How long for a manuscript?

arkady · Dec 4, 2006

There's a lot of talk about how many words we should be producing a day. But I also wonder how long it takes the average writer who can't devote full time to the craft to complete a manuscript. Obviously this will vary with the length of the manuscript, so I'm only going for a ballpark estimate.

I produced my latest manuscript, from first sentence to 92,000-word first draft in the months from March to November. Is that considered slow by industry standards (if there are any)? Too fast? About right?

aadams73 · Dec 4, 2006

Honestly, this is a bit like asking "how long is a piece of string?" Manuscript completion time varies wildly from weeks to years. Of course if you're under contract and working a according to a deadline, then this varies again.

Just do it at your own pace, and when it's ready, it's ready.

Julie Worth · Dec 4, 2006

arkady said:
I produced my latest manuscript, from first sentence to 92,000-word first draft in the months from March to November. Is that considered slow by industry standards (if there are any)? Too fast? About right?

A few might take a couple of weeks, others might take decades. I'd say you're right in the meaty part of the curve.

Zolah · Dec 4, 2006

My first novel is 65,000 words long and it took a full twelve months to complete from planning to polishing. My second novel is 78,000 words long and it took five months from planning to polishing. Who knows with the one I'm working on now? I've been working on it for about four months and I've only got (an extremely long) synopsis, my character profiles and about 2000 words of Chapter One. I really think it depends on the story. I've gone mad trying to predict this or standardise it, so now I try not to worry about it.

Novelhistorian · Dec 4, 2006

The length of time you spend doesn't matter (though journalists interviewing authors seem fixated on this question, for reasons I've never understood). The worth of a manuscript is in the writing, not how many words or how long it took you to produce them. I wouldn't be prouder of the quality of a book that took me ten years to write instead of five, though I might be proud of my effort. At the same time, I understand how sheepish you might feel if you turned out a book in no time, because the common wisdom, entirely incorrect, is that it can't possibly be good. But if you're locked in when you're writing, if you're really tuned in (or any other way you want to put it), it'll go faster.

Let your readers (of whom you're one) be the judge.

JerseyGirl1962 · Dec 4, 2006

What aadams 73 said - when it's ready, it's ready.

~Nancy

maddythemad · Dec 4, 2006

My first novel was 32k words (more of a novella, I suppose) and that took two years (!!) I'm now on my third novel, which is already past the 32k mark, and it's barely taken me two months.

In short, it varies. A lot.

Arkie · Dec 4, 2006

John Grisham begins his books in August and tries for a Thanksgiving finish.

Janet Evanovich seems to turn out a book per year. She writes a series with the same Stephanie Plum character as well as secondary characters. Makes it easier, once the characters are established.

Some famous authors state they take three to ten years, dependent on fiction or nonfiction and the amount of research involved. Historians routinely take a number of years to produce their works.

For fiction, I have read author interviews, where they have stated they take twice the time to rewrite than writing the initial manuscript.

Zolah · Dec 4, 2006

I think this mini-article by Meg Cabot sheds an interesting light on different author's methods of hitting the deadline (as well as being highly amusing).

Siddow · Dec 4, 2006

18 months and seven drafts. At least that's what *I* heard.

Gillhoughly · Dec 4, 2006

My first novel took me 11 months. Add in 2 years worth of revisions before it sold.

I did a 90K novel in 4 months. Was on deadline.

My WIP has taken me over 2 years. No deadline.

I wrote a 10K novella in 48 hours. No deadline.

Writer Rachel Caine wrote a 100K novel in 30 days. It was good, too.

Walter Gibson (a.k.a. Maxwell Grant, The Shadow series from the 30's pulps) turned in a 60K novel EVERY 10 DAYS--ON A MANUAL TYPEWRITER. They didn't have White Out then, either.

Margaret Mitchell took ten years to finish Gone with the Wind.

The work takes as long as it takes. Whatever works for you is the right way.

arkady · Dec 4, 2006

Gillhoughly said:
My first novel took me 11 months. Add in 2 years worth of revisions before it sold.

I did a 90K novel in 4 months. Was on deadline.

Concern about hitting the deadline was the reason I started this thread. I wanted to have some idea of what publishers consider a reasonable length of time to produce a novel. Not that I've had to face any publisher's deadlines at this point, but I did want at least a bit of reassurance that my usual working speed would be up to the task when (O Lord, hear my prayer) it finally happens.

Walter Gibson (a.k.a. Maxwell Grant, The Shadow series from the 30's pulps) turned in a 60K novel EVERY 10 DAYS--ON A MANUAL TYPEWRITER. They didn't have White Out then, either."

He sure did, and for a hell of a lot of years, too. I've always admired the pulp serial writers. It wasn't deathless prose, but by God, they got your attention and held it all the way through. That kind of unflagging imagination and relentless storytelling has my deepest admiration.

NeuroFizz · Dec 4, 2006

As a writer with a time-consuming day job (that I give proper attention) I always have one project backed up with another, so there is a pipeline of productivity. I've recently broken a personal rule and I'm now working on two novel-length projects simultaneously, but this is the first time I've done that. I'm finding the more I write, the less time it takes to get from start to finish, and the less editing the first draft needs. I'm not a good one to cite for time-to-completion because I always have precious little time during most of the year, and then I have about a month when I can give four or five hours per day to writing. My goal is to maintain a regular production of one new novel per year, in addition to at least one in the process of being shopped. Right now, I'm ahead of that goal.

PeeDee · Dec 4, 2006

Longest I've ever taken is about six months. When I start getting into the red (toward the six month mark) then I start writing much, MUCH faster. I treat it like a deadline. Unless it's a seriously lengthy manuscript, I don't see much reason to spend more than six months on a manuscript.

