Editing: How long does it take you?

I'm querying a manuscript that took over a year to fully revise and edit (although I took some time off before that.) However, I learned a lot about editing in the process, and I think future revisions will go faster. At least I hope so.

And you're right. Revision is what pulls a story out of the trash heap.

Ages. I tend to come and go from it over a year or so. Each start to finish edit takes about six weeks (i'm a quick writer) and then I'll go work on something else to come to it again fresh.

I edit as I go, so rather than wrapping up a first draft in a few months then taking months more to edit it, it just takes me about a year to do the whole book, followed by about two weeks to a month of proofreading.

I do a scrappy first drafts (say, 1--2 months, maybe 3 months tops) and then major rewrites, with the biggest rewrites taking 6 months at the most. My process is still very much in flux, though.

I've started cutting things off around the six month mark, because by the six-month point I hate the story, I hate working on it, I hate everything about it. I'm working on bringing my rewrite time down further and further because it wrecks my self-confidence.

I just need to get it done, get it rewritten and polished, then out to betas. Spending too much time on rewrites is really bad for me.

At this rate, forever....

I rewrite/revise/edit each page as I write it A page can come out very well on the first try and need nothing. It can also not say what I want it to say, and take ten or more rewrites and edits.

But back before I started writing this way, it usually took a week or so to completely edit a novel.

I've always done my best to write really good first drafts, though, and this makes a difference. I can't stand the thought of facing a complete novel that needs serious rewriting, revision, and editing. It always seems a lot faster to me, at least in the long run, to slow down and get the first draft as right as possible.

Too long! About 4-5 years now? But I'm working on four WIPs at once. Probably going to take another couple months before my first WIP is ready for querying.

For this novel (my first Serious novel), the first draft took maybe 2-3 months. I'm just getting done with the whole thing now, 3 and a half years later (though a year and a half of that was sort of a write-off, due to grad school). I think this is the 8th draft or so (I stopped counting), with "draft" meaning "near-complete rewrite." Though, a big part of it is the fact that it took me 6 of those drafts to realize I'd been approaching the story from the wrong angle entirely-- if I'd realized that sooner I think it could have been a lot less.

I reallllllllly hope this isn't my usual, though! I definitely never ever get things right the first time around (I usually don't even get individual scenes right) and that's fine, but I don't want to spend 3 years rewriting every single novel (it's a short novel, too, even). That said it really has been a learning and growing experience for me as a writer, and I do think I'm much, much better now at picking out what's wrong right away and figuring out how to fix that. Ideally I'd get from first draft to final in 3-4 drafts.

There have been times when it's been really exhausting, and I've thought I should just give up on this damn thing and work on something else, and times I've thought maybe it's not a workable novel, at least at my skill level, and times I've thought maybe my skill level just isn't up to any novel--but I've always loved this project. I've loved the characters and felt this compulsion to tell their story. I love that the process has meant I've got to know them so much better than I did at the start, and that the story has deepened and expanded in ways I never would have guessed. To me that's as much a part of my extended process of rewrite and revision as getting the actual words right.

I try to make my first draft as clean as possible and edit as I go. I set the whole thing aside for awhile, as long as two months for a novel, then go back and do my revisions. Fresh eyes allow me to spot major problems so I'm usually finished edits and revisions in a couple of weeks.

Depending on the type of edit and how much work needs doing, anywhere from one to three months. Assuming I'm not getting lazy or distracted and get at least *some* work done every day.

Years. But I don't devote 100% of my attention to it. I'm also writing other novels and short stories.

I used to do the edit as you go thing, but I never got very far into the story because I kept editing, maybe just 4 chapters -- but they were beautiful chapters.

First book (including rewrites) three months. It was a hot mess and took a lot of work to get it to a readable place. My current WIP, I am editing as I go and it is working much smoother and easier. I don't expect any major rewrites so my editing will take a couple of weeks to polish before sending to betas.

RikWriter said:

I edit as I go, so rather than wrapping up a first draft in a few months then taking months more to edit it, it just takes me about a year to do the whole book, followed by about two weeks to a month of proofreading.

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I'm with Rik, kinda surprised actually that there are so few of us. I take two steps forward then one step back throughout the process so that when I'm finally through i'm more of at the "Proofreading" stage than any kind of wholesale editing. Plot holes, etc., are all more or less resolved by the time I grind to the last page.

As you can see from the posts so far, every writer is different.

It also depends on how much the writer has written before. As time goes by we usually get better, especially if we're trying to. (Though I'd suggest not trying too hard. I use to seek perfection in every paragraph before I went to the next. I rarely finished anything.)

Nowadays I write fast and well, sometimes even brilliantly. Every few pages I'll take a short breather and re-read. I fix a few small problems (there aren't many) but focus on the overall flow. Am I still on the course I want to take, or have I gone off into a detour? If so, is the detour a good one, or do I have to back up a few paragraphs and wipe out the detour?

I'm quite bad for not letting an MS go sometimes. Generally once I've completed the first draft I put it aside for a month and get on with other projects, writing or otherwise. I then do at least two or three complete edits which are a combination of highly detailed things like grammar and syntax to the MS as a whole. I usually have a handful of close friends to ruthlessly edit and credit on the macro and microscopic levels and I incorporate their comments into these redrafts/edit sessions. The length of this process depends on how much time I have, but I also like to leave some time between large edits so I can come back to the project slightly afresh. Usually this takes about a year for me, but it definitely varies depending on each MS and what's going on in my non-writing life.

