I started my current novel about 3 years ago, but it died quickly at about 10 pages. I picked it up over the holidays and I've almost tripled the size in the past few weeks. I would ideally like to have this one finished by the end of the summer and finish my co-written novel by the beginning of 2013. I'm a fast writer when I'm inspired.
I took about 4 years to write about 280,000 words of a story in 2 and a half books. I then took another year to get volume 1 up to submission standard. Based on agents feedback I'm now doing a rewrite, adding a completely new plot thread and incorporating most of the events from book 2 - as you can imagine, this is a lot of editing! I've got a very understanding agent who is happy to let me take as long as I need, but I'm only able to have about 1 chapter ready a month. I work full time and spend 4 hours commuting each day, so my writing time is limited, but I know I need to write faster. I just can't toss off a rough draft though, I have to polish and perfect as I go. I have a ratio of about 1:3 for writing to thinking and window gazing. Is that unusual?
Time, what is this mythical concept you refer to? The current one, a sci fi has, from general inception to near completion of the second draft, taken about a year. And that's quick for me. The first two, a fantasy tale that may gross up to four books has taken about twenty. That's encompassing a lot of rewrites however, and idle durations. My writing technique may also contribute to the longer duration. I tend to write out on notepad for the first two drafts, then transfer to the computer for the final and printing. But when I read back over other stories that I wrote straight out onto the computer, I find a better flow and different writing style. And they were good too, I think with even a little more humor. Holding to a generally accepted 'plan' for writing can be hindering in some fashion. I think on the next one, I'll try a straight out type and see if I can get it done sooner, with a more natural feel.
I feel so slow! I started Project 1 in May and it is only approx 55k. I have a second project (June/July) that is only about 12k and another that I started a couple weeks ago that is almost 2k. But, I do work two jobs and am in school part time, and I suffer from depression. I also have been taking the time to read other novels, and I have found that my writing has improved greatly from reading. My plot for project 1 is REALLY complicated and I have many characters (it is a fantasy novel), so it is going to take longer. My goal is to have the first draft finished by December 2012.
I am on track to finish my current novel in about 8 months total. But it should be noted that I wrote a novel with the same basic premise, same basic setting, and same basic story about 5 years ago. I wasn't happy with how that one turned out, and this book is a second run from a new perspective and a main character who has been living in the back of my mind for about 5 years. This book is also placed in a setting which requires very little research or "world building," and the novel will weigh in on the light side in word count, probably about 50K words when all is said and done. As to words per day, my pace has varied wildly. Early on, when I was laying the various plot threads and essentially following my MC around with a camera, it went pretty quickly. But now that I am pulling all those plots threads back together for the build-up to the climax, and since I am now jumping from setting to setting as those plot threads converge for the climax, the pace of my writing is much, much slower. There are simply too many variables to give a meaningful answer to the question you have asked.
Some of you people make me look pathetic. My productivity in writing varies. I have a wife, baby, and live on my family's farm. You'd think living on a farm would be quiet, and you'd be right but when you do hear something outside at night you have to check it out with a gun.
It took me 7 months (Oct to May) to write 127,208 words (first draft) then another 2 months to rewrite it up to 156,889 words. Average chapter length was around 3400 words with the longest chapter maxing out to 6826 and the shortest 1184. I have some questions about this and will find the appropriate forum/thread to post them in. But my writing style was basically off the top of my head. No real planned out plot per 'se, just wrote out as it flowed from my mind and to the keyboard... kinda like what I'm doing right now. Originally my story intended to be as a "short-story" to be posted on another forum/fan-site as fan-fiction, but it expanded to this "epic" that resides on my hard-drive (and a USB flash-drive for safe keeping). I could write an entire chapter in a hour or two then break for a few days and write another. Some chapters took as long as a week, due to life's realities rearing their ugly heads and interrupting the creative process as it was happening. My "finished" but unedited novel is the first I've managed to complete. I'm just shocked at how big it got.
