How Long Does It Take To Write A Novel?

An interesting question, and one which creates a fair amount of debate.

The answer? As long as it takes.

Voices is one of my major works. The original draft was 120,000 words. I wrote it in just 33 days. The Handshaker is another one of those “big” works. Originally conceived in 1995 as a TV series, it was 2011 before it finally saw the light of day as a novel, and I guess it took me five or six years before I was happy with it. By contrast, the original, 60,000-word draft of the sequel, The Deep Secret, took exactly one week.

Why the disparity?

Much depends on your situation. If you have a full time job, there will be only so many hours a day you can devote to your novel. When I wrote Voices, I was off work with a broken ankle. I now write full time, and the writing The Deep Secret was part of an internet challenge to “write a novel in a week.”

But boredom is another factor. The Handshaker took so long precisely because I’d been working on it so long and I had begun to lose interest in the project.

The STAC Mysteries, those titles for which I’m best known, are fairly short and light, easy reads. I tend to write the first draft in about a month, but that’s not as clear cut as it might sound. In fact, I think about the plot for many weeks, sometimes months, and by the time I begin writing, I know exactly what will happen where and how.

I’m not alone in this ability to work quickly. Georges Simenon, creator of Maigret, was reputed to write the novels in about two weeks, and there are many other authors who have written full-length books in as little as a week.

Closer to home, good friend and fellow Crooked Cat author, Catriona King, is releasing her sixth DCI Craig novel, The Slowest Cut, today.

Another friend and Crooked Cat author, Nik Morton, has a book on sale entitled Write A Western in 30 Days. Much of the advice in this book is valid for any genre

Let’s not forget, when I talk about “writing” a novel, I don’t mean having it ready for publication. Just because you’ve typed “The End” doesn’t mean it’s finished. Voices may have been written in a month, but it took the better part of two years to bring it up to publishable standards. The Deep Secret was written in a single week in 2012, but it was October, 2013 before it saw the light of day.

And just to turn this proposition on its head, if you’re happy to spend two years putting together a first draft, who am I to say you’re doing it wrong?

In answer to the question how long does it take to write a novel, I repeat: as long as it takes.

***I regret I can’t open this blog for comments yet. When the lazy spammers decide to do business properly, I’ll re-open them. But then, Santa’s due on Christmas Eve, isn’t he?