How Long Does Writing a Book Take?

I seriously considered leaving out this article altogether. Why? Because I am not sure it is possible to put a timeframe on something like writing a book. There are just too many variables:

• Do you have one hour a day or five to devote to novel writing?
• Are you a slow and steady writer, or a fast and furious one?
• Do you want to get from A to B as quickly as possible, or do you want to enjoy the scenery along the way?
• Are you writing a slim work of fiction, or a 1000-page door stopper?

(Follow this link for an article on the ideal novel length - opens in new window.)

If you search the Internet for novel writing guides (and I do that a lot - checking out the competition!) you frequently come across some course or program claiming to show you how to write a book in as little as 30 days.

If you write 2,500 words per day, the argument goes, you will have a 75,000 word novel sitting on your desk by the end of the month. Which is total garbage, of course...

• What about the time you spend coming up with a novel idea in the first place?
• What about the time you spend planning and researching the book?
• What about the time you spend learning the rules on writing a book, or reading novels to see how other writers do it?
• Even when you do start the actual writing, what about revising each day's 2,500 word quota? (And trust me, unless you're a genius you will need to do plenty of revision.)
• What about those days when you're just not firing on all cylinders and you end up spending your novel writing session playing solitaire on your computer? (We all have days like that.)
• And on the basis that there is more to life than writing a book, what about taking time off?

Now, I am sure it is possible to write a novel in six months, maybe less if you really pushed yourself (and don't have the inconvenience of a living to earn). But I would think that 12 months is a more realistic minimum, and two to three years if you don't want to rush.

You don't become a doctor or a lawyer in a few months. You don't become an expert in anything in such a short space of time. So why would it be any different with writing a book?

Another way of looking at it is to ask how long professional novelists take...