The Longest It's Ever Taken You to Write a Novel

Thank you all for talking about this. It makes me feel a lot better since I've been working on my current story for about two or three years now.

It depends what you consider it being finished. Since none of my novels have been published, none of them are truly "finished", though several of them are trunked and effectively dead. Longest one was about 8 years, but I stopped writing for about 4 years in the middle of it.

Approximate timeframes (from starting it to a draft that I considered "done"):

MS1: I wrote the first draft super fast, but I did do a big rewrite like a year later, so it's hard to say. Call it a year. (I was 13. It's hard to even remember.)
MS2: About 2 years. I was in high school.
MS3: I started junior year of high school. I finished about 3 years after I graduated college...soo yeah, a long time. But minus about 4 years of not writing.
MS4: About a year, year and a half.
MS5: Six months. Woohoo! Finally getting faster, although with that wordcount, I probably shouldn't be celebrating...

If I could consistently write a polished novel every year, I would be very pleased.

pandaponies said:

I pore over each word I write and tend to kind of edit as I go, and I'm very much a plotter and have to know what I'm going to write before I write it, basically. The "JUST GET IT ON THE PAGE" method has never worked for me and I simply take longer as a result.

Click to expand...

This is so me!

Mine took a year to write and 25 years to get published!

I have one that it's been 3 years so far, although during that time I had stopped writing for 6 months with the intentions of stopping writing completely. I started it during my very first Nano ever. So I did the whole turn off your editor thing, which is completely against my normal method, and so it turned out a big mess. I got to 70k on it before I decided it needed a rewrite, it was so confusing (and I never do rewrites). The rewrite still left me confused. So I'm going to scrap it and start with a clean slate. But I refuse to give up on it because 1) I plan to finish every story I begin; and 2) this story I think, out of everything I've written so far, has the potential to go the farthest.

It's about a woman who begins to have dreams about a red-haired woman after finding a bunch of old letters in her attic.

Other than that, my very first story is the "longest" I've taken, although I haven't worked on it in a very long time. I don't plan to ever publish it, so it's been put on the back burner while I work on more pressing stories. But I intend to finish it one day, but it'll be one of those for-the-author's-eyes-only kind of thing. I definitely don't regret writing this one, because out of everything I've written, it has my favorite character, even if he is flawed (but aren't they all?). In fact, every time I heard the song "Broken" by Lifehouse, it makes me think of him, cheesy as that is. And funnily, my music has shuffled to that song right now! Haha.

It's a saga that centers around three couples. I think I'd compare it to a Danielle Steel book (although I've never read any of her books, so I can't be certain, haha). It has a lot of backstabbing, money, power, that kind of stuff, in it.

I can't remember when I started writing, so I can't pinpoint when I started this story.

I have another story that I recently started that I'm estimating will take at least 5 years to write. It's going to require a lot of research and it's literary, which is very difficult for me to write, so it'll be slow going. It's about an immortal woman and her relationships with family, friends, lovers.

My first book took the longest: 3 yrs to write and get to querying stage, another year taken to do an R&R&R. It got me a total of 6 offers of rep, but ultimately no dice with publishers. :-/

Ever since then, I chose to write a heck of a lot faster. My second book took 1 month to draft and 1 year to polish. Third book took 2 months to write and 1 year to polish. Fourth book took 11 days to draft. This is the first month I'm spending on editing it, so we'll see how long it takes.

After the failure of my first book (bad timing as it's YA fantasy/dystopia and by the time my agents started subbing it, the market was working against it), I don't want to spend nearly as much time on any one book. I believe that my writing improves with each book, and one day one of them will be picked up by someone. Until then, my plan is to keep writing fast-ish, editing, and moving on.

11 days?? Wow...

I have 2 novels that I worked on for 2 or 3 years each. In neither case was this remotely necessary. Book #1 took that long because I was constantly changing the story. In the end it was still too long and weird to get published. Book #2 took that long because real life crap kept derailing me and interfering with working.

