All Royal Road authors, I ask: How many words per minute can you type? And how did you achieve your current typing speed?

Currently, I'm sitting around 30-35 WPM. I'm looking for ways to increase that speed, which I believe will help me write more.

In middle school I took a typing class in a computer lab (I think everyone did it) where I learned the proper positioning for the fingers for pressing all the normal buttons.  I then practiced a lot.  Instant Messenger (back then), chat rooms, online games with chat, writing in MS Word for class assignments, etc.  In college, the amount I chatted with fellow students went up as I chatted a lot on Direct Connect (DC++), facebook (when it was only open to college students), IRC, and a few other things.  By the time I graduated, I was able to break 100 wpm pretty easily.  For the years since, I've typed a lot more but haven't really gotten faster.  In summary, I found the key steps were:

1)  Learn the correct way to use a keyboard, even if it's slow.
2)  Practice a lot in environments where people are waiting for you to finish typing your reply.
3)  Also practice a lot when people aren't waiting for you to reply, but with a focus on trying to type quickly.

To me, typing quickly isn't about trying to type fast, it's about trying to turn my thoughts into words.

The last time I checked, I could type around 75-80wpm.

But I know I can type a lot faster since I started my day job as a typist.

I've noticed that my speed is affected by the type of keyboard I use (I switch between two different keyboards every day), the position of my hands and feet (I also switch between two separate desks), and even the way I sit in my chair (it has to be at the right height for maximum speed). 

Everything Garfield said here is primo advice. My own type rate is about the same, ~110 wpm on a good day, and my path to getting there was basically identical to his: learned proper typist technique in middle school, practiced at it with online chats, and continued to maintain it with the occasional typing race or speed clocker.

These days, when writing fiction, I'm not usually going my full speed, same as how a runner doesn't go full-tilt sprint when starting an afternoon jog. Even though my fingers can fly that fast, my brain can't invent stories at 110 wpm, so it's usually closer to the following flow:

1. an idea for a paragraph or sentence comes to mind
2. I type it out pretty quickly
3. I pause, reflect, re-read, and maybe change things on the spot
4. wait for step 1 to start again

If you try to continually write forward at full steam ahead, the story will probably show it (and not in a good way)

I made a teste to reply (I need to cut my nails):

You type with the speed of 38 WPM (168 CPM). Your accuracy was 100%. 

*does random typing test online*

Apparently I can type somewhere in the 70-odd WPM range.  How did I get there?  Probably just a heck of a lot of typing documents under horrible time constraints.  Also because I grew up in a house behind the curve technologically speaking as a kid and we had a DOS computer (when everyone else already had early era windows machines) where doing anything required typing commands in to get access to anything.  No pointy and clicky on that bugger.

Command, menu, tab, tab, tab, arrow, arrow, keyword, command, password, program opens, tab, tab, shortcut keystrokes, gaming keystrokes, F1 menu, arrow to save, type file name, return, "q," back to black screen, type in command....

Get real acquainted with the keyboard that way.

But yeah, mostly proper typing practice on what fingers go where on the keyboard... mostly, anyway.  I fail the standardized use of the "shift" key and just mutilate the left shift while the poor right shift gets neglected. XD

(My more impressive ability is, on a good day, I can turn sideways and have a conversation with someone while still typing something entirely unrelated while not paying attention to the computer screen.  Freaks people out.  Is fun.)

I am a self-taught typer, and probably can write 1k in thirty minutes, but I write not to type as fast as I can, but what I desire to put on paper and I have to read over the sentences to make sure the grammar is correct and if the chapter is flowing the way I intend. 

Although I don't have to look down at my keyboard to type, I can write in the dark, which I have done many times. 

I wanted to add that speedy typing is augmented by speedy editing, and there are plenty of ways to boost your writing speed beyond raw wpm. 

Most people know that holding shift and then pressing an arrow key highlights text in that direction, but the control key is far more useful. Control changes the arrows' behavior to skip word by word rather than character by character, which can be profoundly helpful in moving through text.

Control + left or right arrow -> skip through the text one word at a time
Shift + control + arrow -> select text one word at a time

If I've made a typo somewhere, my usual flow is (control+left arrow a few times) until the selector is at the word, then one more left with shift held to select the word, and then I just type to replace the offending word. Entire error is corrected in less than a second, and I don't even have to lift my hand off the keyboard to do it

My usual writing speed is somewhere in the vicinity of 5 to 30wpm, but I can peak up to 70 if I'm feeling particularly inspired and pushing hard.

I use dvorak layout and have a split ergonomic keyboard.

I did a quick test online, and without trying that hard, I got 68 WPM. Not bad, imo, but also nothing extraordinary. Just millennial things of growing up online and behind a computer. 

Found one of those tests and I guess I average around 58 WPM. That's pretty cool. I did a computer course in HS and had fun with that.

Like others said, familiarity with the keyboard will help. Learn the proper positioning and how to best navigate the keyboard.

There's also those insane ones that are like a mouse and each finger has four letters mapped to it... watched someone type stupid fast on that. It was unreal.

I think a more interesting metric to poll the community is how many words per hour they can write a chapter. This is more a measure of brain processing rate and the number that actually matters if you are writing a story. I type at around 50-60wpm, but I can only do 500-750 words per hour while writing a chapter. Around 10-15 wpm so five times slower give or take. Even if you are dead slow, if you can keep your brain producing sentences you should never be limited by your typing speed. 

Used to play a game called GunZ the Duel. It was during a time there were no pings or set macros. So you had to make your own chat macros, or be able to type fast enough to get a full sentence out before someone shot you in the back or pushed you off a ledge. Learning under pressure always cuts the learning curve lol

Max wpm as just copying, dictation, I could do 150 wpm before switching keyboards. Actual writing wpm is ridicilously variable, based on scene type and what not. 

Swapped to a moonlander to reduce RSI, first month I maxed out at maybe 40 wpm.  Two months on and I can do 95 wpm with 97% accuracy.  But that doesn't kill my wrists the way my old gamer keyboard did, and I can maintain it pretty indefinitely with short breaks. 

On my work laptop, where I do the vast majority of my writing I can do a respectable 105 WPM, because I don't have to move my wrists, letting my long and thin fingers go ham. On my main/gaming computer I can do about 70 WPM, due to the size of the keyboard and that I have to move not only my digits but also my hands, which eats time. I have smol hands and very long piano fingers, okay?

How I got here? Easy. Six years as a university student, followed by two more years (currently) as a university lecturer and for the past year a PhD-candidate. And writing as a hobby didn't exactly slow me down.

larareispoetry Wrote: I made a teste to reply (I need to cut my nails):

You type with the speed of 38 WPM (168 CPM). Your accuracy was 100%. 

I was looking for this.  If you have long nails, they will significantly impede your typing speed.  I find this to be more true on low-profile keys/keyboards.
Other than that, practice correctly and practice a lot.  It's muscle memory.

Flamebeard Wrote: I think a more interesting metric to poll the community is how many words per hour they can write a chapter.

Well, to add to that vein... On an average day, probably around 500 an hour (with some interruptions involved).  On a 'blah' day, probably around 200...
... on a day where I'm in a bit of a mood that somehow matches or parallels the chunk I'm writing.... 1,300 an hour... but that kind of chunk doesn't normally exceed 4,000 to 5,000 words so then it slams back down into "average day" or worse once the chunk is done. lol