But are they prolific due to speed or consistency? I think consistency plays the bigger role.
Stephen King writes about 1,000 words per day, consistently. Some other writers may do much more in a single day, but are more sporadic, “when inspiration strikes.”
Eminem has been prolific and is well known for his writing. I read an account from Akon working with Eminem in the stupid where he said Eminem treats music like a job. He shows up in the morning, works, takes his lunch break, works, and is done at 5pm. He’s showing up consistently, and he’s writing constantly, most of which will never been seen.
Jerry Seinfeld also famously wrote a joke every single day, not breaking the streak.
With this much practice, it would make sense that they’d get faster of time, but someone who is slow and consist will be much more prolific throughout the course of a lifetime, than someone who is fast, but inconsistent.
> …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.
George Lucas hates writing. He only got the screenplay to Star Wars: A New Hope written by locking himself in an office with a pad of paper and pencils for eight hours every day, through several drafts. Whether he actually wrote anything varied day by day.
Prolific artists get more practice; they get more feedback; they get more opportunities.