How Long
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One month less than it would have if I'd taken a month break?
Oh, sorry. Serious question.
I have yet to sit down and bang one out without taking some sort of break, either because of time restraints or to work on other projects. I started my first novel back in the stone age of 1999, but I didn't actually finish it until 2003. In between was college, an internship, and a semester in Los Angeles that began a two year love affair with writing screenplays.
My second completed novel took about a year to write the first draft, with a three month break in there for personal issues.
I have two new WIP's, one mine and one being co-authored. My attention is divided a bit, but I try to make progress on both of them as often as possible.
Oh, sorry. Serious question.
I have yet to sit down and bang one out without taking some sort of break, either because of time restraints or to work on other projects. I started my first novel back in the stone age of 1999, but I didn't actually finish it until 2003. In between was college, an internship, and a semester in Los Angeles that began a two year love affair with writing screenplays.
My second completed novel took about a year to write the first draft, with a three month break in there for personal issues.
I have two new WIP's, one mine and one being co-authored. My attention is divided a bit, but I try to make progress on both of them as often as possible.
Anitraka said:
It takes as long as it takes. Every person writes differently. Steven King can write a novel in a few months.Tolkien took a decade to write Lord of the Rings.
It took me 26 days to write my NaNo novel (56,000 words at the time).
It's taken over a year to write my current WIP. I've had breaks (like NaNo, & the month afterwards), but a year would be about right. That's about twice the length of the NaNo novel.
My previous unpublishable (& much shorter) works have taken anywhere from 7 days to three years, but the ones taking over a year had great expanses of time where I wasn't writing or was working on other stories at the same time. Some were trilogies where I worked on all three books at once. But, again, those were all unpublishable.
It's taken over a year to write my current WIP. I've had breaks (like NaNo, & the month afterwards), but a year would be about right. That's about twice the length of the NaNo novel.
My previous unpublishable (& much shorter) works have taken anywhere from 7 days to three years, but the ones taking over a year had great expanses of time where I wasn't writing or was working on other stories at the same time. Some were trilogies where I worked on all three books at once. But, again, those were all unpublishable.
Novel
chaostitan wrote: "One month less than it would have if I'd taken a month break?" It was supposed to be funny, but it's actually the correct answer.
A novel can take a few weeks to write, my first took exactly twenty-one days, and sold just a couple of weeks after that, or a novel can take two or three years, or longer, to write. A long novel can be written quickly, I've seen 300,000 word novels written in three months, or a short novel can be written slowly, I've seen a 50,000 word novel take two years to write.
It really boils down to how fast a particularly writer punches the keys.
Anitraka said:
chaostitan wrote: "One month less than it would have if I'd taken a month break?" It was supposed to be funny, but it's actually the correct answer.
A novel can take a few weeks to write, my first took exactly twenty-one days, and sold just a couple of weeks after that, or a novel can take two or three years, or longer, to write. A long novel can be written quickly, I've seen 300,000 word novels written in three months, or a short novel can be written slowly, I've seen a 50,000 word novel take two years to write.
It really boils down to how fast a particularly writer punches the keys.
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I assume this was a question where she was curious as to our individual experiences, not a "correct" answer.
Long
Maybe, but where does the "with a month off" come in? Sometimes I don't need a month off because the novel takes less than a month to write, and sometimes I do need a month off because another novel of the same length takes six of seven months to write. Even as an individual experience, there is no answer.
Sage said:
Maybe, but where does the "with a month off" come in? Sometimes I don't need a month off because the novel takes less than a month to write, and sometimes I do need a month off because another novel of the same length takes six of seven months to write. Even as an individual experience, there is no answer.
Shadow_Ferret said:We're suppposed to time ourselves?
Sure - or how else are you supposed to know how much you're earning on an hourly rate? I'm somewhere below a 3rd world child labourer.
Wages
You gotta work on that. I'm already earning as much as most kids can make on a paper route. Another two or three years and I think I'll be getting close to making minimum wage. Will we celebrate when that happens.
And my mother-in-law said I'd never amount to anything!
Mike Coombes said:
You gotta work on that. I'm already earning as much as most kids can make on a paper route. Another two or three years and I think I'll be getting close to making minimum wage. Will we celebrate when that happens.
And my mother-in-law said I'd never amount to anything!
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My first novel took me about a year (first draft), but it wasn't until halfway through that I actually realised I wanted to make a proper go of it and knuckled down to some serious writing. Even then, I get distracted very easily and could go days, even weeks without writing a word.
