Novel How long does it take you to write a book?

Discussion in 'Genre Discussions' started by Birmingham, Jan 7, 2012.

  1. cazann34

    cazann34 Active Member

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    I started writing my novel three years ago, I have been planning, mapping out chapters, plotting, fleshing out characters and locations, and it is only in the last two months that I have started the actually writing of it.

    I'm one of those perfectionists who agonise over every sentence and I tend to edit as I go, so it can takes me some time. Sometimes it take me hours to get 500 words on the page, that I don't think is crud/pants/rubbish. I'm just finished my first chapter, and I have around 22 to go, so its going to take me a while. I'm writing fantasy that might explain why its taken me so long or that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it

    I have four notebooks, 80 pages, with research; stuff I've save from the internet, useful snippets from documentaries on TV, that fit my storyline or historic events, myths and believes etc. I research as I go and leave notes for myself for when I finally have a MS and start revising propely.

    My writing routine tends to be getting up at least an hour or so before I need, to write (some morning I'm more inspired than others) then I write for a few hours at the end of the day - I find doing it this way allows me thinking time, through my day then I can figure out what happens next.

    My novel writing is all consuming, it drives me forward. It's a runaway train.
     
  2. cazann34

    cazann34 Active Member

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    WOW! what a labour of love that must be, or your're worst nightmare. Is that nine years finished or are you still fiddling with it?
     
  3. Nicholas C.

    Nicholas C. Active Member

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    This thread depresses me lol.

    It's taken me 11 months to churn out 35K words of the novel I'm working on. Granted, I work full-time, go to college (graduating in 10 weeks, thank God), and I also do a fair bit of revising as I go. However, I also hit a massive wall and didn't writing anything for nearly 2 months in that time span. I'm hoping to amp up the pace and be done with the first draft by Feb. 2013.
     
  4. louis1

    louis1 Member

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    No more than a year to plan the story, write the first draft. Revise the plot and structure, rewrite from scratch, and edit.
    A year and I'm done.
     
  5. moscowwoah

    moscowwoah New Member

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    I try and write a thousand words a day. There are days where I don't write at all, but I'll still write poems, or write for work where I practice wordplay, etc.

    I've been trying to write enough personal essays for a book, and so far it has taken me close to five years. But to be honest, I wasn't that great of a writer five years ago, and I'd say the first four years were learning, and submitting stories to see what worked, and what didn't.

    The last year or so, I've gained confidence and think of myself as a better writer, but it's still hard work. It's lonely work. But hey, it beats drinking.
     
  6. mammamaia

    mammamaia nit-picker-in-chief Contributor

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    a book of personal essays will be very hard to find a paying publisher for, if you're not a well known writer, or famous for something... however, if you intend to self-publish, it doesn't really matter what you write...
     
  7. Youssef Salameh

    Youssef Salameh Senior Member

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    Its important to write in a spontaneous way. It requires the talent and the writing experience and skill which is acquired from thorough reading.
    So, As Winston Churchill once said: " "It's not so important who starts the game but who finishes it. ... "
    Therefore i would like to say that its not a matter of racing each other, but of reaching the destination. It may take ten or twenty years for a writer to finish a novel, which is a very long time, but it may be that nobody have ever written a book in its greatness.
    And i wish you our friends all the best.
     
  8. EdFromNY

    EdFromNY Hope to improve with age Supporter Contributor

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    A lot of factors go into how long it takes to write a novel. Is it a historical novel that requires painstaking research? Or does it deal with technical or scientific details that must be checked, re-checked and checked again?

    And what are the personal circumstances of the author? Is (s)he free to write at will, or do family and career demands intrude? My own writing years have been balanced against raising two children with disabilities, advocating to protect their rights and the rights of all people with disabilities, managing the care of two elderly in-laws and arguing with my own parents to avoid a repeat of that particular performance. I also had a demanding career that I decided to walk away from three years ago (it was like sitting on a red hot radiator and hitting myself in the head with a hammer - it felt so good when I stopped). I don't think my experience has been atypical.

    My answer to the OP is that it takes as much time as it takes, based on everything else in your life. Forget about it and write...when you can.
     
  9. afrodite7

    afrodite7 New Member

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    -I actually started writing my book at age 16.I finished it in a year,but decided not to publish.Two reason,first,being that there was too much happening and I had to break it down.Then I realized that the book sounded like part of a series and not the beginning. So I started another book...which sounded like a sequal .Then I worked on a different series that got lost to viruses.Finally,I settled on this book that I will finish ,its the beginning of everything,no exceptions.Wrote twelve chapters (maybe around two hundred pages ) in sixth months :). I spent a good amount of time on research.It's post cyberpunk/urban fantasy and I needed to research physics,scientific theories and myths as well as future technology,military tech ,etc.I also wrote a LOT of notes,pages and pages worth of plots,back stories and the setting to keep consistency. Btw, I'm 20,so that's how long that took.

    -It was so hard to sort through
     

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