I prefer less. Otherwise, I find that as time drags on and my other side projects come and go, I start to look at the manuscript as the same damn thing I've been working on for too long.

TwentyFour · Dec 4, 2006

I began writing my novel in 1999 and just now finishing up. I'm at 93,000 words.

karo.ambrose · Dec 4, 2006

1st draft, from March to August of this year so... six months (84,000 words). 2nd draft, which was a pathetic, hurried attempt, two weeks (I thought the first was perfect and needed only minor changes :crazy:

) Now I am almost finished with rewriting over half my novel, hoping to be complete with a third draft in two more weeks, then another draft after new years. Might sound hurried, but I am unemployed so I have nothing but time and this is what I'm devoting my time to.

Jamesaritchie · Dec 4, 2006

time

Publishers tend to want writers to publish at least a book per year, but exceptions are so rare as to make the rule meaningless. Still, if you're planning on writing books for a living, fast is a heck of a lot better than slow. Super bestsellers aside, publishers make money off a writer's regular production, so they tend to want writers who can produce regularly, even if the writer has a day job.

And day jobs do not stop many writers out there from writin a book or three per year. The old saw that "Work expands to fill the time alloted to it" is true. Writers who take five years to write a book generally only take five years because they can take five years. If they had to write that same book in one year, or in six months, they would.

There is no set time period to write a novel, but it can be done about as quickly, or as slowly, as the writer wants it to take. And the plain fact is that a book written in five weeks or five months is probably just as good, and often much better, than one written in five years. Within certain obvious limitations, time is no indicator of quality. Some of the best novels out there, and many, many of teh novels we all consider classics, were written in remarkably short periods of time, often as little as two weeks.

TwentyFour · Dec 4, 2006

Jamesaritchie said:
Publishers tend to want writers to publish at least a book per year, but exceptions are so rare as to make the rule meaningless. Still, if you're planning on writing books for a living, fast is a heck of a lot better than slow. Super bestsellers aside, publishers make money off a writer's regular production, so they tend to want writers who can produce regularly, even if the writer has a day job.

I've never heard that before, what about those who barely write a book every five years or ten...or one hit wonders like Harper Lee.

Jamesaritchie · Dec 4, 2006

SouthernWriter1978 said:
I've never heard that before, what about those who barely write a book every five years or ten...or one hit wonders like Harper Lee.

There aren't many writers outside the literary genre, and not many there, who only write a book every five or ten years. Such birds are extremely rare. Genre writers who manage to get away with this are almost unheard of.

Writers like Harper Lee and [SIZE=-1]Margaret Mitchell fall under the super bestseller category, and even then, you can bet the publishers would have LOVED to see more novels from both these writers.

The better your books sells, the more often a publisher wants another book, but a book or two books per year seems to be the norm. Most writers build a fan base over a number of novels, not on a single novel, and it's this fan base built over time that allows publishers to earn enough money to keep a non-bestselling writer around.

Unless you're a known literary figure, writing a novel every five years, let alone every ten years, probably isn't going to cut it.
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PeeDee · Dec 4, 2006

I thinkI could write two, maybe three novels a year. Probably with some leeway to spare. I think that even if I were doing that, I wouldn't really publish two or three of them a year. I'd like having some leeway, I'd like being ahead of myself...and really, I would rather write other things.

I like writing a novel and a bunchof short stories, some comic books, a video game, all that. A many colored bird is a groovy thing to be.

But James is right: One year is pretty stanard. Generally, that's when we get new Piers Anthony novels and new Terry Pratchett books. IN a sense, writers -- particularly genre writers -- franchise themselves.

What was the story...John Creasey wrote one of his mysteries in two days, I think it was.

TwentyFour · Dec 4, 2006

Well I feel everyone has their own time limit. I don't feel the "genre" authors have a better or worse way, but if it takes you 25 years to write your novel then that's your own business. I put my novel in the drawer for 4 years and then brought it back out, I don't feel I'm slow on writing...I feel I'm just taking my own sweet time....lol.

PeeDee · Dec 4, 2006

I don't actually know if it's more true or not for genre writers, mind you. That's just where my experience lies.

farfromfearless · Dec 4, 2006

I started writing my second attempt at a novel (the first scrapped), and it has taken me since late July until now to a produce 100K+ manuscript that I feel is only about 2/3 of the way completed. I try to devote at least one hour a day to write if I can swing it. I don't have to write much, just a paragraph on some days and on my more inspired days I turn out on average 4-5 pages of written material (not formatted for manuscript). Much of this still requires editing and I suspect the final word count will be somewhat less after that. In any case, it required me to give up one of my other hobbies so I could focus seriously on this. I had to give up gaming and I refuse to go back to it until I finish this first draft. It's really up to you on how much you wish to accomplish - personally, I find it easier if you don't treat it like a big manufacturing production.

How long for a manuscript?

arkady

aadams73

A Work in Progress

Julie Worth

What? I have a title?

Zolah

Over the hills and far away

Novelhistorian

JerseyGirl1962

I heart Malamutes! :-)

maddythemad

Arkie

a reader's ear and a writer's heart

Zolah

Over the hills and far away

Siddow

I'm super! Thanks for asking

Gillhoughly

Grumpy writer and editor

arkady

NeuroFizz

The grad students did it

PeeDee

Where's my tea, please...?

TwentyFour

practical experience, FTW

karo.ambrose

._.

Jamesaritchie

TwentyFour

practical experience, FTW

Jamesaritchie

PeeDee

Where's my tea, please...?

TwentyFour

practical experience, FTW

PeeDee

Where's my tea, please...?

farfromfearless