On Writing question

It depends on the individual. Does that person write for a living or have no other job than to write per hours needed or does the person have a career, family & other things going on in life? That is a large part of how long it takes.

The lesson is not how long but who is qualified for actually getting a book published. NOT MANY. Most want to write yet most can't. Anyone can write a book but very few can write one that gets published then actually sells. We are talking about a tiny handful of people. They have harsh competition or I should say we do since I do this full time.

Most of us are not making fortunes writing. Only a tiny % of writers do that so out of 300 million people; there are a few dozen who do well then a few hundred that earn a great living then a few thousand who make a little money so chances of wining 500k on lottery are higher unfortunately.

Those who want to be writers must be realistic like actors. How many get parts in films to make living? How many become Stars? How many want to vs those who do?

Bad news out of way if you're a really good writer then don't let anything stop you. Never take no for an answer. Learn from things but keep on trying & pushing forward if you know for sure you're good at what you do.

As a children's book author, so far my experience has been like a 1-2 months.

The process involves getting the idea, writing, sending it to my editor to make the manuscript readable, sending my illustrator detailed instructions for each image in the book, putting it all together and getting it published.

I am not writing anymore, but when I was writing, it was hard to stop once I got rolling with an idea. I churned out a short YA (60K words) in a week once, but I was typing 12-16 hrs a day during that time.
On average, it took me about a 1-2 months to write a first draft, and a year to do all the rewrites, edits, revisions, etc.

I wrote my first novel in about 6 months - then another 6 months went to editing, formatting, cover and other things that keep you away from actually writing :)

From when I first conceived the idea for my first book to when it was released took about five years. Not all of that was just writing of course, a lot of it was figuring out how to do it. Now, it's been a year and half now and I am nearly done the last of my re-writes for my second book, which is a sequel to the first. Finding the time is the biggest thing for me (times like now, with my wife at work and son napping are quite rare.). I faced rejections with a few agents but never went to traditional publishers. I decided to go the self-publishing route.

It depends on the book for me. With some stories the words just flow. When they do I can get one written in 6 months. But, I'm a terrible procrastinator so I tend to waste a lot of time. Maybe one day I'll develop better habits, a schedule.

I agree with you, Anne, that writing the rough draft does not take much time. It's the re-write that takes the most work for me, too.

Sounds like Jason has a good plan to keep the words flowing. I'm taking the month off from writing to go to Europe next week, but I'll be making notes I'm sure.

It takes me about 6-9 months from first idea/planning stages to publication. I don't have a day job, so I spend a solid six hours a day on it. Actually writing the rough draft takes no time, but I always start with notes and an outline (which take considerably longer than the rough draft) and then the revision process is a killer...I do it all myself, and hold my breath with the beta readers, but it's my job, and I take it seriously. I do write shorter fiction: one's novella length, and the longest is 80,000 words. They're contemporary romance though, so they don't require too terribly twisty plots.

I couldn't agree with you more, Tammy! The manuscript I'm working on now is from one I finished in 2004. Now that I'm a believer in self-publishing I'm working on it again and this is my third re-write. Very satisfying as my writing has gotten much better over the years, but I'll be sighing relief when I reach THE END.

I'm nearly finished with a novel that I've been working on for about 14 months. I spent many years working on dozens of stories, most unfinished. Nothing easy about this business, but it sure does feel good when you finally write the end.

If you can get a book done in 1 to 2 months I take my hat off to you. Mine certainly take longer.

I'm all over the place on this one. The first two volumes of Stagehands took five years. The third one is still unfinished after ten. Fairies took a year and a half. Swamp Witch took three months of frenetic typing during a slow period at work. Solomon Family Warriors took about six years interspersed with other projects. Heron Baby Island took two years. Citrus Sanctuary took one, Murder As An Element of Competitive Business Strategy took almost a year. I have two that I started over a year ago that are still not finished. One of these has fewer than ten pages written and I don't particularly like those.

