What's your Shortest time to write a novel? [Archive]

Horizon_eyes

03-01-2009, 01:22 AM

What is the shortest length of time you've ever written a book / novel?

I'm currently writing a 'new' manuscript for a sci-fi book. The storyline has been in my head for over a year, however. Anyway, now that I'm writing it, I can't believe how fast things are moving along.

I'm not rushing it in the least. The last manuscript i was writing was the opposite -- it's been a year in development, and still never finished it.

This one however, will have only taken a couple weeks when finished. I have a feeling the 'sequel' stories I have in mind will take about the same length of time. It's as if it's writing itself. Maybe it's just meant to be, and it will get published someday.

This is strange because I'm a stickler for detail, and a 'perfectionist' (which is what usually holds me back). This is unlike me. Maybe I've had a catharsis.

Prozyan

03-01-2009, 01:47 AM

My fastest for an 80k sized work of first draft quality is around the three weeks time frame.

For a submission ready work of that size, about 8 months.

Chumplet

03-01-2009, 01:53 AM

Holy crap, Proyan.

I pitched a story in October, was asked to submit chapters but it wasn't written yet. Threw together three chapters based on writing exercises in my writers' group. A week later, I was contracted.

They asked when I could deliver the MS. I foolishly said six weeks for a 50K novel.

A family crisis intervened. I asked for an extra month and got it.

So... about three months, with minimal or no editing (didn't have time). I'm afraid to look at the final pdf. I only hope I didn't switch husbands halfway through the book, but apparently the editor found no problems.

Dave.C.Robinson

03-01-2009, 02:03 AM

For me, shortest time for a completed draft was about 3 months - longest about 15 years.

KTC

03-01-2009, 02:49 AM

CarnalPIE

03-01-2009, 03:27 AM

The quickest I ever wrote one was in about a month. It's one of my favorites, too. But most of them take a lot longer.

A bone for my critics to chew on.

"The storyline has been in my head for over a year."

You said it. That's the key.

Yeah, for me as well. I've had stories percolate in my head for over a year or more and those are my best work, if I do say so myself.

Prozyan

03-01-2009, 03:31 AM

The one, I wrote in 40 hours and took 8 hours off within that 48-hour period.

That, sir, is impressive.

scarletpeaches

03-01-2009, 03:33 AM

What's not impressive is the fact he's letting it rot!

Why, Kevin - WHY? :(

Sage

03-01-2009, 03:40 AM

20 days. It was a NaNo novel.

thethinker42

03-01-2009, 03:41 AM

I wrote the first draft of Playing With Fire in 5 days. (I'd spent a week or two tinkering with the outline, but the draft itself took 5 days).

If it's happening quickly, let it happen. When the story wants to be told THAT badly, you've probably got something...ride it, bro. LOL

Horserider

03-01-2009, 03:44 AM

Well I've only finished one novel and it took me two months. From the beginning of November (which ironically enough, I did not realize was NaNoWriMo) to the end of December. To write a 98,000 word novel.

nitaworm

03-01-2009, 03:56 AM

Well I only finished one novel also, and it took me exactly two months to write 360 pages and 82,000 words.

I think that was extremely fast for me considering I have a full-time job, am a mom of four, and teach part-time one day a week at the University. Whew... I wrote for 2 hours a day during the week, and up to eight hours on the weekend.

I don't know if the next one will be done as fast, but who knows...it may. I also refuse to let mine rot, I plan to print out each draft manuscript, and put in my self-created library, and query all of the works until I die ;)

willietheshakes

03-01-2009, 04:24 AM

I've done the Three Day Novel thing a couple of times, so 72 hours...

Aschenbach

03-01-2009, 04:45 AM

I wrote 3 different novels in 3 different 48-hour periods. The one, I wrote in 40 hours and took 8 hours off within that 48-hour period.

Yowza. Were you on crank??

(Only kidding. Don't really mean to imply you're a drug user :))

6 months is my record. Pretty pedestrian.

Shady Lane

03-01-2009, 04:48 AM

six days for a first draft. I've done that twice.

KTC

03-01-2009, 04:48 AM

Yowza. Were you on crank??

(Only kidding. Don't really mean to imply you're a drug user :))

6 months is my record. Pretty pedestrian.

No worries. HERE'S WHAT I DO EVERY JULY. (http://muskokanovelmarathon.wordpress.com/) I have so far participated without the use of drugs. I'm much faster than crank. Crank gets tired just watching me in action.

Shadow_Ferret

03-01-2009, 05:47 AM

2 years.

maestrowork

03-01-2009, 05:50 AM

The question isn't how fast can you write... it's how good is it?

