What book took longest to write...?

[Emily]

For some reason I'm really curious about this. There is a lot of information about what books are longest in pages, but not much information on the "record" for an author working on a single book. I guess it's not a clear cut question either, since some novels are published as serials and therefor take years and years to be complete. Thoughts?

[Shannon]

Hmm, I coulsn't tell you waht book took the longest to write but a book that I read adn really enjoyed was anticipated for a long time:

No Great Mischief A Novel It took 13 years to write and the craftmanship is terrific.

This is one of the websites that mentions how long it took to write. http://www.nwpassages.com/bios/macleo...

[Katie]

Emily wrote: "For some reason I'm really curious about this. There is a lot of information about what books are longest in pages, but not much information on the "record" for an author working on a single book. ..."

And Ladies of the Club took Helen Hooven Santmyer over 50 years to write.

[[deleted user]]

Shannon wrote: "No Great Mischief A Novel It took 13 years to write and the craftmanship is terrific."

Wow! I would really like to read this one. I am sure that it is well written.

[Christina Stind]

Wow, this And Ladies of the Club sounds good - I've put it on my list of books to remember...

[Basha1971]

Pillars of the Earth took about 10 years but there are some on this post that took a lot longer, I see.

[Apokripos]

Wow, this topic's cool. I guess authors are just bad recorder of their books since when did they actually started doing a novel. I guess their mind is mostly filled if their book is going to be published and, of course refining the book. At least every anticipation deserves it...

[Joshua]

Actually, The Cantos by Ezra Pound took about 52 years to write, and it was still unfinished!!! (1917-1969)

[Joshua]

And shortest book ever written, for those interested, was the Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, which took only two weeks to write in full manuscript form!