Your Current Project

Discussion in 'General Writing' started by pieceofmikey, Dec 19, 2008.

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  1. Night Herald

    Night Herald The Fool Contributor

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    I have several projects that might qualify as "current", but I'm going to choose the novel that is a) nearest to completion and b) receiving the most attention.

    I wrote the short story that later became the first chapter back in May of 2017, so technically I've been working on mine for about two years as well. In September I wrote a sequel to that story, but it was only in late November that I decided to turn it all into a novel. I've written about 130k words so far, and it's still not all that near to completion. It will be divided into two books at least, probably three.

    I don't really think two years is very long to work on a book. Unlike you, I can't really blame my slow progress on time constraints (don't get me wrong: I do, but I shouldn't). Fact is, I'm just lazy, distractible, and fickle. Plus, I'm still learning how to write a novel. It will be my first, but I don't mean for it to be my last. Like yours, mine is a labour of love. I'm willing to put in the time to make it as good as I can. If it takes me two more years, or three, or five, so be it.
     
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  2. Philliggi

    Philliggi Member

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    Mines currently sat about the 70,000 word mark, but I've probably written double that, and then some.
    I've chopped and changed it that much, even at one point deleting 30,000 words at once because I just knew it wasn't working.
     
  3. Laurin Kelly

    Laurin Kelly Contributor Contributor

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    My 3rd book that is about to come out in a couple of weeks took me well over 3 years to finish. I stalled out at 80K words over a year in, abandoned it for about a year and a half, then picked up and wrote the last handful of chapters over the course of another year. It's definitely the longest I've had anything in progress - my first two books only took a year or so each, and my short story for an anthology was under two months if I recall correctly.
     
  4. Night Herald

    Night Herald The Fool Contributor

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    Same here, man. Lots of rubbish left by the wayside, and surely there are more purges to come. All part of the process. You've gotta kill your darlings.
     
  5. Cephus

    Cephus Contributor Contributor

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    I can tell you exactly. I started April 12. I'm currently at 78k words. Will be done with the first draft by the end of next week. It's only taken this long because I've been extremely busy with other things and had to take a week off.
     
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  6. cosmic lights

    cosmic lights Contributor Contributor

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    This is by far the hardest novel I've ever written. I used to write psychology thriller and crime but after a while I got bored and wanted to try a new Genre - I was thinking Horror. My travels on line for an idea lead me into History (you know how youtube can be) and I watched a documentary on an old Historical event, that triggered an idea, which then spread easily. The trouble was it only really fit in Fantasy and young adult. I had never read a Fantasy book or can honestly say I enjoyed a lot of Fantasy films - it just wasn't my thing. I found reading Fantasy a slog and soon gave up. Life stuff happened so for a year I did no writing.

    Then, two years ago, I came back to it a little more determined because in two years the idea didn't go away and I have no desire to write anything other than this story for some reason. I like it. There's something good in it I just need to figure it out. And I'm still in the planning phase because I keep hitting brick walls. Fantasy is interesting because it has this wonderful limitless feel that none of the other genres seem to have, but that limitless also creates a limbo because you could literally do just about anything. And that sense of 'no boundaries' means there is often hundreds of options that would be there in any other genre.
     
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  7. WingedClover

    WingedClover Member

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    Today I spent 3 hours on completing a chapter and i've been really neglectful the past week or so.
     
  8. Alan Aspie

    Alan Aspie Banned Contributor

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    I posted my previous work today.

    The manuscript (SFD + 4 editing rounds) + treatment + synopsis took about 82 writing days. (Story = 270 pages, 80 marks on line, 25 lines per page. Treatment + synopsis 19 pages.)

    I wrote also 145 pages of background material to that story. It has been mainly written while working with SFD.

    There was about 6 month distraction time in the middle of that project. In that time I wrote mainly something else just to keep up momentums.

    Today I have started working with background material and research of my next project.
     
  9. Lifeline

    Lifeline South. Supporter Contributor

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    Not blaming or feeling sorry for anything, but I started Feb 2016. I've probably been writing in the vicinity of 400k, of which about 10k can stay. And I've been taking loads and loads of story- and research-notes. In 3+ years I've been not-writing maybe ninety days in all. The number of days when I didn't plot or research? Zero. Pretty good record, even if the output doesn't match the effort in the slightest—so far.
     
    Last edited: May 24, 2019
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  10. Vrisnem

    Vrisnem Member

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    Six years and counting.
     
  11. Nariac

    Nariac Contributor Contributor

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    Seven years.
     
