I've written approximately four unpublished novels, and then three published YA novels (along with lots of published non-fiction books, articles, columns, etc.)
On my latest attempt at an adult novel (I still look at it as my first novel) I took 10 months to complete the first draft (120,000 words). My agent sent it to an editor who had many problems with it. I'm not even sure my agent read the whole thing. I dropped the agent and went into serious rewrites. Three years and maybe five drafts later, I have a new agent and I'm still awaiting feedback as to whether the thing is finished.
This is the place to tell your own tale of how long and how many rewrites it took until your first novel got published.
By the way, the publication of my first YA novel was like a dream. I had proposed a NF book to an agent who said an editor thought it would work better as a YA novel. The book sold on the basis of three chapters and an outline. I wrote the whole book in four months. The second YA was much more difficult, with heavy editing, but it was based on a lot of my prior unpublished writing. The third one I call my "contractual obligation" novel, although when I read it now, it's not too bad.
On my latest attempt at an adult novel (I still look at it as my first novel) I took 10 months to complete the first draft (120,000 words). My agent sent it to an editor who had many problems with it. I'm not even sure my agent read the whole thing. I dropped the agent and went into serious rewrites. Three years and maybe five drafts later, I have a new agent and I'm still awaiting feedback as to whether the thing is finished.
This is the place to tell your own tale of how long and how many rewrites it took until your first novel got published.
By the way, the publication of my first YA novel was like a dream. I had proposed a NF book to an agent who said an editor thought it would work better as a YA novel. The book sold on the basis of three chapters and an outline. I wrote the whole book in four months. The second YA was much more difficult, with heavy editing, but it was based on a lot of my prior unpublished writing. The third one I call my "contractual obligation" novel, although when I read it now, it's not too bad.
