Time, the biggest foe of all!

[LizdeBiz]

How long (on average) does it take for you to write a novel with about 200 - 400 pages?

[LizdeBiz]

A friend of mine has been writing poetry and prose ever since I can remember. She's completed 12 novels in total, I think. Anyway, I was fairly impressed at the amount she can write (she's not even 16) and asked how long it takes her to write a novel. She replied less than 3 months!!! :eek Now I don't know about all of you, but I started my novel about a year ago and I'm still not finished! I feel like everyday that passes is another day of writing wasted. But I can't spend 24.7 by a computer screen typing up chapters!!! Can anyone give me any good advice? :\

[James D Macdonald]

All of the above....

[SRHowen]

First draft? A month--how long after that(editing)--about 4 months.

Shawn:clover

[Betty Kruk]

Perhaps 3 months if you have nothing to do but sit at the computer and write. If you have a day job, or take classes at a college, the time to write is shorter. I've written two novels, each taking about 9 months. My short stories, upwards of 5000 words, can be done in an evening. After that comes the editing and the editing and the editing.

[LizdeBiz]

Yeah, editing can be tough work... :p I think maybe I should bring a notepad with me everywhere so I can write when I've nothing better to do!

[SRHowen]

Well, I think the amount of time it takes depends on a lot of things. I wrote my novel Medicine Man in 4 months total. (with editing, before my agent got hold of it)(so written and edited to the point of sending out)

I was teaching middle school full time, and getting ready to be primary staff for a boyscout camp. (A second full time job)

Ask yourself if what you are doing is really what you want to be doing or should be doing if you want to be a pro writer and be published. TV? Computer Games? Other time wasters?

Use these things as a reward for pages done, words done. Say, I have now worked an hr--then allow yourself 15 min to play your fav computer game. Then go back to the writing. The next break--go outside for a brisk 20 min walk. And so on. Take a break to watch an hr of TV, record your fav shows and reward yourself in increments of that show.

It helps to type very fast and if you can do well on very little sleep. If you don't type fast--well, pick up a typing touter program and work on it. It will be time well spent.

Having a partner who supports you in the way of doing the dishes and keeping the house up helps. If not--well, the same thing. Write for an hr or two. Get up put wash in and switch to dryer, fold one load, go back to writing.

You have to take this for what it is--your work, your job. Take breaks to do what has to be. Take mind breaks only as rewards.

That's how I did it working full time.

Now that I am home full time--writing full time is my job. I work this job 10 hrs a day at least. My last novel in 28 days--taking out my one day a week off.

Shawn

[mammamaia]

...whatever applies at the time... depends on too many other variables to be just one or another... m

[LizdeBiz]

I heard that if you rush too fast into your novel, you could go wrong somewhere and then you've got a whole lot of editing ahead of you. Which is why I take my time... - some days when I feel inspired to write, I do. Other days, I get a bad case of writer's block... :p

[mburrell]

The first draft of the novel I'm now trying to hustle to publishers took a year. Four revisions took a couple of more years. My last revision took one month and reduced my manuscript from 420 pages down to 325 pages. Now I'm getting a few publishers who at least want to read the whole thing.

I envy people who get inspiration to write. Sometimes I walk around with ideas about characters; and I often have some kind of plot running around in my head. But if I waited for inspiration to actually sit down and write, I would never get anything on paper. I took some inspiration from Graham Greene, who made it a practice to write 500 words a day. He started in the morning and once he wrote the 500, no matter how fast he put it on paper, no matter how tempted he was to keep on--he quit until the next day.

When I tried this I found that sometimes the 500 came quickly, and sometimes I found myself brain-dead at two in the morning, unable to get my characters out of the dilemma I had forged for them. When the going got slow, I discovered that my sub-conscious would work on the problem over night. I also discovered that after a year, I had piled up around 140,000 words (now trimmed down to a lean 97,500).

