- How long does it take you to complete a first draft?
- How long do you let your first draft "rest" until you return to begin editing?
- How many "still perfecting" works do you have on the table?
- How many "query-able" (queriable?) novels do you have in shiny gold boxes?
- What's your genre--and why??
As for me--I've just topped 60,000 words on my WIP, and I am dancing! I'm thinking another 20K should do it. Then, it's "rest during vacation" and dig in at the end of June.
On that note, I'm off to do some more writing!
Cheers!
* How long does it take you to complete a first draft?
ReplyDeleteIf it's during the school year--at least a semester. If it's during the summer...a month and a half?
* How long do you let your first draft "rest" until you return to begin editing?
As I write, I have "notes" in the back of my mind of things I need to do to revise. So I usually jump right on that immediately. But I do allow a "rest" period--however long it takes for me to fully get the story out of my head, for me to read it as a story and not words. That takes between 2 weeks, 1 month, or for one particular WIP--years.
* How many "still perfecting" works do you have on the table?
I'm working on a WIP now that needs a revision. And I've got one that I wrote a long time ago that I'd like to someday get back to.
* How many "query-able" (queriable?) novels do you have in shiny gold boxes?
1
* What's your genre--and why??
MG/YA SFF. Cause that's where the fun is!
I'll play. ;]
ReplyDelete*How long does it take you to complete a first draft?
- Depends on whether it's NANO or not. If NANO, one month + plus finishing up over Christmas. If not, I take my time and drag it out over a couple years. :)
*How long do you let your first draft "rest" until you return to begin editing?
- Er. Depends on how I feel about the draft.
If it's a NANO project, I let it sit for up to a year before I tackle it and clean it up for critters. Because I know there is a LOT of stuff that will need chopping.
If it's a thing I've been writing off and on for over a year, I generally feel confident enough to go immediately into light edits and handing it off to critting partners for feedback to be used in final edits.
*How many "still perfecting" works do you have on the table?
- On the table, as in CLOSE to sending off? Three.
On the table as in not close to sending off, but in the neighborhood, give or take...
Uhm. I don't know. I've been writing for a while and have a lot of completed stuff under my bed. The better stuff I feel more confident about though - nine seperate projects, with five others that are ALMOST tasty enough to revise, and a lot of others which I haven't looked at in ten years at least. 0-(:)]
That multitude of draftiness, sadly, is what happens when you enjoy writing first drafts, but loathe cleaning them up. #(")#
How many "query-able" (queriable?) novels do you have in shiny gold boxes?
Currently 0, only because my two queryable projects need a bit more work.
What's your genre--and why??
YA Urban Fantasy / Speculative Fiction.
Standard YA plot guidelines, plus aliens/ghosts/spaceships/distant universes and planets/gods/magicians/sorcerers/witches/heirs/chosen ones.
*sighs happily*
I read YA books [devours them, I do], and it's the genre I'm most familiar with. Mainly mainstream, though I LOVE it when I find authors who perfect the YA plot/voice/character and link it to my OTHER favorite genre - Fantasy.
Anyhoo -
Happy writing! Good luck on the back 20K. :]
How long - depends on how hard I push myself. I've banged out a first draft in 2 weeks before, sometimes 30 days. I'm all about 50,000 words in 30 days. Sometimes, it takes 6 weeks.
ReplyDeleteResting - normally 2 - 3 weeks. I definitely give myself enough time to create the necessary distance to approach the project with fresh eyes.
Still perfecting - geesh, you had to ask that question? 1 out to query, 1 ready to query at some point, 3 in various stages of undress (I mean editing), and one work in progress.
Query-able (queriable) - see above.
Genre - mainstream.
I have no clue why, it's just where I ended up writing after years of working on fantasy projects. One day, I just had an idea about a mainstream/commercial project and went from there. Since that point, it's all I've written. I guess since I pull from life around me for inspiration, it makes sense.
S
Currently 0, only because my two queryable projects need a bit more work.Nitpicky yah, but I meant to say technically three, but 2/3 are definitely bordering on ready. The other one was queried around earlier this year, but came back with a list of suggestions for improvement. I just haven't gotten back into it yet. :[
ReplyDeleteAll three of my novels were completed in two months each. Which I thought was amazing at the time since I'd never completed a novel before.
ReplyDeleteMost of them I can only wait a few hours to overnight before I start editing. Mostly because I'm so excited about finishing that I just have to do something.
