How Long Does It Take You...

Roly · Jan 7, 2010

...to finish a novel?

My last novel took me almost two years to finish from the planning to the querying, though that was mostly because I never thought I'd try to get it published. Only when I started to think along those lines did I start writing seriously and finished it off in a few months. Then of course there was all that other life stuff that gets in the way

So how long does it typically take you to finish a work (of how many words)? What's the fastest/slowest time you've ever finished in?

Shadow_Ferret · Jan 7, 2010

We had a similar thread like that here.

AryaT92 · Jan 7, 2010

First book took me 1 month, second took me 8 days.

Kitty27 · Jan 7, 2010

I can write 100k in a month to six weeks. I once wrote a novel in two weeks. Once I sit down and focus,that's it. Game on!

bclement412 · Jan 7, 2010

10 months+ with a severe concussion

inkspatters · Jan 7, 2010

Shortest has been ten days and the longest has been a month and a half, but I think I'm going to top that with my next novel. So it all depends for me.

Madison · Jan 7, 2010

Ten days? Wowzers. That is not me -- I am kind of slow. The Inbetween, my almost-on-sub-to-pubs novel, took me a year and a half, plus a month-ish of revision with my agent. It's 88k.

Ehab.Ahmed · Jan 7, 2010

I haven't finished one novel yet, but I'm a month in, and I'm still planning out my novel. I guess if I had everything I needed (plot, characters, setting, theme and general plot path) it'd take me about a month or two of solid work, I think.

Maxinquaye · Jan 7, 2010

I pretty much outline my novels - and hope that it will save me a few iterations of revision. But Each 100k takes me about 3 months or so to write.

Khimera9 · Jan 7, 2010

I'm a pretty lazy writer so I normally get 100k for every few months. I guess I need a better work ethic.

kaitie · Jan 7, 2010

I'm in the slow writer's club! From conception to finish, this last one was two years for me. I spent about three months planning before I started writing: outlining, researching, etc. 16 months of actual writing (first draft was 185k). Then I've been editing ever since, and just finished my last major edit last week.

Eight days...how long was it? That just hurts my little typing fingers even thinking about it haha.

Andrhia · Jan 7, 2010

The first took me about five years. The second took 10 months. Both times include periods of several months in which I did no writing at all.

Feathers · Jan 7, 2010

My original novels used to take three months apiece, with a few weeks to a month in between each; I pretty much wrote like five or six novels in two years. Each one averaged at 75k. Then there was this long period when I couldn't finish anything full-length.

Last year I finally finished a novel, and it took me six months, which freaked me out a little bit because it was majorly long. Then I wrote this novel which I'm on the verge of finishing; it's been ten months now, which almost gave me a panic attack when I first realized it. BUT, I had a college semester in there, and only wrote an average of 3k per week the whole semester. That stretched it out. Also, normally my novels are 75k, and this one has already flipped over the 85k mark and is still going. I hope to end it this week at 90k, which will be the longest I've ever written.

I really love hearing how long it takes everyone to write...it seems like it has a lot to do with how many evolutions a story goes through after the first draft. I used to write super fast; and it took me a lot of rewrites to find the core story. Now I go slow, writing whole chapters at once, and then waiting a week between writing bursts; steady progress and all that, but when I'm done I have a great sense for my story.

Anyone else find these trends in their own writing?

Caitlin Black · Jan 7, 2010

First book, 65k, 5 months. Only now starting to edit it, but I think a month or so of edits and I'll be ready to sub it.

Second book, 45k-ish so far, about 4 months, though I took a month off in there. Sequel to first book, so it's on hold until I can get a contract for the first one.

Third book, 124k, 2 months. Although I did the first 102k in 1 month. That was for NaNo, and I'll be editing that once the first book is edited and out on sub. Editing should take about 6 weeks I'm guessing, while still writing new stuff.

Fourth book, about 12k so far, and it's been 7 days. Aiming for around 80k in a month and a half, though it might take 2.

Feathers · Jan 7, 2010

Third book, 124k, 2 months. Although I did the first 102k in 1 month. That was for NaNo

I was about to say, holy smokes! That's still a wicked lot for Nano.

Caitlin Black · Jan 7, 2010

I was about 5 times as productive as usual with that book, and I'm trying to keep the momentum going, hence doing 80k in a month and a half. Not quite as fast as NaNo month, but still a lot quicker than my first 2 books...

blacbird · Jan 7, 2010

Is it pertinent to note that nowhere among the "ten days" or thereabouts writers is there any indication that any of these instant novels have ever seen the light of publication?

caw

AryaT92 · Jan 7, 2010

The instant novel landed me a top notch agent and publisher interest.

Varthikes · Jan 8, 2010

My first book took me about 2 years, not counting all the editing sessions.

My second book took me 2 years, too, but it might have been less had I not gotten distracted by other projects. And, that one, too, will probably take a couple more editing sessions.

scarletpeaches · Jan 8, 2010

blacbird said:
Is it pertinent to note that nowhere among the "ten days" or thereabouts writers is there any indication that any of these instant novels have ever seen the light of publication?

caw

You might want to speak to thethinker42 about that.

Kitty27 · Jan 8, 2010

blacbird said:
Is it pertinent to note that nowhere among the "ten days" or thereabouts writers is there any indication that any of these instant novels have ever seen the light of publication?

caw

Hey,I haven't started querying yet!

thethinker42 · Jan 8, 2010

blacbird said:
Is it pertinent to note that nowhere among the "ten days" or thereabouts writers is there any indication that any of these instant novels have ever seen the light of publication?

caw

*raises hand*

The Next Move was written in 14 days. The Distance Between Us was written in 11 days. Both are contracted. Neither of those figures take days off into consideration...I'm fairly certain I took 3 days and 1 day off, respectively, but I can't be sure.

Between Brothers and Nine Tenths of the Law both took a little over 30 days, but I was traveling extensively while I was writing them, so there were more days off than not. Rules of Engagement took 20. Again...all sold.

So...yes. Some of these "instant novels" have seen the light of publication.

scarletpeaches · Jan 8, 2010

PWNED.

Noah Body · Jan 8, 2010

Gotta hand it to you guys who can generate such output in such a short period of time. And thethinker42 does it well, which is remarkable. I hate you, you wench!

J D Dallmeyer · Jan 8, 2010

Shortest was 15 days (but it was terrible). Longest so far was about 3 years. I don't really have an average even though I've written 8. It takes as long as it takes.

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