Sitting Down and Just Writing!

 Hello and welcome to Author Tips Wednesday! (Er, something like that).

Wednesdays are (tentatively), not about my novels, but instead about my process, trials, tribulations, issues, triumphs, how-goes and what-fors (that sounded better in my head to be honest).

In the spirit of having just completed my tenth National Novel Writing Month, I thought I'd dust off this piece I wrote a couple of years ago. Enjoy!

When I talk to people about the fact that I’m an author, particularly with people who are aspiring authors themselves, I get asked for a lot of writing tips and then the question that always comes out:

“How long does it take you to write a novel?”

I’m never quite sure how to answer that question to be honest and when I do answer it, I get some fairly flabbergasted looks. So, here’s my answer for the records:

For the first draft of a novel (not finished): One month.

How do I do it? I’m a devotee (is that the right term?) of National Novel Writing Month or NaNoWriMo. The goal? Write 50,000 words minimum in the month of November.

When you have a word count like that hanging over your head, you have no real choice, but to sit down and just write. You can’t second guess yourself at any point when it’s day 20 and you still have 20,000 words to write!

Of course, the part where I have to polish my novel takes longer; anywhere from eight months to two years, depending on how many roadblocks, writer’s blocks, and time I happen to have. But the important part to me is to simply get down and start writing stories, otherwise I would never get anything done.

I think this is something that many authors struggle with: it’s very easy, and seductive, to fall into the trap of thinking that every sentence must be perfect in the first draft. They become paralyzed by that idea and never get anything done. From what I have learned however, if you don’t have anything down, you can’t do any editing. A story in your head isn’t going to do anyone much good, including yourself.

I think we also tie a lot of our self worth as authors to the speed of a novel and it’s easy to do that as well. After all, there are many prolific writers who can put out two or three novels a year (or more) while the rest of us are putting out one a year or one every eighteen months and feel as though we are falling behind. Publishers can exacerbate this by demanding more and more from their stable of star writers and that can easily lead to burn out. And of course, we have the readers who would probably much prefer six or eight books a year from their favorite author! So, the question of how long it takes to write a novel takes on a personal cast as we try to compare ourselves to others while at the same time, trying to figure out whether our favorite authors are in the ‘norm’ or not.

I can’t even standardize it for myself. The Curious Case of Prince Charming was done relatively quickly (less than a year), while the fourth book is still not out yet and we don't talk about it. (Next spring. I swear. I hope) It all depends on the story, the writer and often circumstances, some of which completely out of our control.

Writing tips may try to standardize the length of time it would take to write a novel, but it’s actually a nearly impossible task because every author, every story, is completely different. Instead, it’s important to just keep writing and let time take care of itself. When it comes to writing novels and telling stories, just get them out there and don’t let yourself be paralyzed by perfection. You can’t get better if you don’t start!

Thanks for dropping by! 

My short story Something Borrowed can be found on Amazon as a Kindle exclusive. 

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