Topic: How long does it take you to write a book? (Read 1904 times)

Dolly · « **on:** April 06, 2008, 06:23:33 PM »

Hi, I was just curious about how long it takes others to write a book. The three I've written took over 8 months each. It's one of the things I find discouraging. It seems to take forever for me to finish one. I remember reading that Anne Rice wrote "Interview with a Vampire" in three weeks to meet a contest dead line. Wow, I don't suppose she did anything else though, like go to work or sleep

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Take Care, Dolly

B L McAllister · « **Reply #1 on:** April 06, 2008, 10:38:27 PM »

Quote from: Dolly on April 06, 2008, 06:23:33 PM

Hi, I was just curious about how long it takes others to write a book. The three I've written took over 8 months each. ...

It's such a long process it isn't easy to reckon the total time involved, but, strictly estimating, from first glimmer of the idea to appearance (passing through an ebook stage) as POD, which is all the experience I can draw on:
Undercover Nudist: 14 years,
Runaway Nudist: 11 years,
To Kill a Nudist: 9 years.

That counts all the revisions, re-revisions, fresh starts, etc., [note added later: it also includes time living a life, which was probably my big mistake.] but I should mention that part of the time I and my spouse were working on two or three of those at once. Meantime, I have five more that I work on from time to time, but that given the fact that the first three have too many disadvantages in the marketplace haven't been pushed at all. Roughly these five have been in progress for about six years, sometimes working on one, sometimes on another. I'm not convinced at this moment that any of them will ever see completion, though one may be about 60% done. Actually, it's selling what I've written that is most time consuming, but revisions occur as long as the book hasn't been published yet. So I don't think 8 months for a finished manuscript that the writer thinks is now in saleable condition is a particularly long time to take. Many very successful writers generate one book a year--but I have a hard time seeing how they do it. [A couple of years ago, I and spouse decided we don't really have a second career: the marketing is too tough for us. So now mystery writing is just our hobby. So we don't insist to MWA nor SinC that "we are professionals," even when they indicate that they'd really rather only associate with professionals. I reckon anybody can see why we decided all that.]
Byron

fawnridge · « **Reply #2 on:** April 07, 2008, 08:25:04 AM »

"A Tasty Murder" - 2-1/2 months.
"Kidnapped In Overtime" - 4 months.

Getting them published, on the other hand, a lifetime.

dhparker · « **Reply #3 on:** April 07, 2008, 04:29:56 PM »

Dolly, I'll echo what Byron said. It takes me what seems like forever, so yours coming in at under a year sounds good to me.

Donna

Lynette · « **Reply #4 on:** April 08, 2008, 02:57:00 PM »

Hi Dolly,

Congratulations on finishing your book in a year.

Normally I can write the first draft of a novel in 4 to 6 months. It is then that the forever comes in. It sometimes takes a year or more to re-write and refine then another year to three years for it to become an actual book. And in some cases it never gets to the print stage.

As most most of us can say, a writing career is not for the person wanting to get rich fast and probably not for those who want to get rich at all.

Lynette

I have requested this comment be deleted. · « **Reply #5 on:** April 11, 2008, 12:36:05 PM »

Ten years and counting.

Two tangents: One, I think a great deal of the procrastination comes out of "finding my voice" (or deciding just what a good book by me should look like). I come up with story ideas all the time that never get past a one paragraph synopsis, and I've got 15 currently that have between 20 and 280 pages of notes. The one I've had going the longest didn't even make sense until a few months ago when I made the main character a cop. Despite having fewer notes on it, the one I'm most likely to finish first was started only after I joined this forum; and that's book one of a series, so I may even finish two of those before I organize my random notes on that ten year project and start a first draft. There is a point I'm getting to...

Writing comes down to writing about something. You can write about characters, setting, plot...I think a lot of people write about genre; they just immerse themselves in the detective/vampire/fantasy (whatever it is they like to read about) genre and let their imaginations wander. Thinking about everything in terms of mystery has helped me pull a lot of disconnected interests together, but I can't just place myself inside the genre and write. I can do that to some extent with characters (after months of roleplay and biography), but you have to have characters who do something--something specific--or you end up with ten year projects (or a literary prize, LOL). I talk to myself every day about this nonsense, and what it's recently led me to is this:

"Finding your voice" means getting to the point where you can write fan fiction based on your own work.

Second tangent: When I was in high school, my friend in the neighborhood wanted to be a writer. He had a computer and would type at it every day, churning out three novels by the time he entered college. I used to think, That guy's a writer. I can't write like that. Like writing is a physical act. He submitted those novels and collected rejection letters for about a year. Then, as far as I know, he stopped writing.

I think a lot of people who write novels only complete the physical act of writing. In fact, they may have never written anything in their lives.

My point is that everything's a rehearsal for your first published book. Whether you're finishing novels or outlining them, it's all preparation if the end product isn't sold.

I would be upset with myself if my second book took ten years. Maybe my next great book. I am working on a sequel to the New Testament that should change a lot of people's lives, LOL.

Q · « **Reply #6 on:** April 14, 2008, 11:30:06 AM »

Interesting post Dolly. Brand new here so I'll jump into this forum with it. Hi!

Eight months isn't at all bad methinks. I suppose it depends though on what one calls the starting point: First glimmer of an idea, or actually sitting down with a dedicated ream of empty A-4 or a new File on the computer (whatever each of us uses, which would be an interesting thread on its own and you probably have in these MW archives). Stephen King 'On Writing' says he likes to write ten pages a day, which he reckons at 2000 words and a 180, 000 word novel (that would be a long one!) in three months. I think 1000 words a day, every day, is a very good target. That would produce a realistic first draught; a quarter of a year, working hard all the time. Then best leave it and do something else (also writing, but not that novel. That would be 'time out'. The first revision makes me want to throw it all away (in which case it wouldn't count but it actually 'gets filed' and I have a lot of those) or liking it and then it can take longer than writing it but call it another two quarters and some more, so we are at about ten months at least. Then getting published ... bonk!

I wonder how many can say that on finding a market the 'finished' MS isn't suitable at all? I'm stuck at this wall and I suspect I'm far for the only one. So it depends on how seriously one wants to get into Amazon.com via a publisher, and whether one counts that time as before the Finish line.

So I agree with Byron. Except that by circumstances, writing full time and for a living has become my best option so I have to face the murderous hassle of marketing. It's not all bad, as short story writing is great and with far more possibilities of a few pieces of silver, though very modest I'm so far, optimistic.

Q