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How long did it take to finish writing your book?

Diamanxx

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I’ve been trying to write a book for 4 years now, I don’t think I ever will finish one.:cry:
 

Berryme

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In that last year I wrote every day every chance I got. I was working full time back then with one kid. So I wrote on my lunch breaks, in between calls at work and would email myself whatever I wrote. At home once baby girl was sleep and my husband was fed. I would write until I got stuck or tired. Now I’m working on my third book and the process is even longer because I’m still working full time but with 2 kids lol. My husband helps with the 2yr old but she’s different than my oldest. She doesn’t let me write for sh!t lol.
100 in 3mons isn’t bad. You probably should break up it in days. How’s words a day do you have to write to reach that goal? Or maybe 30mins a day?

That’s wonderful. How often did you write? I have a goal of 100 pages in 3 months. I’m starting to feel like that might be a stretch...maybe.
 

MrsSamCooke

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I started writing what I thought was going to be a novella in the summer of 2012. I did not work on it often. Then, as of June of 2014, I took it from "Chapter VIII" (while also realizing I had a novel on my hands) to Chapter XXVII - plus an epilogue - as of November 2014, thereby completing the first draft. I took frequent breaks in that time since I would work hard for days at a time. My editing stents are also always intense. In that time, my book had reached 105,000 words but I brought it down to 84,000. Overall, it took me 7 weeks cumulative over that summer to do the work - according to my writing journal.

I then tinkered with the book, in minor ways, here-and-there. I also shelved it for a time. After that, I did some more editing and rewrites so that I completed the second draft in February 2018. I considered it as done as I could get it at that point.

Then a family crisis occurred just as I was about to send it off to literary agents. That went on for months and the aftershocks, for even more months.

My novel is still as done as I can get it. It comes to 312 pages when I put it into book-sized format and is 84,150 words.

I still haven't sent it off - though I say I will each day. I know it's a well-crafted book with a beautiful story and that I have a strong voice. I am allowing fears of rejection and failure to get to me and I'm not proud of that. I've even written the blurb and have done both 1-page and 2-page versions of the synopsis. This only leaves the easy part of the cover letter to do.

My book is deep and 'different' - not that 'different' is a bad thing - not at all. I value what is unique and what has depth. This day and age daunts me, however, as the quality of art is at an all-time low. I also write literary fiction while knowing commercial fiction tends to sell better. I also know these are just excuses.

I have two other books in the works and many ideas for short stories. I'been on hiatus as a creative writer for too long. It's time to get moving again.
 
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MrsSamCooke

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I used to think that way too,
Do you ever truly finish :cry

quote-leonardo-da-vinci-art-is-never-finished-only-abandoned.png
 

DeeMani

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Whew! 270 pages and it took 7 years! I know a lot of it was researching, sitting and thinking. Late Toni Morrison had said it took her six years to write beloved; 3 years thinking about it and 3 years writing. For me, if I were to accumulate all the time I'd actually spent writing it, it would have been about 2 years.
 

Taurus Dust

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Two years in and my damn laptop died months ago when I was finally getting my motivation back,I thought I was too slow but you're reassuring me:weary_face:
Almost halfway
 

Psalm

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10 years on and off and still going through edits. Around 185 pages
 

Lil Mom

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I can write a short fiction 10k-11k in 3 days. I write lot.
 

MEEEETOOO

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I haven't even started mine yet, I might pay someone to write it for me whenever I'm ready..
 

Cryeisha

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@BetchPleaze

Let me just say.

It really depends. Stephen King allegedly can put out one in 3 months and JK Rowling allegedly took over more than a few years for her first book. I think the guy who made Lord of the Ring took decades. Twilight took three months allegedly as well (or just the summer).
 

Lil Mom

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A book can be any size and length. Hell a book does not even need to contain words. So check yourself.
That's true because I publish low and no content books with little writing.
 

TetrisJam

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Ten years. :poop

I have issues, y'all. LOL!

This will be the year I release the gotdamn book (hopefully the professional editing process doesn't push the release date to January 2021 :wilt).

I love my book and the main character but I am sick of rewriting the novel. Time to go back to short stories. sh!t...
 

TetrisJam

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I started writing what I thought was going to be a novella in the summer of 2012. I did not work on it often. Then, as of June of 2014, I took it from "Chapter VIII" (while also realizing I had a novel on my hands) to Chapter XXVII - plus an epilogue - as of November 2014, thereby completing the first draft. I took frequent breaks in that time since I would work hard for days at a time. My editing stents are also always intense. In that time, my book had reached 105,000 words but I brought it down to 84,000. Overall, it took me 7 weeks cumulative over that summer to do the work - according to my writing journal.

I then tinkered with the book, in minor ways, here-and-there. I also shelved it for a time. After that, I did some more editing and rewrites so that I completed the second draft in February 2018. I considered it as done as I could get it at that point.

Then a family crisis occurred just as I was about to send it off to literary agents. That went on for months and the aftershocks, for even more months.

My novel is still as done as I can get it. It comes to 312 pages when I put it into book-sized format and is 84,150 words.

I still haven't sent it off - though I say I will each day. I know it's a well-crafted book with a beautiful story and that I have a strong voice. I am allowing fears of rejection and failure to get to me and I'm not proud of that. I've even written the blurb and have done both 1-page and 2-page versions of the synopsis. This only leaves the easy part of the cover letter to do.

My book is deep and 'different' - not that 'different' is a bad thing - not at all. I value what is unique and what has depth. This day and age daunts me, however, as the quality of art is at an all-time low. I also write literary fiction while knowing commercial fiction tends to sell better. I also know these are just excuses.