For me it's depending on the place I am in in my life. It is all about motivation, if I am busy with other things or just don't feel motivated enough it can take me years to get a story finished. I have written some though and it's literally zoomed by, so fast. I guess good drive and a clear vision for story really helps to write fast. Also everything has to feel 'right' in order to get in the zone of getting something finished. I have to be really connected and motivated by the work I am doing. I spend alot of time thinking and trying to edit other stories so that can stall getting a single story done.
I completed a 90k novel in 38 days, which is resting as I edit the first one. A third is already starting to percolate in the old noggin' right now. I try to shoot for 3k a day, and sometimes get 5-6k done in a very productive day, so it's all relative.
I'm still working on my first novel, so I don't know, but my current project - it took me 3 months to plan, 6 months to write, another 2 months to rewrite and make it all coherent, adding and deleting chapter. So far it's taken just over 1 month to edit half of my MS for the first time, but I'm waiting on my editor to send stuff before I embark on each section of my MS so the speed is slower than it would be if I did it myself. I'm hoping it will take maybe 1-2 months before I can say "I've finished!" but with these things, you never know. I always give myself a rough estimate of a deadline or when I hope to achieve certain things - it's not set in stone but it gives me something to aim for and ensures fast progress. All in all, the time it took to get a first draft, including planning: 11 months. First draft without planning: 9 months (67k words) Rough draft: 6 months (80k words)
What percentage of your working time was this? Were you working full time on the book? Did you have a day job?
How do you define "novel"? There's a huge difference between a quick little action fantasy any pulp hack can churn out in a couple of weeks, and a long, dense, philosophically deep tome even a powerful artist will labor on for years. Recently I've been reading a fair amount of heavy literary fiction (John Gardner's Mickelsson's Ghosts, for instance), and I just read a couple of Alistair MacLean thrillers to rest my brain and give myself some variety. The difference in apparent effort on the part of the authors is amazing. I bet Gardner sweated for years to write his novel, and MacLean hacked his stuff out before breakfast. So there's no really fair answer to "how long does it take you to write a book?" It depends not only on how fast you write, but on what kind of book you're writing.
I set aside the hours between 10pm and 130am or 2am for writing because I can shut the cat's out of the Florida room, plug in the earbuds and write. There are no distractions then, so I can do that. I've already rewritten, and revised the first 5 chapters of my first novel, and doing 2-3k a day even rewriting and revising. It's like any other job, you've got to have a disciplined schedule, which I'm sure I'll get flamed for saying, oh well, but it's critical to success is hard work, discipline, and stubbornness to hang in there.
Let's see, I was 8 when I started, i'm almost 50 and I'm still writing it - I'll have to get back to you.
I am currently writing my first novel and have managed 25k words in about 2 weeks. To be fair, I graduated from college in May and haven't had any luck finding a permanent job (now I'm working only seasonal part-time) so I'm able to write for about 6+ hours per day. Once I'm finished, I'm planning to go back through and edit the entire thing (not re-write, unless it's necessary.) I'm shooting for this novel to be anywhere from 70-85k, wherever I feel comfortable stopping. Something I've found that helps me is setting goals: big and small goals in terms of where you want to be. I set the big goal of finishing my first novel by 12/31/12 at 11:59pm (which is looking doable if I remain on the same path.) Along the way I'm making other smaller goals, such as just write SOMETHING every day, and to write at least 5k words per week (I've been writing way more, obviously!). This system is working pretty well for me, and I don't feel like I'm going to lose steam (which has happened with some other projects, I get really burnt out if I push myself to write tons in a short amount of time.)
My first novel was written between April 2006 and August 2006, almost exactly four months to the day, and it was 90k when I finished it, and 100k after I rewrote it a few years later. My second novel (direct sequel) was written between, I believe, August 2006 and July 2007, and that was 160k when I finished it--however several months during that period were dry, and I ended up writing the last 130k during the final three months. My third novel was written between July (or maybe August) 2007 and December 2009 and it hit 100k--the last 50k of it was written in two weeks during the end of November/beginning of December. My latest novel was written between April 2011 and July 2012, and I think it was around 90k (I deleted the last 15k or so as soon as I finished it).