My last project was completed (drafted and edited) in 5 weeks. Working faster is so much more fun, more efficient, and created a story that was more consistent and easier to edit. I'm definitely writing fast from now on.

I don't know yet whether the second project that took a long time will get published because I'm still doing the line-edits and haven't queried yet.

I wrote my first novel in about 3 months, and the second in about 6, and then it took me another YEAR to learn to write the query letters that got them published. One would have thought "Me write book! It good! You publish or Hulk smash!" would be enough, but noooo..

I've been working on my current novel for probably 2 years now. I'm being very careful with it though, and keep having moments of self-doubt, but I believe in the story, so I think it will eventually pay off.

chompers said:

11 days?? Wow...

Click to expand...

If it makes you feel better, it's a hot mess and my back, neck, and shoulders hated me for days afterwards.

Putputt said:

My first book took the longest: 3 yrs to write and get to querying stage, another year taken to do an R&R&R. It got me a total of 6 offers of rep, but ultimately no dice with publishers. :-/

Ever since then, I chose to write a heck of a lot faster. My second book took 1 month to draft and 1 year to polish. Third book took 2 months to write and 1 year to polish. Fourth book took 11 days to draft. This is the first month I'm spending on editing it, so we'll see how long it takes.

After the failure of my first book (bad timing as it's YA fantasy/dystopia and by the time my agents started subbing it, the market was working against it), I don't want to spend nearly as much time on any one book. I believe that my writing improves with each book, and one day one of them will be picked up by someone. Until then, my plan is to keep writing fast-ish, editing, and moving on.

Click to expand...

Can you re-sub your first book now that the market might have improved? Or would it need a lot of editing first?

Have you considered self-publishing it at least? No point in letting your darling languish in the dark corners of your computer. That idea kind of scares me.

Technically, 26 years because there's this novel I started writing when I was 13 which was never properly finished. I finished the second draft but that second draft needs major editing. It's never going to be finished because it has more sentimental value to me in its current form and I have absolutely no intention of attempting to get it published. It can stay in the box that it's stashed in forever.

One thing I'm very, very proud of is the fact that I wrote something at 13 that would have easily got an 18 certificate if it was a film, so I wouldn't have been allowed to watch the film adaptation of a novel I wrote.

phantasy said:

Can you re-sub your first book now that the market might have improved? Or would it need a lot of editing first?

Have you considered self-publishing it at least? No point in letting your darling languish in the dark corners of your computer. That idea kind of scares me.

Click to expand...

Well, the book got subbed to publishers last year and they all said the market is too saturated. I'm not sure that the market has revived much. I haven't given up on it, but for now I'm content to put it on hold until the market is kinder to YA dystopian/fantasy. I've also played around with the idea of self-pubbing it, but before that happens, I want to finish the second and third books so I can release them without too big a break between the sequels. It's definitely not a book I'm going to give up on. Having had so many agents believe in it gives me a bit of confidence, at least. Whether trade or self, one day it will be published.

Christopher G Nuttall apparently needs like ten days to write and publish a 100K+ space opera or fantasy opera novel. Good for him!

Michael Moorcock used to need a week to write one of his snappy Elric, Erekose, Corum, Hawkmoon, Jherek, or standalone masterpieces, but he never went all out--didn't actually write 50 novels a year, confining himself to half a dozen at most, treating it as a hobby, while concentrating on being a magazine editor and socializer in the swinging London of the day. Mr Nuttall, on the other hand, appears to be doing an all out effort.

German speculative master Wolfgang Hohlebein used to maintain such productivity for a few decades, and with pretty OK quality (and some, like the Charity alien invasion serial were pretty damn kick-ass), so perhaps Mr Nuttal is taking over that crown.

~ 1 1/2 - 2 years. And the dang thing still needs work!

dondomat said:

Christopher G Nuttall apparently needs like ten days to write and publish a 100K+ space opera or fantasy opera novel. Good for him!