So what I'm trying to say is that I write slowly and still have to do a world of editing and revision. Any "writer's block" that I suffered from was cured once I felt free to turn off my critic and write a little crap every now and then.

"A writer is somebody for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people."
Thomas Mann

[LizdeBiz]

I hate writer's block. I get it all the time. I really envy all of you that can complete any sort of draft within a few months. How on earth do you do it?!! :eek I mean, maybe it's my cautious nature, but I really can't put down words on paper (or a computer screen) without serious thinking. If an idea pops into my head out of nowhere, I tend to dwell on it for weeks, just to see if it seems good enough to actually include in my novel... :p Yip, I'm that meticulous.

[Gala]

My first novel took a few years, but I was studying the craft at university, so that actually slowed it down.

Now that I have some idea of what I'm doing, it takes a month to a year...or longer. It varies with the book.

In addition to my regular writing projects, I just completed National Novel Writing Month. I wrote a 50k-word novel in one month.

Last year, coincidentally in November, as I didn't know about NaNo, I was on a writing jag and wrote 45k words. Some of that is now in the draft of two other books.

If I worked full time, 8-hour days writing, I am sure I could write a 400-page first-draft in 3 months or less.

My goal is to be able to turn out one completed book per year. I know it is doable.

Great question. Thanks.

[maestrowork]

This is a senseless poll. Like Uncle Jim says: all of the above. And do you mean from concept to final draft? Or from the first keystroke to the first draft? What?

[Azura Skye]

I haven't finished anything proper but right now I'm a college student again and I devote my time to that. I still feel guilty for not writing though. *sigh*

It will all be over soon.:ack

[Maryn]

While I pause in admiration of those who can finish a novel quickly, I have to remind myself that speed is not what it's about.

Think Aesop, and the bragging jackal and her many pups, so many more than the lioness, who has but one per litter. "But mine," she says, "is a lion!"

I write slowly. OK, mine aren't yet lions, but I'm moving past alley-cat and toward ocelot...

Maryn, who's written little this week

(Edit: Eek, typos!)

[Jamesaritchie]

It's never taken me more than a year. Can't imagine a novel that would, since I write full-time. But each novel is different, and where one might take a month for the first draft, the next might take six or eight months.

I'd probably be far more consistent if I worked only on novels, but this isn't the case. I also write short stories, articles, essays and the occasional screenplay, so my time doesn't always get divided evenly.

When I am working on a novel, however, I write either 2,000 or 2,500 words per day, depending on length of the novel, day in and day out, so a first draft doesn't take all that long. The second draft is something else entirely. I never know how long it will take.

[Samueel]

I can barely write anything in a short amount of time! >:

[Samueel]

I can barely write anything in a short amount of time! >:

[Beaver]

Im still working on my first novel, so i wouldn't know. Hopefully the first draft will only take me 6-8 months.

I'd like to be finished by Christmas (a good present to myself), but who knows how long it will take.

Beaver <------- SLOW :shrug

[spooknov]

Dare I admit how long I've been working on my novel? Let's just say I've had more than two birthdays pass since I wrote my first line. But, in all fairness, when I started writing it, I was just playing around. I told my hubby, I think I'll write a story and he said Great, and that was that. I wrote when the muse struck, put it down for a few months at a time, picked it up for a week or so, and walked away again. BUT, in the last month or so, I've been busting bum, using the BIC method (thanks Uncle Jim) and now I'm nearing the end. I have discovered that personal deadlines inspire me to keep pushing forward. If it's total crap when I'm done, I'll revise. So, I guess it depends on many variables when it comes to the time it takes each person to write.

[Jules Hall]

I haven't actually finished anything yet, so I haven't put this onto the poll, but estimating based my current speeds, I'd say my _next_ novel will take a little under a year.

[Jamesaritchie]

I'll also add that up to half the time it takes me to write a novel can be consumed by chapter one. If I can get chapter one right, the rest of the novel pretty much writes itself. But getting chapter one right, primarily the first five to fifteen pages that make up the opening scene and setting, can takes weeks or even a couple of months, when things aren't going well.