I have two other books in the works and many ideas for short stories. I'been on hiatus as a creative writer for too long. It's time to get moving again.

When I post my book on Amazon, I ain't reading the reviews. :arrogant

This is the first novel that I will publish and it will be my last. Afterward, I am just going to post a bunch of short stories surrounding the character's lives after the novel ends.

Step out on faith. :love Don't let these literary thugs make you feel scared.
 

2020username

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I have a friend who wrote a novel in three months while working a 12 hour per day job. I have no idea how she did it, I thought it took a year for even people who spend all day on it!!
 

OnColdShores

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I can write a novel in a month but I prefer to give myself 2-3 months now that I'm also working part time.
 

MrsSamCooke

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When I post my book on Amazon, I ain't reading the reviews. :arrogant

This is the first novel that I will publish and it will be my last. Afterward, I am just going to post a bunch of short stories surrounding the character's lives after the novel ends.

Step out on faith. :love Don't let these literary thugs make you feel scared.

Thank you for all you wrote! :rose

And, good for you! It is important to ignore reviews a good deal of the time. Otherwise, they can be death to both your inspiration and confidence as a writer.

Novels are such work so I don't blame you for not wanting to do another one. I enjoy writing short stories a lot - in part, because they are a quicker job. I joke sometimes that writing my novel 'almost killed' me. To date, it was the hardest work I've ever done and on so many levels. And here I am embarking on another one. With this one, however, I am plodding along at a slower pace and writing some (unrelated) short stories during breaks from the book. As beautiful as the journey could be at times with my completed novel, I can't take that kind of punishment again where I was practically sleeping, eating, drinking and breathing that body of work. :unsure:

Your idea about writing future short stories which involve your novel's character is such a cool and resourceful one. Plus, what a better way to delegate your workload!

And you are more than right. I do need to just send the completed novel off already and go out on faith - nevermind the 'literary thugs' ( by the way, I love the way you put that!:ROFLMAO:) - or my self-doubt for that matter. Here it is beyond a month since I wrote the post you replied to and I still haven't sent that sucker off to agents. I feel like I've never had more incentive to at this point so I'm taking the plunge this month. Who knows? Maybe my book could mean a lot to someone, somewhere.

I wish you every success with your own work and as a writer. :rose
 

Lil Mom

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Ten years. :poop

I have issues, y'all. LOL!

This will be the year I release the gotdamn book (hopefully the professional editing process doesn't push the release date to January 2021 :wilt).

I love my book and the main character but I am sick of rewriting the novel. Time to go back to short stories. sh!t...

I worked on 1 book for years and couldn't finish it because I didn't have the right voice. T I tried writing a perfect story. There's no such thing. I scraped it and wrote another 50k story.

The difference is that I had a robust theme, premise, and I knew my characters and change my POV to third person. I also wrote every day without fail.
 

JaxRhapsody

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The ones I intend to publish I started writing around 2012. They all take place in the same city in different years. Through life and all the downs that come with it, and dealing with the old laptop, not wanting to write; still not finished with most of them. I finished one and started on book 2 of it, like maybe 5 years ago and ain't touched them since.

Hoping to get back at them at some point. Been mostly writing for Lit and trying to do this fan fict and develop something for wattpad.
 
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Being an indie author is my second job at this point. I write almost every day, usually aiming for a chapter or about 2k. I've even started sneaking in moments to write at my real job, lol. I really don't have a choice because I've set up a publishing schedule for the next year and need to be ready by the pub dates.

So far, the quickest I've finished a manuscript was 28 days. That was about 78k words. Then there's second/third drafts, editing, proofreads, etc. All that adds on several more weeks.

I've learned the 28 day one was a fluke, though. It's closer to 2 months for me IF all goes according to plan. The MS I'm working on now has really put me behind my schedule. I was supposed to be done by end of September, yet here I am in November trying to write the second half. I think a lot of it is inspiration and not encountering any blocks. There's nothing more frustrating than having writer's block when you are on a deadline.
 

mdmommy99

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I have written several and it depends on the book.

My 1st book was non-fiction. It took me a year. It is about 160 pgs. My second was also non-fiction and a little shorter. It probably took about a year too.

I have a fiction series and each book in that series probably only took me 3 months, they're each about 180 pages, but honestly those books are pure tomfoolery and debauchery. I wrote them just to see if I could and sell them under a pen name. The funny thing is that they consistently outsell everything else I've put out and always net me some good change each month for as little effort as I put in.

I have a few children's books- those each took about 3-6 months but they're short. Picture books.

I have a novel that I have been working on both in my head and out of my head for at least 10 years.

I try to write every day, but I go for periods of time where I don't write much and periods where I'm writing all the time. So sometimes I'll have been working on something slowly for forever and then get most of it done in a few weeks because I get on a streak. I just kind of go with it at this point.
 

ch1cphysique

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And how many pages?
Fiction novel took 9 months. Technically it was a year in total but I took a three month Writer's block/ sabbatical period. Haven't converted it to an official manuscript but it's 179 pages on MS Word and 75k words.

The Non Fiction title that I recently published in print and ebook format is 206 pages and about 45k words. I concur with the strife re: are we ever really finished? I'm still out here editing, fact finding and substituting whilst having micro panic attacks over suspect sentence structure. Smh
 

ch1cphysique

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Two years in and my damn laptop died months ago when I was finally getting my motivation back,I thought I was too slow but you're reassuring me:weary_face:
Almost halfway
This literally just happened. I was ready and motivated to write my new Novel idea then technology was like YEET. Screen broken beyond repair. No productivity for meeee. You'll get there.
 

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