There's no prize in speed writing.

:)

Ray, who takes his time...

dancingandflying

03-01-2009, 06:06 AM

A month. I was doing a NaNo novel. :D

d&f.

KTC

03-01-2009, 06:19 AM

The question isn't how fast can you write... it's how good is it?

There's no prize in speed writing.

:)

Ray, who takes his time...

I think that's a great way to say, "No. My follow-up to The Pacific Between is not finished yet."

RunawayScribe

03-01-2009, 06:31 AM

Um...a year and a half.

I'm jealous of you all.

Ugawa

03-01-2009, 07:02 AM

Two weeks. But that was a short 30K thing that never saw the light of day.

Charlie Horse

03-01-2009, 08:20 AM

Wow, I had no idea novel writing was a race.

I won't even bother calculating how fast (or slow) I've finished a novel. It just doesn't seem relevant.

Hollan

03-01-2009, 08:49 AM

Wow, I had no idea novel writing was a race.

I won't even bother calculating how fast (or slow) I've finished a novel. It just doesn't seem relevant.

Yeah, I agree. I write at whatever pace I have time for/ the story demands.

I did finish a 1st draft (60k YA novel) in one month. However, it took me two years to get it into submission worthy shape!

Dana-Lynn

03-01-2009, 09:35 AM

It took me 7 months until I was able to type those two beautiful words THE END on my first YA novel, but I edit as I go, so that slows me down a ton.
:Shrug:

And I second what Ray and Charlie Horse said.
;)

maestrowork

03-01-2009, 10:22 AM

I think that's a great way to say, "No. My follow-up to The Pacific Between is not finished yet."

Patience, my Padawan. A diamond doesn't form overnight.

mscelina

03-01-2009, 10:27 AM

Three weeks as the crow flies from Chapter One to The End.

That doesn't count the eight months of editing and revision. Just the first draft.

KJuno

03-01-2009, 10:39 AM

Twenty-seven days for a first draft that utterly sucked and I put on the back burner indefinitely. I LOVE the story line and I'm glad I wrote it all down, but it sucked.

Badly.

So I'm hiding behind the SPEED DON'T MATTER card :D

Clone80

03-01-2009, 01:03 PM

caromora

03-01-2009, 01:12 PM

I wrote the first draft of my last book in ten days. I'll probably spend at least three or so months editing it.

maestrowork

03-01-2009, 07:13 PM

The most I've written in a day was about 4000 words. But I can never sustain that kind of effort. A whole novel in 48 hours? Kevin, you were on crack.

ChaosTitan

03-01-2009, 07:22 PM

I wrote a 100k draft in seven weeks. It was a sequel to another unsold work, and the story was in my head demanding release. Not much editing required on that one.

tehuti88

03-01-2009, 08:02 PM

About two or three months, I can't recall which. This was only because I plotted the entire thing out ahead of time. I don't outline things anymore, so I imagine other novels would take much longer. That's just how I work. I'd rather take longer and be surprised by events than get it done sooner and know everything ahead of time.

I write serials now and they take years to write because they're so long. Like the OP, though, I mull over ideas for a long time before writing, and that really helps the words flow.

I don't think the OP was suggesting this is a race, they were just curious to know how long it took other people to write theirs. I'm puzzled why whenever people ask things like "What's your highest word count?" or "How long does it take you to do this?" or whatnot, somebody usually thinks it's an ego contest. Sometimes people just wonder. :? Sorry if I'm stepping on toes, I just find it perplexing.

KTC

03-01-2009, 08:47 PM

The most I've written in a day was about 4000 words. But I can never sustain that kind of effort. A whole novel in 48 hours? Kevin, you were on crack.

You lock yourself up for 48 hours with no external distractions...only a goal of having a finished novel at the end...you don't need crack. It just flows like hell-fire. Trust me, it's not magic. Think of all the distractions and all the real life getting in the way...those things help to spread the writing out over a year. If you take them all away, take away the hours and days of no-writing, you will see that it is possible. Every time I did this there were about 30 other writers doing the same thing sitting right there beside me. It's great to write like this...I have come to prefer it to writing over the course of a long stretch of time. I NEED the marathon now.

scarletpeaches

03-01-2009, 08:50 PM

Not so sure I could write a novel in 48 hours but I agree if you shave off all the everyday distractions, the actual sit-down time it takes to type out a novel isn't very much at all.

