How long did revising take you?

[Andrhia]

I finished my first novel a couple of days before Christmas. Now I'm revising. My question to you, gentle writers, is this: How long did it take you to complete revisions? And how much revising did you do in the draft before you officially entered "revisions"?

A good friend (and published novelist) told me she spent 18 months revising. I had optimistically thought to myself, if I work at it diligently, it might take me a month or so. I realise your experience may not map to mine; but I am curious to hear a range of experiences.

This book has been the journey of five years or so - in no small part because of the bits where I would have a baby and stop writing for a couple of years (hey, not everyone is Jo Rowling, OK?). I tremble to think that it could take me that long again before I'm done-done-done. Especially because I've got the next one starting to knock around in my head and I want to drop everything and play with it for a while...

[joyce]

My first novel I sent out way too soon. Of couse I was stupid and had not found this great place so I didn't know what I was doing. I edited it a couple of times, then sent it out. I looked at it again a month later and almost dropped dead. I found so much stuff I'd missed the first couple of rounds of editing. I'm just about to finish my second one and begin editing. I think on this one I'll try not to be in such a hurry, though it's hard. I'll edit then pass on to my betas, then edit again and probably again. Take your time and make sure it's the best it can be. Otherwise you use up agents on something that was not as good as it could be by just waiting. Fresh eyes see more. Good luck and congratulations on finishing. That is an accomplishment in itself.

[johnzakour]

My revision time is usually inversely proportional to the amount of time I spend outlining a project before I start writing it.

Now that I've become an outliner I usually spend a month revising my draft before I feel it's ready for my publishers' eyes.

That said, I still revise (in my mind) my books that were published in 2001 when I read them.

[Willowmound]

We're pretty much at the exact same stage. I'm planning on having draft 2 finished in about three, maybe four, months. It will be almost a complete re-write, but this time I know what I want with it.

First draft took a year.

[RLSMiller]

Two weeks, but it took me about 7 months to write the first draft. And then another two weeks to write the initial outline. It evens out in the end :). I trimmed about 3,000 words in total, line-edited the novel 3 times, and then read it over twice (aloud and silently) just to check it flowed.

[Will Lavender]

My own revisions took about a month. I tend to be a really timid editor of my own work. In fact, that's a major weakness. I do not in any way believe that my first drafts are sparkling, but I tend to lack the common sense necessary to tie up plot points and such. I usually make a couple of passes on the work, look mostly at surface errors, and then consider it ready to submit.

The revisions my agent and editor helped me with took about six months, start to finish.

[Shadow_Ferret]

I finished my current WIP sometimes last year, maybe September. I revised and revised the heck out of it until I thought it was ready to send out in April.

And yet, since it keeps getting rejected, I revise it between rejections. So I've been revising it since September 2006 and it's now January 2008 and on my 9th draft.

I have a feeling I'm going to keep revising it until some agent accepts it and takes it out of my hands.

[NicoleMD]

I'm a quick first drafter, and I like to pop them out in a few weeks. I just have to have the story out of me or it drives me nuts. That combined with my non-outline tendencies leads to about a year of revisions if I'm lucky. Thankfully, I don't mind the editing stage one bit. :) I think it's my favorite part.

Nicole

[Sassee]

I've also just started the revising process. The beginning needed the most work, and of course I'm starting from the beginning. It took me a week to figure out how to best arrange the first scene and fix my prose, and now I'm finally getting it into a word doc.

What was the rule of thumb? 2-3 times what you took to write it? Not by calendar but by actual hours spent writing. I'm shooting for a couple of hours a day (when we're not packing to move, that is) and hope to be done with draft two by end of Feb. At this point I'm not sure if that's realistic or not.

[dawinsor]

In my head, I distinguish editing from revising. I think of editing as cleaning up small stuff that might be classified as "mistakes"--any grammar problems, word repetition, places where I haven't been clear. I used to edit an academic journal and I taught editing, so for me, this is quick and easy.

