I've been writing my book for over a year now. It started as just a fun thing to do because I had just figured out about Wattpad. But then I turned out to really love my story and saw potential in it. But yeah, a year :3
Started thinking about TNT in 2003, and TC in 2006. Started tapping them out in late-late 2015? Not sure.
Around 25 years. I’d say that over these years that I probably didn’t put much thought into the project for around 5 of those years scattered here and there. When I say ‘project’ I am talking about a world building, personal mythos kind of thing. I’ve tried to express it through various mediums with the novel being the original intent. Most of what I have is in my head rather than sketched on paper or writing in words.
I finished my Labour of Love about half a year ago. How long did it take me? 12 years. Yes, TWELVE YEARS. My word am I glad it's over lol. As for the one I'm still brewing in my head? I don't consider it to have been started yet, so not very long lol. Hopefully it will not take another 12 years My only other novel, a for-fun collab, took 5 weeks. 110k words. It was amazing fun. But the real novel? The 12-year-long one.
And I thought I was bad. I first came up with the idea for my story in Dec 2003. I also let it sit for years at a time, occasionally scribbling down a few notes here and there, until inspiration hit in 2015 and I really started working on it. Then my single novel ballooned into an entire series (tentatively six books, of which the original novel is now numbers 4-6), and I'm still working on the plot for the first book.
I've got quite a few things going at the same time. Finishing even shorter works helps me know that there is an end in sight for everything. Sometimes things come out quickly and sometimes they can feel like they are taking forever regardless of the length. I feel like overall I'm progressing. So, I'm trying not to watch the clock or think. about how much time everything takes. It can be a real downer to feel like something is taking longer than it should. The finished product is all that matters. No one is going to care how long it takes you to get there.
I try not to be impatient, because I know that in terms of writing skill, I'm not quite where I want to be. I'm getting closer, though. I could just write everything down, but the 'magic' would be gone, the feeling of writing down something extraordinary. I need to know that I'm writing something worthwhile and if my skill isn't up to the task it won't be. Does that make sense? I will be so relieved when the current short is finished. I'm getting there, cutting stuff, editing because my skill just jumped another notch—or maybe I only learned to pay even more attention to detail. I want to finish something. I want to know that I can write this thing even though I know nothing and don't have the proper contacts and am out of everyone's way with no one knowing how desperate I sometimes am to get validation or to know that it's not only overactive imagination or a too-excitable gut. Writing by myself in my closet is hard, sometimes.
I know what you mean. Feel pretty much the same as everything you just said. That must be why we are best friends. Contacts mean very little if anything. Still. I want them. And validation is so short lived, though, I deeply crave it.
Well, to be fair it is my life, my personal mythos. I have not really sat down and dedicated time to writing ‘a novel’ yet. If things go roughly to plan, starting next year, I’ll have a couple of novels completed by 2022. If I took a week or two off work I could write the first draft of a novel in that time quite easily - it isn’t a matter of confidence in my work rate, just waiting for the right moment
My latest novel has taken me since the beginning of the year - it was an idea for about a year and a half before that, but as with everything wasn't fully developed until I started writing. I finished the first draft at the end of April, finished editing towards a second draft yesterday. It's now out for beta reading and I hope to have a final draft by the end of summer. Meanwhile I've started a new project, and I'm six chapters in in three weeks. I hope to get that to a similar sort of level by christmas. Who knows!
Both. Moving countries and going to university full-time. Possible I’ll have to delay a year, but not likely! Cannot wait for the change tbh
Well let's hope you don't (delay). I've kicked a thing or two a year down the road and rued it. Decisiveness gifts you time (greatest currency). Good luck to ya @badgerjelly .