The quickest I've written a first draft is nearly 60k in a month.

eyeblink

03-02-2009, 12:32 AM

Fifty-six days for me. In longhand. (I was seventeen at the time and word processors/computers were not in general circulation - I did have a typewriter though. At a very rough guess it was in the 40-50k word range.)

ClaudiaGray

03-02-2009, 12:40 AM

I've written one within six months -- because novel writing IS a race when your publisher's timeline for your series dictates that it shall be.

Happily, they shifted the deadline so that I've had more time since.

FOTSGreg

03-02-2009, 01:04 AM

35 actual writing days for me although doing the research (including interviewing several scientists and PhD candidates for the science and authenticity) involved took up most of the rest of 90 days.

That book's currently in 6th & final draft before I start trying to market it this year (a complete read-through by a couple members of the Analog Writer's Group is tentatively scheduled for April).

Oh, yeah (sorry - first draft was 65k (65k in 35 days) and the work was not even close to readable until around about the 3rd draft (now up above 80k)).

treehugger

03-02-2009, 01:18 AM

Wow, I had no idea novel writing was a race.

I won't even bother calculating how fast (or slow) I've finished a novel. It just doesn't seem relevant.

Right on. The first draft of Novel #1 took me 7 1/2 months, and I consider that lightning-fast. The first draft of Novel #2 took me about 2 years, which is "too long" only in the sense that I feel like I was too distracted by life stuff and didn't give writing as much attention as I would have liked. But there's certainly nothing wrong with taking your time, even if that is months/years.

Ken

03-02-2009, 01:21 AM

...saw someone here do it in just 3 weeks. Left me speechless when I saw their daily word counts :-O

scarletpeaches

03-02-2009, 01:23 AM

scribbler1382

03-02-2009, 01:51 AM

I'm sure I could write a novel in about a week. I'm also sure no one would ever want to read it.

I finished my current WIP first draft in about 3 1/2 months (165,000 words). The first half was written VERY fast for me. Now that I'm revising, it SHOWS. The first half has copious typos, spelling mistakes and entire words missing. Yuck.

citymouse

03-02-2009, 01:56 AM

Five weeks for number one.
The second came in about eight months and the third came in a year.
C

Feathers

03-02-2009, 06:00 AM

I wrote 3 different novels in 3 different 48-hour periods. The one, I wrote in 40 hours and took 8 hours off within that 48-hour period. So the shortest time I took to write a novel was 40 hours. And it won a Best Adult Novel award. It is now sitting on my hard-drive rotting.

*Gapes* Holy croak-a-molie. What are you calling a novel? I'm not doubting you, I just want to be fully impressed if you wrote a 100K monstrosity in four days.

I thought I was pretty fast, but some of you guys are freaking me out a little. You must be a publishers dream :) My personal best writing time...I think it was 2 1/2 months for an 80k novel. I think. Longest time ever was either 8 or 9 months. I lost about 75% of what I wrote...that novel was pure, undiluted torture.

-Feathers

scarletpeaches

03-02-2009, 06:01 AM

Four months so far on this WIP and I'm just tickling 90k with it. ;)

Straka

03-02-2009, 07:10 AM

108 K in 30 days, now how good it was, well...

NeuroFizz

03-02-2009, 09:08 AM

Some of the reports here are beyond impressive, but those kinds of efforts are just not in the cards for me. My novels all take about nine months from first concept to being submission-ready (that includes all of the drafts, the beta reads, and the final polishing). I have a day job that requires my full attention throughout the day and frequently after hours as well. That means I really only write fiction at night after the kids go to bed, and while I try to reserve that time for my fiction, there are times when I have to give it up to the work that pays the bills. But even if time were available, I wouldn't ever do something like Nano, or try to squeeze out a first draft in a couple of weeks. It's just not how I write fiction. I do quite a bit of mental manipulation of each scene before the fingers hit the keyboard. And I'm getting much better at it, because my first drafts are looking more and more like the final drafts (I think this comes with experience for everyone who really pays attention to the details of the craft--it's nothing special for me). Because of that, I can't bring myself to fly through a first draft. It's just not in me to work like that. Even if it was, the limited time available for writing would still prevent a really short draft-time. And I agree with Ray completely--this is not a race that goes to the swift. So, while I applaud all of those who can be so productive in a short time period, I'm happy to plod along with my nine-month gestations, mostly because I've had a pipeline of them coming to completion and I'm intending to keep that kind of productivity going for some time.

KTC

03-02-2009, 02:41 PM

*Gapes* Holy croak-a-molie. What are you calling a novel? I'm not doubting you, I just want to be fully impressed if you wrote a 100K monstrosity in four days.

