling higher.

Famous Author Typing Speeds

Precise typing speed data for famous authors is rare — most have never taken a formal test. But known daily output targets, interview quotes, and workflow descriptions allow reasonable estimates:

Stephen King
~70–75 WPM (est.) — Aims for 2,000 words/day in ~3–4 hours of writing time; a prolific output over a 50+ year career
George R.R. Martin
~40–60 WPM (est.) — Famously still uses WordStar 4.0 on DOS; not optimised for speed — famously slow on delivery
Dean Wesley Smith
~80–90 WPM — Has published 200+ novels; advocates dictation for speed but also types fast when at keyboard
James Patterson
~65–75 WPM (est.) — Produces 6–8 books per year with co-authors; co-writing requires efficient communication via text
Average novelist
50–70 WPM — Range based on professional writer surveys; daily word count targets require sustained speed

The WPM-to-Words-Per-Hour Table

This table shows theoretical maximum words per hour based on typing speed, alongside a realistic creative writing output estimate (assuming 45% sustained utilisation — the rest being thinking, pausing, and light revising):

Typing SpeedTheoretical Max (words/hr)Realistic Creative OutputNaNoWriMo (mins/day)
30 WPM1,800810 words/hr~120 min
40 WPM2,4001,080 words/hr~90 min
50 WPM3,0001,350 words/hr~74 min
60 WPM3,6001,620 words/hr~62 min
70 WPM4,2001,890 words/hr~53 min
80 WPM4,8002,160 words/hr~46 min

Why Accuracy Matters More for Writers Than Speed

For a data entry clerk, a typo is corrected in a second and life moves on. For a writer, typos have cascading consequences:

The practical recommendation for writers: aim for 55–70 WPM with 96–98% accuracy rather than 80 WPM with 92% accuracy. The accuracy saves more time in total than the speed gains.

Dictation vs Typing: What Works for Writers

Dictation tools like Dragon Professional and Apple Dictation have reached production-grade accuracy (95–98% in quiet environments) and can process speech at 150–200 words per minute — far beyond any typist. Authors like Kevin J. Anderson and Dean Wesley Smith have publicly attributed their prolific output (50–100 books each) partly to dictation workflows.

However, dictation is not a universal solution. Literary fiction with complex sentence structures is harder to dictate fluently. Poetry is nearly impossible. And dictation requires a quiet environment, training of the recognition model to your voice, and a fundamentally different cognitive mode — some writers find they cannot access their best prose while speaking aloud.

The hybrid approach that many professional authors use: dictate first drafts (maximising raw output), then revise, edit, and polish at the keyboard (where precision and control are paramount). Fast keyboard typing remains essential for the revision phase.

NaNoWriMo and the Typing Speed Question

National Novel Writing Month challenges participants to write 50,000 words in November — 1,667 words per day. Using the realistic creative output estimates from the table above: a 40 WPM typist needs approximately 93 minutes of active keyboard time per day; a 60 WPM typist needs about 62 minutes. That 31-minute daily saving adds up to over 15 hours across the entire month — the equivalent of more than two extra writing sessions.

Many NaNoWriMo participants report that typing speed becomes a bottleneck around Day 15–20, when fatigue sets in and the gap between thought and output grows. Building up to 60 WPM before November starts gives you a meaningful stamina buffer for the back half of the month.

Practice Now →

Frequently Asked Questions

How fast do most writers type?
Most working writers — journalists, novelists, content writers, and screenwriters — type between 50 and 80 WPM. The average person types about 40–50 WPM, so writers who spend significant time at the keyboard tend to naturally develop above-average speed through sheer volume of practice. Prolific novelists who produce 2,000–5,000 words per day tend to settle into the 60–80 WPM range. Speed beyond 80 WPM provides diminishing returns for most writing work because cognitive processing — choosing the right word, constructing a sentence — becomes the bottleneck, not typing.
How fast does Stephen King type?
Stephen King has reportedly stated in interviews that he aims to write 2,000 words per day, which he typically completes in 3–4 hours of working time. That implies an effective sustained output rate of roughly 500–667 words per hour — far below his probable raw typing speed — because writing involves thinking, revising, and pausing, not continuous typing. Estimates of King's raw typing speed have ranged from 60 to 90 WPM, with 70–75 WPM being the most frequently cited figure, though this has never been officially measured.
Is typing speed or accuracy more important for writers?
For writers, accuracy is more important than raw speed. A typo that gets through editing and into a published piece is far more damaging than the few seconds lost by typing carefully. More importantly, writers who type accurately spend far less time on mechanical corrections during revision, which keeps them in the creative flow state that produces the best work. The goal for a writer is not maximum WPM but consistent, error-minimal output — ideally 50–70 WPM with 96–98% accuracy.
Should writers use dictation instead of typing?
Dictation can dramatically increase output speed — experienced dictation users like author Dean Wesley Smith report producing 3,000–5,000 words per hour via dictation, far beyond what typing can achieve. Modern tools like Dragon NaturallySpeaking and Apple Dictation have accuracy rates above 95% in quiet environments. However, dictation suits some genres (thriller, romance, action) better than others (literary fiction, poetry, highly technical non-fiction). Many successful authors use a hybrid approach: dictate first drafts, then revise at the keyboard. Fast typing remains essential for the revision phase.
How does typing speed affect NaNoWriMo (50,000 words in 30 days)?
NaNoWriMo requires 1,667 words per day for 30 days. At 60 WPM of sustained first-draft writing pace (most writers can sustain only 40–50% of their max WPM for extended sessions due to thinking time), you'd need roughly 55–70 minutes of active keyboard time per day. At 40 WPM sustained, that stretches to 80–100 minutes. Improving your typing speed from 40 to 60 WPM could save you 25–30 minutes per day during NaNoWriMo — roughly 12–15 hours over the entire month.