Someone asked me yesterday how long it takes to write a
novel. The National Novel Writing Month (=NaNoWriMo, November) makes folks who don't write novels think it takes a month to write a full-length novel for adults.
Articles such as this
(from Writers Digest) give a wild range of two and a half days to sixteen
years.
Seems to me the definition of what constitutes writing a
novel is what needs clarifying, because these estimates are comparing apples
to oranges, or more likely— watermelons to olives. Technically, both are fruits. But this is where the similarity ends.
It’s not only the size and scope, but what do they mean by “writing
a novel in X number of days.”
If NaNoWriMo is the definer, we’re speaking about finishing a first draft. Writers know that is just the beginning. It has become a sort
of fashion among genre writers to fast-draft a first draft. A month’s first
draft will be followed by many more, but you could claim to have written the
novel in a month.
When the claim is that it took many years, we are not speaking of
working on the novel five days a week for years. These books had long stretches of sitting in a drawer, real or virtual, before the writer finished the
umpteenth draft and called it done.
If we look for any kind of metric, those who do not write
novels would do better to ask about the general rhythm or work discipline of
different writers. Every day? Only on weekends? Now and again? How many hours
at a writing session?
And there, too, are wild differences. No wrong and right,
just long and write.
7 comments:
Since I don't write novels, I stand in awe of those of you who do, no matter how you decide to pace yourself. (And btw, I enjoyed the cartoon.)
Good post and comic. Ten Easter Eggs took a decade and that's less than 100 words. I like to joke that I managed to write a couplet every year. Bound took 3 yrs but nearly a decade to get to market. I think my historical will take 25 yrs, which makes me think that if I write a contemp. novel and it takes me 30 yrs to complete, it'd be a historical. Hehe.
People who do not write have no idea how long it takes to write anything, even a poem. Sometimes, the words come full blown in an unexpected rush, as Mary Oliver has expressed; sometimes, years can elapse until the writer finds the right words and cadence. For some writers, a book can take 10-20 years because of circumstances.
I think this is equally true for any creative endeavor. People ask how long it takes me to make a particular work of fiber art. Since I don't keep a log, I have no idea. Actually, I don't care to know. I start something, need to put it down because I can't yet see the next step, and work on a different piece. I come back to the first one when I know what was missing and how to address that, and so on.
Whatever it is, it takes as long as it takes. I wonder whether boasting about how little time a novel takes an author is like boasting you need to sleep only 4 hours a night. What are they boasting about anyway?
My summer goal is to finish my 2nd novel :)
I guess it all depends on how much time you have to write and how easily the words flow.
And when you work on multiple projects at a time, how do you count time? Personally, I'm a slow novel writer. But then again as mentioned earlier, some picture books take a really long time to get right.
I'm wildly inconsistent on how long it takes to write things. I've drafted some novels in a month or so and other have taken years to draft. Generally to get anything into a state of "finished," it's taken me a year to 10 years!
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