[maestrowork]

James, funny you should mention it... I find myself spending a lot of time writing the first few chapters as well... but it's essential for me to flesh things out and spend more time working my characters, backstories, and setting up the plots. With my novel, I spent over 8 months writing the first 1/3... the second half took me 2 months.

[spooknov]

I'm the opposite. I get these visions in my head of the first 1/4 of the book, get it all hashed out...then, I get stuck. I have to take breaks so I can think clearly as to what direction I want to go.

I think the first 3 chapters I had done in like two months (maybe less) then came the hard part for me. The middle really is the pits. It's filler, but there are so many directions you can take to get to a solid conclusion. I spend most days growling at the computer and :head .

[Jamesaritchie]

spooknov,
The reason the first chapter goes slowly and the rest of teh novel goes easy for me is because of all those possible directions you mentioned.

If I get the opening scene and setting right, all the pieces in place, there's only one direction that will lead to the conclusion of the novel.

For me, this is what the opening scene and setting are all about. If I get it right, exactly right, every scene from that point on is a natural outgrowth of the scene before, and I never have to worry about direction.

This is important for me because I really do my best not to write the story. I want the protagonist to tell his own story, and my role is to just follow him around and write down what he does on his own. But this only works if the opening scene works to give the protagonist the first step in the right direction.

If I find myself wondering which way to go, wondering what should happen next, I know I goofed big time in the opening scene.

[spooknov]

I understand your point. Unfortunately, my brain works differently. For me, it's all about the unexpected. I set up the main plot in the first few chapters, then I close my eyes as I write and visualize my protag as his/her surroundings fall apart. I do let the protag lead me, along with teh antag, but I love to throw in the unexpected twists, which inevitably will take the unsuspecting antag to a new destination. This is the area I get stumped on. All those surprises that pop up along the way. I seehow my charactors will handle them, and what will be the outcome, but sometimes it takes a while for everything to fall into place. This I suppose, is why I write horror/fantasy. Expect the unexpected.

[maestrowork]

Different people are different and they work differently.

I'm kind of in between. I like enough outline to get me the general direction I need (again, I am using my road trip analogy). One-sentence stuff like:

Jill goes to the bank and gets robbed
Robber Bob falls in love with Jill and kidnaps her
...

Not very detailed -- leaving me much elbow room to shift and change. Once I am on the road, then I like to be surprised. Maybe Robber Bob doesn't just kidnap her.. he takes her out of the country to Mexico! Who knows? That's part of the fun of being creative. However, without that skeleton outline of where I want to go eventually, I'd get lost really quickly.

As noobie novelist, I find myself ending up writing lots of backstory or supporting stuff -- characterization, scenes, dialogues that have not much to do with the main plot. So I spent three months writing something I'd eventually cut out! However, the writing itself helped me get to where I was. Without driving around the parking lot for 10 hours I wouldn't have known so intimately about my car and it wouldn't have taken me where I wanted it to go...

[spooknov]

Maestro, I just love this road trip analogy. I too use a very basic outline. I map out the key elements of plot, storyline, and charactor traits. Then I let my fingers do the rest. I would compare writing to painting. A painter knows he is going to do a portrait. He picks his subject. He learns the key aspects needed to portray his view of the subject. Then he lets the brush have freedom. This makes each portrait unique.

[Terra Aeterna]

I wrote the first draft of one novel in 6 weeks and another in 8. I've a third that I've been poking at for over a year. And I know two people who have been working on one novel (each)for 15 years. This mystifies me; perhaps I'm just impatient, but I don't think I could work on the same story for 15 years.

[evanaharris]

It's also all about the beginning with me, and I've just realized that on my current project. It's truly amazing when the characters start doing things on their own. It's like you're hanging on for dear life careening down a mountain path with no guardrail.