Two right now. One that I queried for during April that didn't go well at the time so I brought it back and now I'm noticing all the issues that I should've fixed then.
None, but I hope to finish both of my editing projects soon.
Young adult. Because I'm a young adult. I like writing YA fantasy best. I also write some romance and some that I don't yet know what it is.
* How long does it take you to complete a first draft?
ReplyDeleteDepends. It took me 8 years to finish a MG ms, but I did little things in there like get married and have a kid. I also have a day job.
But this last ms took 4 months from concept to completed draft. But all I did was write. When I give myself that option it comes fast.
* How long do you let your first draft "rest" until you return to begin editing?
Two weeks... and it has to be two weeks of working on something else.
* How many "still perfecting" works do you have on the table?
I have three WIPs right now.
* How many "query-able" (queriable?) novels do you have in shiny gold boxes?
I only query one at a time.
* What's your genre--and why??
YA paranormal. I love teen life and teen angst. I've never grown into the soccer mom/adult interests kind of lifestyle. And the paranormal because my favorite thing to research is folklore and mythology.
Great questions!
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete* How long does it take you to complete a first draft?
ReplyDeleteIt varies wildly. First novel took about three weeks. Second novel first draft will be done after about three months (one more month to go or there-abouts, I'm at the 60k mark too, 40k left).
* How long do you let your first draft "rest" until you return to begin editing?
I let the first novel rest for almost a year, then started the rewrite and realized I needed to let it rest a little longer, so it'll be almost two years before I get back to it. The second novel is getting edited as I go, I'll likely start doing it seriously as soon as it's done.
* How many "still perfecting" works do you have on the table?
Two novels, and about 8 short stories.
* How many "query-able" (queriable?) novels do you have in shiny gold boxes?
None yet. Ask me in four months...
* What's your genre--and why??
Speculative- mostly science fiction and fantasy, though I've written some pretty dark/horrific fantasy short stories too. I love the ability to build worlds and toss in whatever I want while exploring the human condition in different environments.
The first novel is a sci-fi dystopic thriller. The second novel is a quasi-historical fairytale fantasy.
• How long does it take you to complete a first draft? About 6 months
ReplyDelete• How long do you let your first draft "rest" until you return to begin editing? I have a real problem with this—I’ve revised and am now editing, and this has been going on for nearly a year…I can’t seem to let it alone for more than a few days. I think I need an intervention!
• How many "still perfecting" works do you have on the table? 1 that has strong possibilities; the other 2—well, who wants to trim down 150,000 words to fit into the YA category.
• How many "query-able" (queriable?) novels do you have in shiny gold boxes? 0
• What's your genre--and why?? Commercial Fiction, because it doesn’t fit anywhere else!
Sorry I didn't comment on this last round. Life got in the way, and by the time I had the decks cleared a little, everything I had to say had already been said. I'll try to do better next time.
ReplyDeleteMy shortest time to do a first draft was nineteen days on Elvish Has Left the Building, but I'm cannibalizing what can be used from it and jettisoning most of the rest. The core story about a quartet of elves impersonating dead rock-&-rollers is about all that remains, so I'm not sure it can still qualify. The first draft of Dead Women in Love was my first NaNo win of three, and the one closest to completion.
The longest is the so-far endless loose collection of sequential fantasy yarns I call the Vast Amorphous Fantasy Thing (AKA VAFT). I've been working on that off and on for ten years.
I do many drafts, sometimes with a few days in between, sometimes a year or more. Smarter Than the Average Werewolf's first draft took a couple of months, the first revision another couple. I did something foolish with that draft, retrieved it in October and did the last major rewrite in a third pair of months, but I still tweak little things on it when I notice them. It's the only one being queried at the moment.
I'm still perfecting Dead Women in Love and its follow-up, All the Damn Vampires, and what I expect the be the fifth book in the series, which has had several titles. The latest is The Handyman Can, since Male and Female Made He Them seemed cumbersome. It really fits better, though.
I'll write dang near anything. I might even try my hand at a romance, as a friend of mine who writes for Leisure suggested her editor might like to see something along those lines from me, but I normally do supernatural hard-boiled mysteries. I love the challenge of mixing genres while still remaining true to the traditions of each, which I think too many cross-genre writers don't try to do.
How long does it take you to complete a first draft? Still figuring that out! I'm hoping for eight months.
ReplyDeleteHow long do you let your first draft "rest" until you return to begin editing? I alternate writing and revising chapters. Letting rest for at least a week works.
