Quantity Wins

One of the prime directives of the comedy writer is this: write more than you need, then cut.

“If you need 10 of something, make 30. Then pick the best.” - Rick Rubin

“Use quantity to get quality” - Scott Dikkers, founding editor of The Onion

“I defy you to write 52 bad stories. Can’t be done.” - Ray Bradbury

One of the prime directives of the comedy writer is this: write more than you need, then cut.

When you ruthlessly cut what’s less interesting or less funny, you’re left with the crème de la crème.

This is the spirit of the Rick Rubin, Scott Dikkers, and Ray Bradbury quotes above. You can infer that Rubin is alluding to songs (10 in an album) and Dikkers to jokes and comedy writing. And Ray Bradbury is saying that if you write a story every week for a year, they can’t all be bad.

But what they say is true of most if not all creative outputs.

Leaning into quantity means writing more:

• more jokes

• more raw ideas

• more drafts

• more scripts

• more dialogue

• more stories

• more, more, more (than you think you need)

Why is this so good?

I think we underestimate or overlook all the ways that quantity wins. So here they are.

1. Quantity = more gems

Most raw ideas are not great. But a few are.

We cannot predict which headlines, jokes, drafts, or stories will be good. Truly, we cannot predict this. The only way to find out is to find out. Write it, and see how funny it is. Comedy writers have to be scientists performing relentless experiments.

This is not random chance. Skill matters.

Of course, as our craft improves, our batting average goes up. No one thinks that our chance of writing something funny is 100% totally random. Keep improving your craft, obviously.

But! No matter how funny a writer we are, our output will always include some okay stuff, some pretty good stuff, and a few gems.

We use quantity to get gems.

It is incredibly easy to see that this is true. Just write a bunch of jokes. You will find one or two that you really like more than the rest. A couple will shine and feel like winners.

So much of writing just recapitulates this primal experience. If you want more gems, you keep mining. Discard whatever you don’t need.

More quantity = more gems.

2. Quantity = flow state.

“Flow state” = A mental state of focus and effortless concentration where a writer becomes immersed, often losing track of time. In flow, self-consciousness goes away. Ideas come naturally, with minimal resistance or fidgeting.

The act of writing for quantity is more liable to put us into a flow state. When we’re gearing up to write a lot the filter is lower. Our guard is down. This is good. The muse rewards a writer who’s disciplined in showing up—yet chaotic and free and easy with letting the ideas flow.

Spending all day trying to write one perfect sentence is a hard ass way to get into a flow state.

But spending an afternoon writing dozens of jokes, or an entire rough draft, is liable to lead to a flow state. It will lead to all kinds of unexpected discoveries, weird left-turns, and magical rabbit holes.

And it will probably lead to more good sentences than that one “perfect sentence.”

Quantity isn’t just a quality-control mechanism, it’s a psychological shift toward flow and freedom.