I thought I was pretty fast, but some of you guys are freaking me out a little. You must be a publishers dream :) My personal best writing time...I think it was 2 1/2 months for an 80k novel. I think. Longest time ever was either 8 or 9 months. I lost about 75% of what I wrote...that novel was pure, undiluted torture.

-Feathers

48hours is 2 days, not 4. Two of them were 60K and one was about 40K.

There are no 100Ks in me. Sorry.

Feidb

03-02-2009, 06:54 PM

76000 words in 28 days. First fantasy.

Clair Dickson

03-02-2009, 07:15 PM

If I HAD a deadline-- a real one that counted-- I could write a lot more and a lot faster. I work way better under pressure.

The few contests and such I've been in where other people were there to see whether or not I met the deadline, I had no problems getting an idea, slamming it on page, and being done just in time for the deadline. (Though, for fiction, I do give myself more "fiddle" time than I ever did when I'm pounding out papers for school.)

My quickest novel writing time was 4 months, with 2 of editing and revising that didn't affect the plot line. I did this while working 60 hour weeks and taking a grad school course. And I did actually see Hubby and maintain something of a social life during this time period. I had someone waiting for the novel...

darrtwish

03-03-2009, 07:28 AM

I've only finished one novel...and it took me six months to write.

swvaughn

03-03-2009, 07:37 AM

The first novel I wrote took the least time. Three weeks, and I did it longhand in a notebook! (Yeah, back in my day... LOL)

It also sucked rocks. But, I finished it. My second one took six months (and sucked), the third took a year (not counting six years of editing on and off, because I wasn't willing to give up on that one or its sequels), and the one with which I finally got a good agent: four months.

YMMV. Mine certainly does. :D

everythinginblak

03-03-2009, 08:14 AM

It depends. If I write every day, I might finish the novel in about two weeks to a month. However, if I am writing a longer piece of fiction, it usually takes me about three to four months. Typically though, I can finish a complete first draft of a novel in a month. Editing takes a bit longer.....as always :P

Charlie Horse

03-03-2009, 08:05 PM

No-one's saying novel writing is a race, or that there's anything wrong with taking your time.

You just might come up against a few difficulties if you're used to dragging your heels and one day you end up with a deadline to meet.
I have a question about these 'deadlines' you speak of. Since I've not been contracted by a major publisher yet, under what circumstances do they require you write a novel in a matter of days, weeks, or months? Once I get a contract I assume there will be a long drawn out process of editing, designing, typesetting, marketing, etc. in which time I'll be gnashing my teeth and trying to calculate how to spend all the money I'll be making. During that time are they going to be harassing me for my next piece, ready to pull the plug on my career if I can't bang out a follow up to my debut in less time than it takes to add yet another name to the list of my brief, yet white hot failed marriages?

Just curious.

ChaosTitan

03-03-2009, 08:12 PM

I have a question about these 'deadlines' you speak of. Since I've not been contracted by a major publisher yet, under what circumstances do they require you write a novel in a matter of days, weeks, or months? Once I get a contract I assume there will be a long drawn out process of editing, designing, typesetting, marketing, etc. in which time I'll be gnashing my teeth and trying to calculate how to spend all the money I'll be making.

Depends on how many books you're contracted for. My offer was for two books, so during contract negotiations, my editor asked about how long it would take for me to deliver the second novel. Her plan was to release the second about six months after the third. We agreed on April this year, which was almost seven months later (at that point). If I'd been contracted for a third book, the deadline for it would likely have been around Sept/Oct of this year.

And yes, once you sign a contract, there is a long process of editing, copy editing, answering marketing questions, galley proof edits, etc... to keep you busy. But there is also a lot of time in-between where you won't hear anything at all, giving you plenty of time to work on the next book. Designing, typesetting, cover design--all of that happens elsewhere, by other people.

scarletpeaches

03-03-2009, 08:13 PM

I didn't say they'd be harrassing you for your next piece; I said quite clearly it would be difficult to adjust to having a deadline if a writer was used to dragging their heels and not writing to a schedule.

No, they don't expect you to write a novel in a few days or a few weeks - even if they did I'd be okay there because I'm one of those folk who becomes more productive under a deadline. Months? Possibly.

But it's a matter of moving from "I'll do it in my own time," to working to someone else's timetable and if that person is paying you, well...they have the final say.

Of course deadlines can be manipulated but there are authors out there who are known for being unreliable and I would just fear building a reputation for being someone who doesn't deliver on time.

But then I'm a total OCD headcase anyway.