  12. ECgirl19

    ECgirl19 New Member

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    I first wrote the idea of my book, around 5 years ago. It was very basic but I knew where I wanted the story to go. I left it there put it to the back of my life, brining it out on the odd occasion until two weeks ago. I don't know why out of the blue I went back to it but for two weeks, it has virtually taken over my life, I live off brews, can't be bothered to eat in general because I need to get it all down. Nearly every waking hour I'm on it. It now has around 70,000 words. This is what I want for my first book because it will be a series. As daft as it sounds, I'm 20,000 words into my second book, the structure is all there. I had a beta reader read my book days ago and have changed thousands of words, taking lots out including characters and put an awful lot more in. I love it even more now I have been stirred in the right direction and see the book more clearly. I have the ideas and know what I want it all comes easily to me but actually writing it properly is the hard part. For example, I have struggled so much with the first person and third person side of writing. Very hard.
     
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  13. deadrats

    deadrats Contributor Contributor

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    Ideas come easy. Followthrough is hard. And it is the followthrough that counts. I like my novel, but I'm not rushing it. I probably started it two years back, but my main focus remains with shorter works. I was in the habit of working on my novel every Sunday. That helped the story progress as I would spend pretty much all day on it. I wrote a novel before. It was never published and I hostly didn't try too hard to find a publisher. A practice novel can be a good thing just to move to yourself that you can do it. Write a whole book and see it through to completion. That one I worked on every day. I had it done in five months and then took another month to edit and revise, though, I did do a lot of editing along the way. I would like to think I'm a much better writer now and working with a better story. I take long breaks away from it, but that's because I'm finally selling short fiction, and short fiction is my first love. Every summer I think I'll be done by the end of summer. I'm in that mindset again so we'll see what happens. I've come too far to just drop it. Again, I've done quite a bit of editing along the way. This one is a little harder because it's somewhat of a mystery and I haven't planned it out. I would like to think if I can hold my own interest, the same will be true for readers. I want to get this one right to land a publishing deal. And though I wish I was faster, it's a good story (in my opinion), and that's what really matters. I think I'll get there. I don't really care how long it takes because I've been making progress and having some success on the shorter things. Writing is writing. Publishing is publishing. A novel is a great accomplishment. I've got a RL friend who has been working on the same novel for ten years. It's an amazing story and she does have an agent already, but has pulled it a few times to make major rewrites. She has also been awarded several grants for this novel along the way. I haven't been so lucky with grants, but I've also struggled to meet the deadlines for many of them. I'm more focused on the grants than jumping into the search for an agent or publisher. I also follow publishing news so I have some sort of idea on what sort of stories get big advances which does shape my writing somewhat. I can say I wish it was done already, but I've got a good chuck down. Maybe this will be the summer I actually finish. And before seeking publishers I will be trying for grants. I know a lot more about writing and publishing than I did with my first (practice) novel. I'll get there. There is a different sort of endgame we're after than it is a race. I'll try to be faster next time I go through this process. This time I just want to get it right. Or maybe it's just another practice novel. I believe we write what we're supposed to write at the right time. I trust myself more and I trust the process more.
     
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  14. peachalulu

    peachalulu Member Reviewer Contributor

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    Two years, I think. I finished the first draft in September and have been working through winter trying to cut back the unnecessary scenes. (I had enough for three books - :rolleyes: I don't think I'm ever going to allow myself to lose sight of my page count like that again.) That was excruciating and long. When I was finally done I realized I could not even get started on the second draft until I made further hard cuts so for a few months I worked out what would be allowed on every page. That was tough. I didn't just kill my darlings it was all out bloodbath.

    I've just finished a couple weeks ago and got my behemoth down to a possible 450 pages and have since started my second draft. I'm already on Chapter three. So it's a long haul but it's satisfying.
     
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  15. xanadu

    xanadu Contributor Contributor

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    I currently have two main projects in the works.

    First is a "finished" novel that is undergoing editing and prep to get it ready for querying. That one I started in May of 2017, but I really picked it up again in about March 2018. Finished the first draft at the end of September that year and have been editing and letting others read it since then.

    Additionally, I have another novel in the works that I started around December of last year. I'm currently at about 56k, looking to get a first draft done by the end of the summer.
     
  16. Zombie Among Us

    Zombie Among Us Active Member

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    I started my current project on April 24th, 2018. Aiming to finish the first draft by May 2020. About 28,400/50,000 words in!
     