For me, revising isn't about "mistakes." It's about making the book better, and it takes me months, starting with the time I set the book aside and let it age so I can get see it with fresh eyes. I usually start with plot stuff. I tend to wander around doing set up in the first few chapters, so I always wind up adding some plot-relevant action there and making things matter more, sooner. If something happens in the book (say, a character is very observant), I also like to set it up beforehand (show her noticing things before I need her to do it) so it doesn't look too convenient when it happens. I always have to add description, a sensory detail for every page, because I skip that the first time around. I do a pass for voice, trying to bring the character's attitude toward things out more sharply.

Then I send it to my beta readers. Then I do it again.

I love revising. I'd do it forever if something didn't stop me.

[Willowmound]

What was the rule of thumb? 2-3 times what you took to write it?


Whose rule is this? Not mine!

[HeronW]

You revise until you're happy with it, you're not afraid to send it out, or you can't stand it anymore. :}

[Willowmound]

You revise until you're happy with it, you're not afraid to send it out, or you can't stand it anymore. :}

I like this rule better.

[johnzakour]

What was the rule of thumb? 2-3 times what you took to write it?


Wow, that's not my rule either.

My rule is I revise it until my editors or agent call up and say, "yo, give us the manuscript or we're going to have to hurt you." (Note I am paraphrasing, none of my editors or my agent say "yo".)

[Straka]

Having never published any of my works I'm always editing them.

My first one I've spent 8 years editing on and off and I still don't think its all that salable. A fun first attempt at a novel but we'll see.

[ishtar'sgate]

I finished my first novel a couple of days before Christmas. Now I'm revising. My question to you, gentle writers, is this: How long did it take you to complete revisions? And how much revising did you do in the draft before you officially entered "revisions"?

A good friend (and published novelist) told me she spent 18 months revising. I had optimistically thought to myself, if I work at it diligently, it might take me a month or so. I realise your experience may not map to mine; but I am curious to hear a range of experiences.

This book has been the journey of five years or so - in no small part because of the bits where I would have a baby and stop writing for a couple of years (hey, not everyone is Jo Rowling, OK?). I tremble to think that it could take me that long again before I'm done-done-done. Especially because I've got the next one starting to knock around in my head and I want to drop everything and play with it for a while...

I can relate. I had to stop to have babies and devote time to my kids and family before diving into writing again so it took me a few years to complete my novel. I make little revisions as I go along so it probably takes me less time to do a final revision than those who write straight through and do all their editing at the end. My usual practice is to put the work aside for several months then do a chapter by chapter edit of my hard copy. I let it sit again for several weeks and then do a final pruning. I can pick at it for ages so I have to limit myself. All in all, it probably takes me about 6 months, including rest periods.
Linnea

[allenparker]

This web page has taught me one good lesson, leave the latest draft in the drawer for at least a month before editing.

This gives you separation from the story. You will be more critical.

[JeanneTGC]

This web page has taught me one good lesson, leave the latest draft in the drawer for at least a month before editing.

This gives you separation from the story. You will be more critical.
Bob Mayer told me (and others) to leave them in the drawer for a year, work on something else, maybe many other somethings, and then look at it because you'll see everything wrong with it then. I listened to him, and boy, was he right. I also got a lot of other stories done and ready.

I think you hit a point where you don't have to do this (the year-long tuck away) but for newer writers, it's really a good thing to do.

[ORION]

Maybe not a year long tuck away - but substantial. Time is immaterial on how long revisions take- again as others point out this is different from editing and quite a bit more daunting. I write several hours a day. I have manuscripts that have sat for over two years. LOTTERY never sat more than two weeks (except for now LOL!)
I used to be concerned with how long it took, too. I was always in a rush to query and so my work was never really ready and polished even though I got requests for fulls...
Take time to perfect your hook or synopsis at this point while it's sitting. And start a new project- Each time I go back I start from the beginning- I'm not one to use a hard copy I work on the computer-
Thinking time is crucial...

[Button]

It takes FOREVER!

Or just seems like it does. ;)

[Shadow_Ferret]

What was the rule of thumb? 2-3 times what you took to write it?

Wow, six years seems like an awfully long time to be revising!

[johnzakour]

This web page has taught me one good lesson, leave the latest draft in the drawer for at least a month before editing.