[SRHowen]

keep the first chapter or even the first few. I start out and then once i am on the right path I end up cutting the back story crap that ends up in those first chapters.

Shawn

[theliberal]

Just remember that most writers do not have time, they have to make time.

[godlikegreg]

i really have to finish something

[Shadow Ferret]

I just finished my first novel a few months ago. Or at least the first draft. Took me 10 years. OK, I wrote 4 chapters 10 years ago and got stuck. So I let it stew for 10 years. Then when I came back to it, everything fell into place and it took me a year to write that first draft. It's 750 pages in word.

I think it needs some trimming.

[HollyB]

Shawn, I am so happy to hear you say that! After I finished my novel mss, I dumped the first four chapters. I felt like a doofus but it had to be done (lovely backstory, intricate character development, and wicked boring).

[maestrowork]

Holly, that's nothing. I dumped 7 chapters (about 13,000 words).

[SRHowen]

I am re-keying an entire novel. This one ran as a serial at WCP (Wild Child Publishing) and at the time it got a good number of hits per month. It ran over the course of 19 months -- 19 chapters. Now that I went back to edit and bring it together for a novel I have found some pretty big holes in it--So this time instead of tossing the first chapters I had to write some first chapters. In turn this took the story in a new direction (to get to the same place) so am re-keying the entire thing without parts of the old.

Need to find more BIC time.

Shawn

[Terra Aeterna]

Heh, Maestro and Holly. I did NaNoWriMo year before last and ended up dumping 34,000 words of 50,000. :grin

[godlikegreg]

i like writing late at night when everyone is asleep, i get no interuptions

[arainsb123]

"I hate writer's block. I get it all the time. I really envy all of you that can complete any sort of draft within a few months. How on earth do you do it?!!"

I finished the first draft for my current work in thirteen days :b . Of course, it was only 20,000 words (since has been lengthened a LOT). Total time spent working on it so far has been two months.

[SRHowen]

No sleep, lots of coffee (or drink containing caffeine)--no social life, and a big sign that says, I have a gun and I'm writing--did you say something?

Shawn :jump

[TerriLynn]

book one--two months
book two--two months
revisions on book one--three months--and now three weeks (deadline)
revisions on book two--still working on it---but going on three months
book three--started and in limbo--two weeks

:\

[Gala]

By some of these examples I've written a book in a day numerous times.

I can write a 20k book in a matter of hours, then spend 6 months to a year revising and fleshing it out to 100k.

For me, the answer to the main question depends on how many words, and how much revision is required.

To me the question is, how long from the time you started working a particular project, to the day it is sent for publication. For me that's about twice as long as I'd like, but taking less time with each novel.

For example, Arthur Golden says in an old Writer's Market interview he spent something like 15 years writing Memoirs of a Geisha. My assumption is he didn't write 50-60 hours a week to get it to publication. God I hope now.

The answer varies per person, genre, and what the result is, imho. I started a discussion once on what constitutes a "book."

<img border=0 src="http://www.ezboard.com/image/posticons/pi_geek.gif" />

[JimMorcombe]

I won't say anythying about novels until I actually have one in print. But...

Writing is a skill and like any skill, you improve with practice. I've been writing business proposals, letters, etc for years. I remember spending a day and a half on a letter way back. Nowadays, twenty minutes max.

Friends of mine still agonise over letters to government departments, lawyers and rat-bag businesses for days.

They get me involved and I knock it off in ten minutes. And what I write gets results.

At the moment I am applying Uncle Jim's BIC method to a novel. I am happy with a rate of about 1,400 words a day. If I write faster, the crap factor increases. If I write slower, the quality is still no better.

I just trust that the speed will rise after a few years.

[Shadow Ferret]

Funny how I forgot I responded to this thread already.

Anyway, I just took a few months off of my novel, which was at 200,000 words, and now realized after much thought, that it will make a nice trilogy. So now I'm writing that. Another year or two?