Novel How long does it take you (on average) to write a book?

It takes between fourteen and twenty one days to write the rough draft, for me. That's between 100,000 and 125,000 words. Then comes the less fun but more rewarding part! Editing :-( That takes as many times as is necessary to get it ready for someone to read it. Generally in the neighborhood of three months.

 

I suppose it also helps on your experience. I am a purely new writer (to big projects like books at least), so it will take me longer but experienced writers obviously can lay out a book in a few months.

 

Usually I can complete a first draft in about 2 months. I spend a whole lot more on revision and editing. Up to a year in total.

 

If you did 100 words a day, then in one year you'll have 36,500 words. Just shy of the minimum required words of a novel.

So assuming you did 100 words a day, I wager it'd take a year and a half to finish up a novel. And that's only if you did 100 words a day, not 1,000 or more.

 

That's like five or six Tweets.

 

Don't worry about how long it will take. Just start. It will take forever if you don't start. You'll be done when you are done someday and those days are going to pass, whether you are writing a book during them or not.

If you never start, someday, you will be on your deathbed and you will never have written that book you wanted to write. Your advice to your kids will be what SO MANY old people's advice is. "Don't waste time! Do what you want to do! Achieve your goals, while you can!"

Don't be that guy.

 

I'll make sure to not be that guy.

<goes to write the book he always wanted to write>

 

My Dad has Parkinson's (with dementia). He used to be a genius. Teacher, fighter pilot, airline pilot, father of two. Now he couldn't hope to tie his own shoes. :-( Physically, he is fit as can be. His mental state is a very large part of what drove me to write. Sometimes we don't have as much time as we think.

 

When I am writing stream-of-consciousness diary entries, things can get pretty quick at about 2,000 words per hour.

But even writing a diary entry (which is never edited or revised) can slow down to paces of 1,000 words per hour when you try to remember things.

A fictional story might progress at a rate of perhaps 500 words per hour (if you plan as you go) though I would not be surprised if one fluctuates between 300 and 650 words.

Now, if we are talking about a full project, I say a relaxed (as in, devoted to writing) full-time writer can manage to progress about 3,000 words a day on average.
Writers can certainly do more than that, but since the project is big then they will have to stop to look ahead (plan) and see where the plot of the book is heading.

Now, all of those calculations were made considering the writer is not consciously editing his work for grammatical and spelling errors.

However, revising old chapters might lead to some of them being scrapped or drastically changed, which is why the net progress per day is less than it could be.

Nanowrimo is an excellent example of time constraints.
If a writer is not picky and can quickly improvise, I believe around double or triple the Nanowrimo limit (about three months) should be enough to get into the first draft.

That is, presuming the writer know what the general vision of the story is, and will not pause the project for days to think what the story is about.

Brandon Sanderson is an excellent example of a prolific writer, and so is Isaac Asimov. They're both excellent in that they plan much of the story ahead and so don't get tangled later on.

However, pro writers aside, not everyone is capable of churning a decent, lengthy book every three months. It's time, thought, and energy consuming, and that's if you are a professional.

A beginner writer (one who has written less than half a million words) would be expected to finish a first draft in about six months.

 

If you have a job that allows you to think about your book while you work... holy heck! When the weekend rolls around, you are ready with several new scenes that are lined up and prepared for the paper. In that regard, some people are fortunate. If you are an ER doctor, you don't have hours and hours to let your mind wander. If you are a machine operator or long-haul driver, you have nothing BUT time to think about your book If you are a competitive runner? Entertain yourself with a story that you make up and you can pretty quickly get to a point where you will be dying to write some of this down, because it is getting GOOD!

Try unplugging your television. Don't listen to the radio when you drive. Use that time to fantasize about the story you are writing. What comes first? Where does the scene go after that? How do you want your story to end? How far before the end do you need to start the story?

At the end of your life, you will not remember a single television show you watched. But barring some form of dementia, you will remember every book you ever wrote.

 

I'll be using driving time to pay attention to the road. Fantasizing about my stories isn't worth potentially getting killed in a car wreck.

 

If you can listen to the radio and not crash, you can think and not crash. ;-)

 

Touché , my good man.