How many hours go into writing a novel?

[super56k]

I'm unpublished but have a completed short novel and I'm close to wrapping up a longer novel. The first write through, both times, was a relatively quick process. Over a 7 day period I completed the "last" ~49k words of what ended up being a 70k word novel. I averaged about 1,300 words an hour totaling 54 hours of writing (October through December). It was a Faustian bargain, however, because I easily put another 70+ hours over the next three months tweaking, revising, and in some cases completely cutting sections and writing anew ending up with a focused, but short, 62k word novel.

I started work on a second novel April of this year, but I was still fatigued from the process of the first so it was in starts and fits until the end of May where I had written 23k words in two months. In June I finally locked into a routine with close to 39k words and finished by the 8th of July with an additional 26k words. So all told 88k words on the first write through with a slower pace of around 1,200 words an hour (close to 74 hours). But, again that nasty bargain is adding considerably to the time invested as I have been researching many topics (which I glossed over in lieu of keeping the story moving) and juggling a larger story with more characters and plots intertwined.

If I was a popular author, and had an editor willing to help fix up any cruddy story, I'd be in business, but that's not the case so the real work starts after the first write through. In fact, the first write through is a blast in comparison. At best it's like something tapping into my subconscious and allowing it to flow out as quickly as I can type, but once a full revision starts it's like the hangover after the party where I see the mess I made.

I love it though, I'd be crazy to do it otherwise. And if anyone is wondering, I'm big on keeping lists and spreadsheets so it was a natural move for me to log daily word counts and time spent, for mainly motivational purposes. I don't keep track of revisions and rewrites with the same rigidity though; it might make me sad if I did.

[Nancy Fulda]

Aw heck, I'll buck the trend give a concrete answer. It takes anywhere from several hundred to several thousand hours to write a novel.

James Maxey -- an accomplished author whose skill with words I slaveringly admire -- recently drafted an entire novel in a week. Not a task I aspire to emulate, because he did it by cramming all of that work into a 168-hour period. He'll probably spend at least as many hours revising before the book is ready for public consumption.

At the other end of the spectrum we have George R. R. Martin, who is by this point infamous for missing his publication deadlines. The fans do not care. He lovingly gives each book as much attention as it requires, and the result is, each time, a masterpiece.

[Bob Russell]

It's very interesting reading these responses and everyones impressions. Thanks for all the thoughts coming in.

I should note that I'm especially interested in the retrospective look back and perspective from thoses who have been there. Most authors probably haven't thought much about it in terms of total time, as people seem to think in terms of elapsed months. Of course, I don't expect to plan any schedules for my project based on these answers, and it will be done when it is done. (Or as pointed out, whenever I call an end to it. and my hope is that I don't have to give up at some point due to the realization that the story can't be saved.) But all the answers are giving an interesting angle on the whole question.

Hopefully, I'll be providing some thoughts myself in a year or two.

[crich70]

I wrote a book for NaNo in 2009 that was 50,078 words long in just 28 days. Of course one day I have to go back and edit it to see if it is salvagable which will probably mean that I'll be adding onto it to tie up any loose ends that still exist among other things.

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

Originally Posted by Nancy Fulda

At the other end of the spectrum we have George R. R. Martin, who is by this point infamous for missing his publication deadlines. The fans do not care.

HIS FANS DO CARE!!!

Do you know how long his Wild Cards series has dragged on, been handed off to others, then back to him, while he blithely works on other projects and delays it even more?!? That man drives me crazy!!

But anyway.

[Nancy Fulda]

Allow me to rephrase: The fans buy his books anyway.

[ScalyFreak]

Originally Posted by Nancy Fulda

Allow me to rephrase: The fans buy his books anyway.

Funny how addictions make us do things we really don't want to do

[VydorScope]

Originally Posted by ScalyFreak

Funny how addictions make us do things we really don't want to do

*Sigh* Truth.

[frahse]

Originally Posted by Nancy Fulda

Aw heck, I'll buck the trend give a concrete answer. It takes anywhere from several hundred to several thousand hours to write a novel.

James Maxey -- an accomplished author whose skill with words I slaveringly admire -- recently drafted an entire novel in a week. Not a task I aspire to emulate, because he did it by cramming all of that work into a 168-hour period. He'll probably spend at least as many hours revising before the book is ready for public consumption.

At the other end of the spectrum we have George R. R. Martin, who is by this point infamous for missing his publication deadlines. The fans do not care. He lovingly gives each book as much attention as it requires, and the result is, each time, a masterpiece.

We all envy George, and there was also Robert Jordan who has passed. Slow but magnificent. Others too but older.

[frahse]

I think most people get their scheduling started in College. The old 168 hours a week. For me it was 4 to 6 hours sleep a night. We learned what we could do with time.

My current scheme for planning, estimating and scheduling is as follows:

I look at a year as 50 weeks. The other 2 weeks I like to go into the wilderness or out on the water.
Each of 5 work days per week has 10 hours for work (your paying job- mine being in engineering) 8 hours for sleep, 2 hours travel and that is 20 hours a day. There are 4 hours left. Take 2 of that for writing, and 2 for miscel.
= total of 10 hours writing per that 5 days.
2 weekend days. 10 hours writing per day = 20 hours per week end.
Total writing per week = 10+20=30.
Grand Total = 50x30=1,500 hours per year for writing.