Michael Moorcock used to need a week to write one of his snappy Elric, Erekose, Corum, Hawkmoon, Jherek, or standalone masterpieces, but he never went all out--didn't actually write 50 novels a year, confining himself to half a dozen at most, treating it as a hobby, while concentrating on being a magazine editor and socializer in the swinging London of the day. Mr Nuttall, on the other hand, appears to be doing an all out effort.

German speculative master Wolfgang Hohlebein used to maintain such productivity for a few decades, and with pretty OK quality (and some, like the Charity alien invasion serial were pretty damn kick-ass), so perhaps Mr Nuttal is taking over that crown.

Click to expand...

Why can't my brain work that fast? I'm struggling with my current story, straining to get a few hundred a day.

Well, I know what helps me work in a faster and more focused manner than before. A timer. I know, shocking and revolutionary, the world is not ready yet...

Make an evaluation of how many 10 or 15 or 20 or what-have-you-minute bursts for writing and writing only you can spare a day. Could be 2, could be 20--and do it. Until the timer tells you to stop--only the book and nothing else. No online stuff, no other stuff.

Works like magic. Chapters get written X times faster, and sometimes the frantic speed and focus actually help, by making the membrane between conscious and unconscious mind more porous, and awesome elements and details simply write themselves.

Like a young Stephen King stoned out of his mind, writing masterpiece after masterpiece in mere weeks, on autopilot, without even being able to recall how, only with the timer and without the drugs one actually remembers the process and sees in real-time the unconscious mind assisting the conscious, and no promises about writing the next Cujo or Tommyknockers.

In fact, judging by my experience, probably the same crap as always, but faster.

dondomat said:

Well, I know what helps me work in a faster and more focused manner than before. A timer. I know, shocking and revolutionary, the world is not ready yet...

Make an evaluation of how many 10 or 15 or 20 or what-have-you-minute bursts for writing and writing only you can spare a day. Could be 2, could be 20--and do it. Until the timer tells you to stop--only the book and nothing else. No online stuff, no other stuff.

Works like magic. Chapters get written X times faster, and sometimes the frantic speed and focus actually help, by making the membrane between conscious and unconscious mind more porous, and awesome elements and details simply write themselves.

Like a young Stephen King stoned out of his mind, writing masterpiece after masterpiece in mere weeks, on autopilot, without even being able to recall how, only with the timer and without the drugs one actually remembers the process and sees in real-time the unconscious mind assisting the conscious, and no promises about writing the next Cujo or Tommyknockers.

In fact, judging by my experience, probably the same crap as always, but faster.

Click to expand...

No, I don't do very well writing under pressure. I noticed I do my best writing when I'm not stressed. I don't even do word wars anymore, because it stifles me and not only does it restrict my word count output, but it also tends to be crap.

But thank you for the suggestion. And I'm sure it would help others.

Hey, some of my favorite books are by people who publish once a decade, fiddling all the while with the books in between. The names behind classics like Silence of the Lambs, The Exorcist, Bonfire of the Vanities, The Godfather, are of this persuasion... It works perfectly for them.

chompers said:

No, I don't do very well writing under pressure. I noticed I do my best writing when I'm not stressed.

Click to expand...

I'm exactly the same. If I have a job my writing suffers. When I get stressed/anxious everything stops, like all my creativity gets sucked out by a black hole or somethin'.

CuddlyClementine said:

I'm exactly the same. If I have a job my writing suffers. When I get stressed/anxious everything stops, like all my creativity gets sucked out by a black hole or somethin'.

Click to expand...

Strangely, in anything else I can work well under pressure. And my job is a creative field.

But I don't know why, with writing it just doesn't want to cooperate. Haha

6 years and counting. I wrote the first draft 6 years ago, stopped for 2-3 years and began writing it again on December 2012. Ii still needs some work though D:

chompers said:

Strangely, in anything else I can work well under pressure. And my job is a creative field.

But I don't know why, with writing it just doesn't want to cooperate. Haha

Click to expand...

That's odd! At least it's only with writing. (Only with writing, she says...)

For me, stressed = nothing gets done. Ever.