I'm all over the place right now.... my MAIN WIP i started 6 years back in the beginning of undergrad. Since then, its kind of expanded into multiple stories (all over 100 pages in counting) taking place in the same world, sometimes the same characters, different adventures. Ive even begun a collection of shorter stories about those characters that dont fit into the plot of the main story line, but are sort of snapshots of their lives (example: one character that crops up in "book 2" is cold and reserve, but deep down he's caring. In the day time, he's the son of the antagonist and everyone is afraid of him, but at night, he helps the poor, and organizes the escape of the oppressed. anyway, in the short story i wrote about him, he's an easily excitable child, curious and social. His tutor takes him to a park one day and he makes a best friend and they spend the day together, but when its time to go back, his father is there, gets rid of the tutor, and locks him away inside the house. it ends with him saying "that was my first and last best friend".... so that kinda explains why he is the way he is when he's an adult). I work on them on and off. my side project, started out as a 1 page short story i wrote toward the end of high school. i reread it a few months ago, and now i've expanded it by about 25 pages. Its nearing the end, i believe. I know how its going to end, but its finding time to finish it (among everything else...). I've recently put another story onhold. I think the outlining process frustrated me so i'm taking a hiatus from it.
Really, the longer you do this, the faster you get. It used to take me at least a year per book. I'm about to officially start on the fourth book I've done this year alone on Monday. Theoretically, I've written about 1k in the first chapter already, but I was still plotting so I didn't count it. I should finish 6-7 in 2019 if things keep going to plan.
My WIP is an urban fantasy drama of the 'hidden world' type, like, say, Angel. I've been writing it for about 10 months, and thinking about/writing notes for it for over two years now. I'm currently at 49,000 words with 10 Chapters. I'm thinking the finished product is going to sit somewhere around 160-something thousand words so I'm about 30% of the way through. Then I might write a sequel (I HAVE TOO MANY IDEAS H E L P)
I am starting a re-write of book 1(Ghost of the Abyss) in a trilogy(The Shattering). First draft was 90K words. Will require some major revisions as I made some major changes to the background history and to one of the characters. The setting is a couple hundred years in the future, with a 50 yr skip from book 1 to book 2. The basis of the story is that roughly 13 Million years ago, a precursor race had to split their world in 2 in order to prevent complete extinction when a creation went out of control, . Since the creation fed on magic, the one world they imprisoned it on, ours, did not have magic. As time went on, the races on each world evolved and the 2nd worlders found a way to access ours roughly 6K yrs ago and as they had evolved more quickly(due to the magic), they were viewed as gods. They know about the precursor race but only knew they died out suddenly, not that they split themselves) had realized that humans had similar genetics, so were trying genetic manipulation in order to improve their breeding rate as they were dying out(the precursors spell had been rushed so each copy was not perfect). At the current setting, their experiments are starting to bear fruit and 2 separate factions control the 2 main human empires. The main character is a resistance commander who gets caught in the middle, and the 2nd main is one of their first successful experiments from 2K years ago. The book ends shortly after one of the factions tries to undo the precursors spell and forcible recombine the human and 2nd worlders. Book 2 and 3 deal with the repercussions of this.
I refer to any writing I manage under the title of my little writing habit. I do this as I realise I am not at all good enough to call myself a writer just now. Of course I wish I were, and I desperately want to be...but I am struggling. This morning I actually posted a very small portion of a project I have on the go, its a new in its creation. I've posted it in the crime and thriller workshop and despite it being currently very short, I hope to gain direction from those willing to provide their wisdom through critiquing.
I'm working on a novel right now, the first of many in a certain story-line. I've gotten the 1st book completely outlined, and am now just filling it in from start to finish, though because I'm having trouble with character development scenes, I've been on here asking questions and trying to find help. The entire first book is mainly background and character development because 2nd book is going to be when everything starts to go crazy. Though my 1st book is already full of excitement and plot. I like thinking of book 1 as the roots, while book 2 is the actual seed that my stories will spring from.
I've been writing a big technical manual for the past two years. It's a pen and paper RPG that simulates life on Pluto, using real data and a realistic (dark, pessimistic) timeline. A game that is Not Fun by Design (TM), but is compelling. The rules are merciless but fair, as the GM is encouraged to be.
I like RPG's like that. Not the exact same, but I'm playing Terra Genesis on my mobile. It's a game that allows me to terraform Mars. Not fun by design, but interesting to play none the less. Almost drowned my planet when I first started. I have to regulate a lot of things. Doing well so far now, though I'm having a hard time stabilizing the temperature and water. Pressure is perfect right now though. Might need to better my water increasing.