Forever and ever. I'm a poor editor though, and tend to rewrite. The 78,000-word manuscript I just submitted has had a total of 200,000 words in four different constructions, over a period of about two years.

Most of the writing is okay though, as far as style goes. I'm just endlessly trying to create a story that doesn't suck. And I do find it exhausting. Fun, but exhausting.

It's hard to set a time. I'm the type of person who needs to switch the chapters I work on in order to really see the issues. I'm working on my first novel and I'm still improving as writer, improving in small jumps as an editor. There'll probably be no pattern until the third or fourth novel attempt.

I'm a slow writer, but a fast editor. And I think that's because when I'm writing the first time around I tend to concentrate on plot and the big structural issues. I also get people to look over my stories while they're still in progress, so that if something is off, I catch it before it gets out of hand. I tend to do more fleshing on the edits.

I often write my first drafts in anywhere from a couple of weeks to a few months (depending on the length). Editing takes me significantly longer.

Yeah, this is the 'how long is a piece of string' type of question.

The pattern I usually follow is that nothing starts without an 'inspirational' sentence, then it's full steam ahead until I find the end of the chapter. So, with roughly 3,000 words I print it out, find a comfy chair by the window and read through it with pen in hand to see where it went wrong. This first draft takes two coffees, lunch and a walk in the forest, which equates to about four hours. Then I repeat the exercise by putting in my corrections, printing it out again and deciding I've probably had enough coffee, and switch to tea.

Once I have a fairly solid first chapter (one that has gone through 2-3 edits), I move on to the next chapters in turn. I know that the real work of editing will come when I have the whole manuscript in my hands. I would estimate that any novel-sized work will be edited up to a dozen times before I consider it being read outside my clique.

I find that editing chapters like this allows me to find those hidden gems of character and plot and setting. It's slow going, but I do enjoy both processes: writing and editing. Oh, and I certainly find it useful to have trusted others read my work for their comments.

I'm embarrassed these days to say my first novel took me about five years to draft and edit. Considering that writing is not my full-time job (unfortunately), I guess allowances can be made.

But I really do agree with and want to emphasize the above comments about getting better with practice. I learned a ton during that five years with the help of critique groups, critique partners, AW, books on plotting and scene construction, workshops, etc. A lot of that advice has become part of my brain so that I think more before I write, and/or I pick up the faults pretty quickly when I re-read what I wrote. That saves me a lot of time.

Having said that, my latest manuscript took me five months to finish a good first draft. I've been editing that for about a month and expect to be done in about two more.

Another thing I swear by now: outlines! I outlined my current manuscript before I wrote word one. That outline changed a little as the story came to life on the page, but it was a tremendous help in constructing the story.

My first novel took probably eight years, start to finish. My second novel took about six months to write. Editing took . . . actually, without checking the dates on my files, I don't know how many years it's been. Two? Maybe three? And it's only just now ready to start querying. I went through eight distinct drafts. But the finished novel is ten thousand times better than the first draft! So, hey, I've learned something.

Bear in mind that I'm not a full-time writer and this was only my second novel ever. And I'm a perfectionist, so I tend to work slowly and methodically, making sure every "I" is dotted and every "T" is crossed.

My third novel is taking a lot longer for the first draft to get written (it's been well over a year since I began), but it has a more complicated plot. It has politics and military strategy, bio warfare, and colonization. Things I know nothing about.

Why, muse? Why must you torment me so?

Oh I don't know. Too long, probably? 6 months to a year...

Orianna2000 said:

My first novel took probably eight years, start to finish. My second novel took about six months to write. Editing took . . . actually, without checking the dates on my files, I don't know how many years it's been. Two? Maybe three? And it's only just now ready to start querying. I went through eight distinct drafts. But the finished novel is ten thousand times better than the first draft! So, hey, I've learned something.

Bear in mind that I'm not a full-time writer and this was only my second novel ever. And I'm a perfectionist, so I tend to work slowly and methodically, making sure every "I" is dotted and every "T" is crossed.

My third novel is taking a lot longer for the first draft to get written (it's been well over a year since I began), but it has a more complicated plot. It has politics and military strategy, bio warfare, and colonization. Things I know nothing about.

Why, muse? Why must you torment me so?

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Whatever works. It does help to know your subject. My first novel took three weeks to write, start to finish, and I had zero time to edit, and had to submit the first draft. It sold as was, so I can't complain, but that was rough.

I believe in getting every sentence as right, as perfect, as possible, and I work very, very hard to make this happen, but I also know that "perfect" is the enemy of "good Enough", and that "perfect" isn't even possible.

So much of this is natural style, natural method, etc. I've always been both very fast and good enough to sell. Some of my best stories and novels are also the fastest I've written. Many of my best sales were true first drafts with no revising, rewriting, or editing at all. Some of my worst, and completely unsalable, are ones that took a relatively long time, and that I slaved over.

There doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason for it. It's just the way I've always written, and the way it has always worked for me. It's what came naturally when I first sat down to write, and I can't begin to explain it.

But like Isaac Asimov said of his own stories, if I don't get it right after a quick, clean up second draft, no amount of work will ever make it right.