The Writing Cycle
Tuesday, October 26, 2010 Question of the day: How long does it take you to write your first draft? How about the finished product?
I think every writer is going to have a different answer to this question, but I generally write my first draft in about six months. At least that's been the standard for my last two books. My first two books, I wrote more quickly, but now, this is about what my stamina and concentration afford me. I'm the type of writer who loses momentum (and enthusiasm) easily, so I truly have to write every day (barring weekends) when I'm working on a first draft. I often equate writing to going to the gym - it gets easier when you schedule it and make it part of your routine - so again, for me, I sit down and write and build and build until I hit 85k (or so) words. Generally, this means putting about 1k words down a day - sometimes more, rarely less, with some time to go back each 50 or so pages and smooth out some rough spots.
Sometimes, I surprise myself and get there before six months, but even if I do, that leaves me plenty of time to revise a bit before handing it over to my agent and editor. When I do hand it into them, that's what I consider to be the first draft.
From there, I spend about three months revising. The second round of revisions is probably the toughest for me: because I'm a pantser and write without a map, sometimes, certain plot points don't work and certain characters need heavy alterations. This is the draft in which I do that - go back and pull out anything that is really clunky and then figure out how to fix it. From there, I bounce it back to my editor, and we probably go through two or so more rounds of smaller fixes/tweaks/shading.
All in, it's about a 9-10 month process, and then, I give myself some downtime to decompress (and take care of things like copy edits, publicity for other books, etc), which I think is critical. It's usually in this downtime, even though I can't IMAGINE starting something new, that another idea springs up. And after a few months, I'm itching to start all over again, even though I know I'm a glutton for punishment.
So that's my writing cycle. As I said, everyone is different. Franzen takes 10 years between books. Many of my other friends take two or so. I don't know if I'll keep up this pace forever - it is somewhat draining, but I also sincerely feel that itch to start over, so for now, this is what works for me.
What works for you guys? Will you share your own writing cycles?
Craft, Life as a writer
Reader Comments (5)
Thanks for sharing this, Allison! I love your blog for all of the insider views into the writing and business aspects of publishing.
I write nonfiction, so the process is a little different...or is it?
There's a lot of upfront research that I have to do before I even get a word in. Once I have the bulk of the research done, then it takes about a year and a half to write. It always helps if I have a deadline!
I tend to write a draft of a chapter in three weeks (with daily, butt-in-chair, quota writing). I send it out to my trusted beta readers. While I wait for them to give it a huge tune-up, I research the loose ends for the next chapter for about a week. Revise previous chapter (1 week) and then dive into next. So, all things told, about 5 weeks per chapter.
At least that was the process for the latest. I'm just starting the proposal for the next one, due to agent in January. The proposals take me at least 3 months to get it just right. Work well worth it. I have a really good idea afterwards about what the final product is going to look like...in theory.
I just sent in my new manuscript to my agent -- took me about eight to nine months but that included time for my beta readers to read and an editor friend to edit.
That's quite a pace! Thanks for showing us what's behind the curtain. ;) I love learning about how different writers work.
Based on what I've seen from myself over the past couple years, I would estimate 6 months for me to produce a draft I'm comfortable showing to an agent/editor. I start with a loose outline, and I'm one of those people who reads and cleans a few pages from the previous day before moving forward. So maybe 1 month to outline the skeleton and think through the flesh (is this analogy too gross? :P) and then 3-4 months of writing about 1k words a day to produce a "first" draft. I have alpha readers as I go, which helps me stay on track, and then beta readers after, which helps me make sure the whole thing holds together.
I also get ideas constantly throughout this process, so I have to write them down in a journal and save them for later. The ones that still call to me when I finish a manuscript are the ones that I know I have enough heart in to pursue. The rest are forgotten, lol.
Thank you for sharing this Allison, learning your process is really useful. And it's very apparent how hard you work for each book.
Wow! You're very efficient! I have been working for nine months on my second novel and I'm still not done! (In my defense, it's my first time writing historical fiction and I had a lot of research to do :) ) Question: Do you still work with a critique group? And if so, do you meet with them while you're writing your first draft?