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  17. Gary Wed

    Gary Wed Active Member

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    I think my first eight or so novels took about a year each. None of them were salvaged. After those, I typically spent a year per book, but edited for the next couple extra years after that, each. Now I make it a point to shoot for two novels a year (roughly 100,000 words each), and I take my time editing, but I could probably push the edits through at about two or three months, each (have done that a couple times for publishers). The novels are always publishable, now, requiring far less editing and the plots tend to still be creative, so I'm pretty happy with how they roll out.
     
  18. SethLoki

    SethLoki Retired Autodidact Contributor

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    I'm channelling.
    -----------------------------

    "It took me five years to write it," said delusional John.
    "I call BS," said conscience Tom.
    "Started May '14, completed May '19," verballed and nodded a knowing, self-justifying, quizzical John. He tapped the bottom of his fist on to his 70,000 worder, ring-bound, second draft.
    "Look," said a stern and more knowing Tom, "five years have passed from those May to Mays, maybe, but boil it down ... down to powder and you'll find those little leftover grains'll snitch on you, for each apiece you'll discover; you slept, you dreamt, you woke groggy, you cleaned, you clothed and unclothed yourself, you drank, you ate—you pooed—you peed, picked the kids up from school and took 'em there again... You were poorly, you played out, you played away. You put things off till tomorrow. And what of those times you were at your desk eh? That desk that belonged to Poe that you spent thirty grand, as a spur, on? Sat on a swivel chair, procrastinating to degrees I'd say—that'd cover a large part of the compass—those years you claim ... you were quite often acceding to the great bait of our time, and its taboosishly sweet distractions: The Internet, ha, with it's sticky click here lures to dodgy wares and dare I say ... sticky outcomes there and there." Tommy conscience pointed to keys and places on the keyboard where a black light'd light up like 90s Baghdad. "Yeah, the true time you've spent would/could be summed justly ... a couple of weeks ... and that's counting your research."

    -----------------------------

    And inhale. Seriously, most of us here don't realise how effective we could be with focus. Self-discipline. Even being overtaken by snails at a super-refined 100 words an hour; an 8 hour day 48 week year would yield one three decent novels. (not checked the maths)

    Bayview and ^ Gary up there appear atypically prolific. I'm envious.
     
    Last edited: Jun 18, 2019
  19. The Bishop

    The Bishop Senior Member

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    I've been working on mine, including rewrites and complete plot changes for two and a half years. I'm not sure if that's really long or too quick, or does it even matter? I don't care, as long as it eventually gets done.
     
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  20. EstherMayRose

    EstherMayRose Gay Souffle Contributor

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    I realised today to my horror that it was my first WIP's fifth birthday on Saturday. It would have been nice to have marked the day somehow. I started my second WIP a few months later, and I'm almost ready to start the first draft of my third after two years of doing notes (which I don't normally do). I've also been writing a fanfic for about three years, which although it doesn't really count, does take up time. I've not really been very productive, and I scarcely wrote at all during my Sixth Form years. I have no idea how much I've produced on any of them. Certainly not as much as you lot. They're nowhere near completion, even the five-year-olds.
     
  21. Necronox

    Necronox Contributor Contributor

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    I've got two projects, both are set in the same world. The world itself that these stories are set in is.... whoaw. well over a decade old now (I started it when I was 15-ish... and now I feel old...). The older of the two projects is about 5-ish years, but i've been working only up to 5-ish hours per week on it (and sometimes not at all). The second project is a sequal to the first, and that's just a couple weeks old (still at the spitballing idea stage).

    Am I ever going to publish? Who knows. Probably not and that really doesn't bother me. I am writing simply because I like doing it and for no other reason. I don't think i'm particularly good at it either. But meh, if one day I can publish it then why not?
     
  22. Oscar Leigh

    Oscar Leigh Contributor Contributor

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    About a year.
     
  23. Cass Parker

    Cass Parker New Member

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    About a year. If you consider the entire series then that would be about four years.
     
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  24. Jon7z

    Jon7z Member

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    10 months and 120,000 words and about 2/3rds of the way through the story.

    I had hoped to finish within 1 year but that won't happen. I expect editing will add an extra 6-12 months once I finish. When I dare to look back at what I have written, it frightens me to see the amount of polish it will need. Hand me the buffing cloth!
     
  25. Selbbin

    Selbbin The Moderating Cat Staff Contributor Contest Winner 2023

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    10 years, on and off, with a lot of that time spent in the drawer. It's been 'finished' for at least six but has been improved dramatically.

    Edit: Actually I think it's about 11 now.

    My favorite script was knocked out in about two weeks, so pretty happy about that. Others take a few months.
     

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