So, the answer for me is that there is no answer.

I write books, magazine articles, and contribute to compilations like Miracles and Moments of Grace. My story, "Mosie's Mom" for this book, was so urgent with me that it took only one day to write; then I put it to bed and reread/edited it the next day and emailed it off to the publisher.

Writing a book depends on my schedule and if I've a contract. At present my work in progress (WIP) has one chapter out of 12 written.

Someone said June is a good time to release a book. Typically Spring or Winter are the times major houses release new titles.

My first book took me around three to four years of writing, on and off, with large gaps where I was too busy to write anything. Editing was a few months, and then self-publishing a couple of weeks.

I am determined to finish my WIP in three or so months, as Stephen King suggests, but I imagine the revisions will take a while longer. I would be disappointed if I didn't have a workable draft by the end of the year.

Congrats on the progress of your new book, Judy. Your timeframe is about same as mine. I'm revising my 3rd book now and finally got my notes organized. Add the editing, book cover design, reviews and blurbs. I'm looking at maybe 1-1/2 years.

Years - and more. So far. I am horrible. I'm part way through a dozen books and am trying now to stay focused and actually finish one.

remarks about stuff I see above -

"some self published authors say it doesn't take that long to edit" ... I couldn't help but draw the conclusion that more editing might lead to a more satisfactory conclusion than self publishing. Not judging, just thinking out loud here.

"I can write a 30 -40,000 word book in two-three weeks" ... that's not even close to being novel length. NANOWRIMO is a 50,000 word commitment, and that's about bare bones, almost needs to be published as art a two part book or something length. BUT, arguing against my own point, if you tell a good story in 20,000 words, publishing electronically sort of takes the "teeny little book" stigma off shorter novels. IMHO

"The one I finished last year in November had about 177,000 words." ... Bravo. now that's what a book looks like! Though how you did it in a month boggles my mind.

I don't plan on publishing anything so I never edited. I usually only write during Nanowrimo or similar writing events and so far managed to finish 4 novels in a month. The one I finished last year in november had about 177,000 words.
(Of course you know the first draft of a story is far from perfect.)

I like planning these things before writing them, so my paper notebook is full of plots or even planned out stuff. Some stuff I plan so good that they are short scene descriptions. When it comes to the first draft I guess it really depends on how you prefer to do things.

I can write a 30 -40,000 word book in two-three weeks (working 8 hour days) but as others have pointed out, the editing takes far longer!

It took me about a year to write the first one. I was so obsessed with editing, I'm sure I took longer than I needed to. By the second book, I was much more confident in my approach and didn't self-edit the book to death. It took about 6 months.

Great info shared! We all have common passion for writing. I probably could have released my latest book in 2 years, but my publisher had contracts with other authors, too, so we all most likely will come across that as well.

Keep on writing and sharing!

David

Just came across this bit from an interview with Neal Pollack (it's Pollack speaking):

This a quote from A.J. Liebling that says, “I can write better than anybody who can write faster and I can write faster than anybody who can write better.” So I want to try and apply that math to my own life.

That's pretty much my goal, too.

That said, I think the fastest I've ever written a book -- from first notes to publication ready -- is probably about 2 years, not counting breaks.

That's working a day job.

My current working theory is that one reason it takes so long is that I don't invest enough up front in planning.

It's a lot more time-consuming to revise a book to fix fundamental issues (e.g. poor plotting, unrealized character motivation) than to fix surface issues.

So as I look to my next novel, I'm going to work more of it out in advance, before I really start committing anything to "paper," and see if that helps me push through the process a bit more efficiently.

http://www.avclub.com/articles/neal-p...

It takes about a two years. I have a day job too, that leaves me exhausted. Writing's the easy part, getting published is the killer.

I am working on a novel that I am projecting will take about 9 months. There was a two month halt in the middle though. Nothing was written in this period at all. I'm now at the halfway point. The final book should be around 75 or 80 thousand words and I'm not counting time for an editor, cover artist, or revisions. That being said, if I can produce one book a year that others enjoy reading, I will be happy.