This gives you separation from the story. You will be more critical.

Yeah but that's really hard to do when you are on deadlines. I wish I was fast enough to take a month off from a manuscript after the initial draft is written...

[althrasher]

It's hard for me to draw the line between first draft and revising. I kinda ended up doing both at the same time with Kelvdon--writing the end and revising the beginning. I'm in (hopefully) the last stages of revision now...

FOUR YEARS LATER.

Yeah. Now do you see why I was about to kill it? It's not quite as bad as it looks, since I only worked very sporatically for two years in the middle.

[Shady Lane]

I spend about two weeks on each draft. Sometimes three. But I'm quick.

I do about five drafts. I try to get the first draft out as quickly as possible--no more than two weeks if I can make it. Then I try hard to do each subsequent draft within a week, and usually can't make it...but I try. The second draft is usually drastically different than the first, because the first has so many issues. Then the third and fourth are variations of the second. The fifth is a final polish. And then it's done. Usually within 2 months.

I start revisions as soon as the first draft is over...no pausing/marinating/sitting/waiting etc. I break a lot of the rules. But it works for me, so...

[Carrie R.]

I started writing the book in November, finished in April and queried in August. I'd say I went through about 5 drafts and 4 CP reads (one person read twice). I used the down time when CPs were reading to work on my synopsis and query and get distance and I also fully admit that in the end, I was using revising as an excuse not to send it out.

[JustGo]

I started rewriting mine and got about a third of the way through when I realized Wow - I skipped over a lot. Which probably explains why my book was only 60,000 words long.
So I've recently restarted, adding in the new scenes and fixing continuity errors while editing small problems at the same time.
I finished my book in mid-July - seven months after I started. So now I've been revising and editing for nearly as long as it took me to write the book and I'm still nowhere, really. Probably just because it's my first completed book.
Hope things go better for you... O.o

[Sassee]

LOL, you guys... by the 2-3 times thing I meant that if someone spends a total of 50 hours writing it, they will probably spend another 100 hours revising. Like I said, not calendar time. That would be ridiculous! And I picked up that bit of info on more than one place on these boards... it's not a rule, just an estimate on how long a person might spend revising from first draft to finished, which includes all those multiple drafts in between.

[johnzakour]

LOL, you guys... by the 2-3 times thing I meant that if someone spends a total of 50 hours writing it, they will probably spend another 100 hours revising. Like I said, not calendar time. That would be ridiculous! And I picked up that bit of info on more than one place on these boards... it's not a rule, just an estimate on how long a person might spend revising from first draft to finished, which includes all those multiple drafts in between.

Oh okay that makes more sense. I probably spend the same amount of time editing as I do writing. It all depends on how far behind my deadlines I am.

BTW: I tried friending you in myspace....(I guessed Smith for last name, that wasn't it.)

[Scrawler]

Hard to say. I revised about 5 times, then decided to rewrite the entire plot, cut chapters, merge characters, etc. I ended up revising a total of about 11 times.
It's been a while, so I wouldn't mind revising again but I'm waiting on the response to a full.

[Varthikes]

Depending how seriously the work needed revising.

For my last novel, I had to completely re-work the whole second half. That took me about six months.

[deathwizard]

It took me three months to write the first draft of each book of my series and three months of revising for each book. Thirty-six months, all told ... though with all the marketing I've been doing, the revision process of book six is taking longer.

[chevbrock]

Althrasher, I feel your pain! I finished the first draft in 2000. Seven years later, I have found this website, and armed with new knowledge, I am revising and editing again!

This time, though - it's gonna be good! :)

[Prawn]

check my sig. It generally takes me three months to write a novel, and three to six months to revise it to beta version that I hand out to people.

[Andrhia]

I guess the lesson here is that mileage varies widely. :) Thank you, everyone, for chiming in.

I've gone pretty far in my revision read-through. I've got my work cut out for me, but I think the real deciding factor here, as some of you have said, will be how many actual minutes per day I find to work.

That shouldn't be too hard, though. Actually, I have other, actual paying work to be writing, and I'm having trouble focusing on it because the revision process is trying to crowd everything else out of my brain.