Question: How long does it take to write a novel?
Answer: As long as it takes.
For some, maybe that's three months. For others, maybe it's a year. For others, maybe it's five years.
I worked on RISE off and on for several years. My (many) drafts weren't working, and the more I tried to fix what was going wrong, the more it became something I didn't really want it to be. I had my sights set on "high concept," but the "high concept" wasn't meshing with the kinds of stories I really like to tell: dramatic love stories.
So this summer I deleted everything in the manuscript (the fifth or sixth version of it, actually) that wasn't related to Nick and Fallon and the fallout from their kiss. (There wasn't even a kiss in one of the earliest versions!) At this point, I focused on telling their story.
If you would have told me going into it, though, it would take five years before I ended up with a draft I was satisfied with, I might not have had the courage to sit down and make it happen.
Just the thought of writing a novel--putting 50,000+ cohesive words onto paper--can be paralyzing.
But . . . it will help if you don't think of it as "sitting down and writing a novel." Just sit down and write that scene. Sit down and fill that page. Just sit down--get your butt in the chair. Start typing. Then show up and do the same thing the next day. And the next. And the next.
Soon you'll have those words.
You'll have your scenes.
You'll have your book.
Be Brilliant!
~Katie~