I'll embark on writing my first novella next semester (an expansion of a short story I wrote this semester). I've set my goal over the semester break at minimum of 500 words per day at about 5 days a week. In my experience, sometimes 500 words can feel like 500,000 words and sometimes it feels like 5. However, after I'm finished writing for the day, I'll start the next day with a re-read of what I wrote the previous day and do some editing. This way I'm constantly reminded where I'm picking up. Sometimes this revising gets a little out of hand. I don't even necessarily write "the next paragraph" or chapter, I'll write another 500 words sometimes in the middle of the piece I wrote the day before. Just depends what ideas I get. And how much of them I get. I'm the kind of person that'll spend MUCH MORE time thinking about what I'm going to write rather than actually typing or writing. Also, I like to write long-hand in notebooks, then type-revise at a later time. As you can see, I get most of my new ideas re-reading what i've previously written. I'd like to know other people's ideas about this, especially people who have written long pieces before. This is my first attempt, as I said and I'm primarily a poet (yucky, I know).

I average out at ten months for most of my books. Although I did write one in four months, while another took five years.

My recently completed memoir ROCKET MOMMA took 12 years to write. Writing about life with my bipolar-manic mother was at times traumatic. I had to stop writing, regroup, and restart. By the time I finished, it was liberating. It is currently being submitted to publishers by my agent.

i haven't written a book, am just writting one now, and want to finish it in 6-8months; that includes 1st draft, editing and final copy. i know its going to be hard task but am ready to embark on it and hopefully get it done.

I wrote my first book after reading On Writing and The Writing Life. It takes me about six months to write one book.

It took me three years to write my first novel. I think I could have saved some time had used a formal outline. I finally self published it after I sent out about 30 queries to various agencies with no luck. The funny thing is, it is getting very good reviews here on Goodreads which I am so grateful for. I think I decided to self publish because I wanted feedback about my writing from readers. That being said, I would still like to be picked up by a traditional publisher. Does anyone know if this is possible?

Finished the latest yesterday. 132,000 words. Took about ten weeks, a new personal best. Very tired now, haha.

30 days
7 months
4 months
Infinity

Four books and still counting.

Not really an easy to answer question. It will depend on the writer and the subject. Also, if you mean completed as in edited and out there in the wild, well, 9 months is about as fast as you can get it unless you have unlimited funds and the ability to write the final draft in the first sitting.

Fastest I have been able to do it so far is 9 months which included 6 rewrites, editing, 6 proof readers, 10 test readers and line editing. Lots of fun and money for that one.

Doug

Looking at my last two books, I wrote Angels and Their Hourglasses in 6 weeks. It was 600 pages, and then my editor and I pared it down to 410 pages over the next year and 2 months or so.
My newest book - T.I.T.O.R. - took longer to write, but less time to edit. In both cases, the approximate total time until it was what I would call a "finished product" was about a year and a half. I'd say that a year to two years is fairly typical in my case.

Three months, four max. Doesn't matter about the length, I tend to write faster when it's longer. My books range between 70 and 190k. That 190k one took the longest, pretty much bang on four months.

Editing and all the other boring stuff can easily double that time, though, plus I leave a couple of months between writing it and editing it, to give it time to settle.

It took me just six weeks to write my first novel, 'Home Run' which was then accepted by a publisher here in Australia.

My next three novels were in production for periods ranging from three to ten years and are still awaiting a home with a traditional publisher.

Maybe there is a lesson for me there somewhere :)

It took me years to write my first book, but now I can write one in about eight weeks. That's not to say it's finished, though, as it takes me about a gazillion revisions to get it to where I am ready to say "done."