That is only an outline. It can vary as work varies, as life's demands vary.
Truthfully, the sleep periods usually have time deducted from them, but you can pick up time here and there for writing as well as lose time. It averages out.

Assuming I am familiar with my subject. i.e. I am not going to write about bonsai gardening, or the wool business from sheep raising and herding to tailoring and selling suits in NYC, this is how I break down my estimates of books.

A new book or a first book of a series 1,000 hours.
A second book in a series, or a book close to a one done before, 500 hours.
(I am not surprised if I have to add a 100 hours to those numbers)

So that planning with the hours estimated above, gives me in one year:
A) the first book and the second book of a series.
B) Or one and one half different type standalone books.

Please note that I write both fiction (my favorite) and non-fiction (several subjects) books.

You can put short stories in there. I can churn them out in 50 to 200 hours.
New Article with research -8 to 16 hours
Article on old subject but updating for changes - 4 to 8 hours.
Essay - 200 -250 hours.

Now you can add another 500 hours to a series at the beginning if it is as we say sometimes - monumental!

Is that very accurate? Fairly. You can subtract some here and add it back there for any particular book or time period, but I think it is a reasonable expectation for me.

Now one thing should be stressed. I don't have the legendary writers block. Never had. I can start 10 books a day if I want. The real problem for me is deciding which of the 10 possible books to write.

Now this is a point that should be made to new writers.

Give yourself a little time just to mess around, maybe talk on a blog, take a coffee with a friend, go out for supper, go to the zoo. (I like movies because it helps my writing.) It will help you to be able to stay on track. Now if you have a deadline and are stressed out, that might not be possible. I am talking about those times when you don't seem to be getting much done. It is especially important after you finish a big project to relax. This time I found mobileread.com

I don't recommend drinking to relax. That will relax you, yes, but it will blur your focus too much. If you do drink, only do it before bed, when a loss of focus won't hurt so much. A writer has to keep their focus. I speak about this because of some friends' experiences.

Did I say focus?

..... FOCUS!.....

[James_Wilde]

Yeah, how long is a piece of rope? But, Bob, if this is your first novel, you probably haven't developed your rhythms and systems yet, although if you have written shorts and novellas you'll have some of the baggage. So this first one is going to take longer than number 2. Here are my data:

I had a story idea which I had turned into a two-page synopsis and sent to a retired publisher friend to see if she thought the idea would bear a novel. I wrote to her again to relate that I now had a book ready for editorial review, and when I checked, the date was two days earlier than two years after the first letter.

During that time I started writing about 3 hours every Monday evening (whilst my wife was at choir practice), but over time I managed to turn that into about an hour a day weekdays, and three hours on Mondays. Say an average of 8 hours a week.

Of the two years it took me, probably one year went to the first draft, and one year to rewrites and editing.

This book ended up at 500 pages, or say 200,000 words. Novels are more often in the 100-150,000 word size I would say.

On the other hand I read an ebook in January of this year, probably about 100,000 words, or slightly less, and the author recently notified me of the second sequel to that book. Don't know his writing routine - full-time or part-time - and I'm not going to comment on the relative literary merits of his book and mine.

But the big thing is that the fun is in the creating, cos, unless you are very lucky - talent doesn't seem to have a lot to do with it - and get yourself an agent and/or publisher, you're doing it for love, not for money.

[John Carroll]

I can give you an idea of how long it takes me.

My first book (107k words) took 4 months to complete the first draft. The fourth book (96k words) was finished in 40 days.

If my primary job was as a writer 40 hours a week, I could write a 100k word book in about 5 weeks, or 200 hours. That's with only a little bit of time spent marketing and social networking during the 8 hour workdays.

I also spend more time editing than I do writing the book. Publishing 4 months after first draft is fast for me and it usually takes about 5.

[GeoffC]

Originally Posted by crich70

I wrote a book for NaNo in 2009 that was 50,078 words long in just 28 days. Of course one day I have to go back and edit it to see if it is salvagable which will probably mean that I'll be adding onto it to tie up any loose ends that still exist among other things.

Mine last year was 51000+, and target was reached in 21 days .... I'm still trying to find time to edit the darn thing ....

I suppose the correct answer to the original question is "as long as it takes !"

[Lazybones]

Microsoft Word will tell you how long you've been working on a specific document. For my latest novel, the final installment in a trilogy, it's telling me 18,880 minutes (315 hours). I started writing it in February and finished in mid-September. That's for 274,000 words, and doesn't include the time I've spent in editing and revisions since then (and will spend, before it is ready for publication).

I am planning on writing a novel during NaNoWriMo this year, but I'm shooting for a more manageable 60-70k words.

[John Carroll]

Originally Posted by Lazybones

Microsoft Word will tell you how long you've been working on a specific document.

That's really cool. I didn't know you could do that. You go to "file", "properties" and then "statistics" to get the info.

I went to check my novels and remembered that I write each chapter in a separate document and then add it to the master. When I'm done with that master, I delete all the individual chapters. *sigh*