My attention's been all over the place while trying to write my 2nd. I started it mid '04, but in the beginning I was constantly going back to the first to edit and rewrite in preparation for it being published by PA (time I now consider waisted). I got to the halfway point towards the end of last summer, but my head was a bit of a mess for the majority of last year, so the story is quite disjointed in need of so much work I can't really move on until I've fixed it.
With focus, I'm confident I could write a novel within a year - perhaps even the 2nd draft.
There's a lesson here: If Stephen King took as long as Tolkien with his writing, perhaps the majority of his bibliography wouldn't be so crap.
My attention's been all over the place while trying to write my 2nd. I started it mid '04, but in the beginning I was constantly going back to the first to edit and rewrite in preparation for it being published by PA (time I now consider waisted). I got to the halfway point towards the end of last summer, but my head was a bit of a mess for the majority of last year, so the story is quite disjointed in need of so much work I can't really move on until I've fixed it.
With focus, I'm confident I could write a novel within a year - perhaps even the 2nd draft.
Maddwriter said:
There's a lesson here: If Stephen King took as long as Tolkien with his writing, perhaps the majority of his bibliography wouldn't be so crap.
Bebbet said:
Hey! Don't be putting down my man. King may be the second best living writer out there. Love, love, love his writing. Just doesn't get any better than that.
I felt completely tickled yesterday when a learned that another of my favorite writers, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, is also a huge Stephen King fan.
http://www.kristinekathrynrusch.com/
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Jamesaritchie said:
Don't get me wrong, I admire King and he's written some fantastic work. And Kingdom Hospital showed he's a great screen writer too. But for every great thing he's written, there are two more that were absolute trash and read as if they'd been spewed out just to pay the bills.
It seems very much like production-line writing. He just throws novels together with whatever material he has at the time, and every now and then all the parts are just right.
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I was just curious to see how long it took everyone. I'm still writing on my first one and I started it Nov. 2002
Bebbet said:
I'd love to write half the crap Stephen King does. I guess I'll have to settle for my own crap.
Say it isn't so - Stephen King and crap in the same sentence??? Say it isn't so! I agree that I like some of his work better than others, but "The Stand" will always be one of my favorite books. Long, yes, but the story, the characters especially are perfect. His book "On Writing" is one I turn to again and again for inspiration and advice.
I have two novels each written during NaNoWriMo and am just now beginning the editing process. Reading through, I see a lot of work ahead of me, but at least one of them is a good read ... now all I have to do is make it a good write, smile.
Joyce
I have two novels each written during NaNoWriMo and am just now beginning the editing process. Reading through, I see a lot of work ahead of me, but at least one of them is a good read ... now all I have to do is make it a good write, smile.
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I can't be sure but I took the "month off" to be that oft-recommended time period between first draft completion and revision, during which the ms resides in a drawer somewhere.
To answer the question, for me a novel takes between 6 & 9 months most of the time.
Beth
To answer the question, for me a novel takes between 6 & 9 months most of the time.
Beth
Bebbet said:
He isnt even all that prolific, compared to many writers. Certainly nothing at all like a production line. Why, he's downright slow compared to some.
But real writers write. They write each and every day. They park their butts in chairs and they write. When any writer does this, a lot of things get written. Good writers do not need to sit around thinking for three weeks, and writing for three days.
Was Shakespeare a production line? Was Dickens a production line? No, they were simply men who actually deserved to be called writers because they actually sat down and wrote.
He hasn't written any trash. Some novels are better than others, but not one of them resembles trash. The worst novel he's ever written is better than what most writers I know can do.
And no one on earth just throws together bestselling novels with whatever material they have at hand. It doesn't work that way for anyone, let alone King.
And not liking someone's writing doesn't mean it's trash. It may be a masterpiece that you just don't like.
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Jamesaritchie said:
Rumor has it that Shakespeare wrote standing up and Dickens wrote on a train. But you're right, neither worked in a factory.
"A production line is a set of sequential operations established in a factory whereby materials are put through a refining process to produce an end-product that is suitable for onward consumption; or components are assembled to make a finished article."
I use a daily word goal. Usually 800 - 1000 words a day, but if I'm going strong, up to 2000 (but no more). Using this method, it took me 45 and 37 days to write the first drafts of my 2nd and 3rd novels. Revisions take months. I do some simple revisions on the prior day's stuff before I start each day. And, I write myself a promise NOT to miss a day, no matter what. It's tremendous pressure, but becomes a habit after a couple of weeks. I only plot ahead a day or two as I go. Since I write mysteries and don't know how they end ahead of time, neither do my readers.
PS..the word goal might be reached in one hour or six. I never know. Some days are a real struggle, others a breeze (like golf).
PS..the word goal might be reached in one hour or six. I never know. Some days are a real struggle, others a breeze (like golf).
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