I was collecting notes, journals and small ideas for around 2 years before the idea of 'organizing' it into a book took form. After that I think I wrote with the final book in mind for 6 months and then the editing and last re-writing took around 6 months. So I guess you can say 3 years actually. Wow, it sounds like forever when I think of it like this :)
- Charlotte Eriksson, author of Empty Roads & Broken Bottles; in search for The Great Perhaps

It took me a year to write my first book.

A: On Writing is incredible--thank you S.K. for putting it out there.

B: Mine took about three months, but it was my first and I was doing the teacher-with-the-summer-off daddy daycare, so I only wrote 1-2k words a day, sneaking it in when while the kids were in the sandbox, etc. With re-writes and editing, though, about a year for a final draft.

The total process for my novel, including research and submission to an editor, took close to two years. The novel contains 154k words. However, there was a lot of research. Since much of the story takes place in Mexico, I used Spanish primary sources (newspapers and history books). Although I am fluid in Spanish, this was slow going at first. For the authenticity of a crucial kidnapping scene, I actually went to Monterrey, Mexico (where I used to live) and photographed and timed an enactment of the scene.

Rewriting and editing was ongoing as I wrote. My editor stayed on top of the various versions, and then we spent a few days together reviewing what became the final manuscript.

Although The Z Redemption is a stand alone novel, I developed the characters in depth and detail so that I could used a few of them in a second novel which I am now beginning. I am much more experienced now. I am shooting to write a 90k word first draft in about four months, and then spend about two months in rewriting and final editing.

I wrote two suspense novels this year - both first drafts took about three months each. They're both about 65,000 words. I aim for 1,000 words a day. My agent is sending them around at present and they're on the desks of editors at the big five. We'll see.

Takes me around three or four months each time, other factors vary but I usually try for 2000 words a day, but that might vary from 1000 to 4000 depending on the day in question, so it evens out.

I've finished 4, with one being released at the end of the month and am in the middle of a 5th one. I write a few scripts and poems and stuff inbetween but I basically force myself to write for at least 2 hours a day, no matter what happens, so I really churn it out!

I've come to this late, so apologies.
It varies, but on average I manage to write 3 books in a year. I have to. I'm old. Time is running out. The intitial draft can be from six to eight weeks, but the re-drafting, editing, polishing, call it what you will, will take considerably longer. Then I submit it, and if it's accepted, I'll work with the editor on the final copy. BUT, whilst this is happening, I am of course writing another novel. As soon as I complete one novel, I embark on another. I do not have a break as I am forever thinking up plot outlines. My first book was published in 2009 and by the end of this year I will have 16 books published, so that is above my goal of 3 per year. But as my interests change, so has the length of my books. And the longer the book, the more work it entails. Fortunately, I love it and do not see it as work at all. That is why I write so fast on the first draft. I simply write. All the thinking, stress and worries occur during the re-drafting stage! And then, they get worse!
www.stuartgyates.com

i agree it takes time, i started one the day before yesterday... not a horror novel or anything, but started one and wrote for 10 hours straight only producing 33 typed pages in MS Word (15,800 words). However, i have to wait for my co-author to write before we can edit the pages and either add or subtract content to continue.

I'm so discouraged by the not getting published part that I hardly ever write anymore (except for book reviews here on Goodreads).

I wrote three 100,000 word fantasy novels in three years. I'm writing the fourth and final book in the series now. I've sent a query to a literary agent for the first one. I should hear back soon.

I need about 2 months to get a first draft togother of roughly 80,000 words. To see that somebody has written 60,000 in a week in very impressive!

I find the editing takes much longer.

I'll let you know when I finish. ;-)

It took me five years to finish my first book, and then perhaps a year and a half for the second. As I recall, it took longer for my publisher to release it than it did for me to write it.

I find that the E.L. Doctorow philosophy of "Writing is writing," (not outlining, or planning or talking to people about what you're writing.) works best for me. I've just finished the first draft of my latest book which I'm self publishing. I spent about four months writing. Of course, I'll have to make revisions, which will probably take two or three months, followed by submitting it to a professional editor, which adds another two or three months.