How many "still perfecting" works do you have on the table? Just this one big project, an 100,000-word travel memoir.
How many "query-able" (queriable?) novels do you have in shiny gold boxes? Just her!
What's your genre--and why?? Nonfiction is where it's at. Why? Because I'm a journalist, and us journo have trouble making stuff up!
Thanks for this post!
Alexis
http://alexisgrant.wordpress.com
I try to complete the first draft as quickly as I can, but it still takes ages...
ReplyDeleteI usually edit as I go, one chapter at a time, but let each chapter sit for a period, usually until I get to Chapter 10, then I'll begin edits on Chapter 1.
When you say "still perfecting", do you mean doing the last bits of editing? If you do, then none.
That's the same for the next question.
I write the Action genre, because that's what I read, therefore enjoy writing. I'm also planning a YA Fantasy novel, because I think Fantasy is fun to write, and I enjoy world building.
That's got to be my largest comment I've ever left on this site.
How long does it take you to complete a first draft?
ReplyDeleteDepends how distracted I am. Finished my current WIP in maybe two or so month (was querying another novel at the same time).
How long do you let your first draft "rest" until you return to begin editing?
In this case a day. I had made a slight (okay major) detour in my plot and I had to fix some of the earlier stuff so that it worked.
How many "still perfecting" works do you have on the table?
Two. I thought my other novel was finished, but then an agent recently passed on it saying that she wasn't in love with the voice but she did like the story and the characters. If no one else was interested in it and I was willing to do some serious revisions, then she'd be happy to see it again. I had already toyed with changing the voice and rewriting it (hey, why not?). But then another agent (I'm still surprised at this one) requested the full because she enjoyed the first chapter. So now I'm busy making revisions based on some things the other agent mentioned (and I want to be done by the end of next week!). Boy, when does this all end? I also have a partial out at another agency.
What's your genre?
YA paranormal but nothing with vampires or zombies. I enjoy weaving mythology with my plots. Romance also plays a major role in my stories.
Why that genre? Because that what I like to read. This way I can buy books and convince myself it's for research. ;)
How long does it take you to complete a first draft?
ReplyDeleteFor my first manuscript, the first draft took exactly three months. With the manuscript I'm working on now, I hope to be finished tomorrow! So that would be around 2.5 months.
How long do you let your first draft rest until you return to begin editing?
With my first manuscript, I let it rest about two months. Then I made a start on editing, then I got this crazy idea that I wanted to go and do further study, so I began to study for the test I needed to sit to get into the course. Then I realised whenever I imagined my ideal life in ten years time, it was as a writer. So I gave up on the idea of study and came back to writing with a new project.
Ideally I'd let this one sit for two months once I'm finished the first draft, but I want to enter it in a competition, so it will have to be more like a month.
How many 'still-perfecting' works do you have on the table?
Two. The first manuscript, which is basically still a first draft, and the second, on which I've nearly finished the first draft. So quite a way to go yet!
How many queriable novels do you have in shiny gold boxes?
None. :-( Though I'm working hard to change that!
What's your genre - and why??
The first manuscript was fantasy, the second is thriller. I read a lot of genres and I find it hard to pick my favourite, so I just write the best ideas that I get, no matter the genre.
First draft: I've done two and I think they took a couple of months each. I started during NaNoWriMo and continued into the new year.
ReplyDeleteRest: I didn't
WIP: One being revised and one partly finished first draft.
Queryable: One is in the box and I've sent out queries, but that's on hold because it was my first book and I really need to improve it.
Genre: Thriller. It's what I like to read.
* How long does it take you to complete a first draft?
ReplyDeleteGuessing, because it's been a while but four to five months.
* How long do you let your first draft "rest" until you return to begin editing?
I don't. I usually stop a couple times and edit as I go--I also write pretty clean. W/1st person I usually find myself adding in quite a bit but with 3rd it's more a clean up job.
* How many "still perfecting" works do you have on the table?
HAHAHA who knows?! Right now I've got three projects going, four if you include the YA.
* How many "query-able" (queriable?) novels do you have in shiny gold boxes?
1 and agent has the proposal for it. Still waiting to hear back from her on some other stuff.
* What's your genre--and why??
HAHAHA Um pubbed in erotica/erotic romance, also dabbling in UF, YA UF, and ParaRom but Women's Fic is my true love.
Good luck on the novel! Hope you can get it finished before your vacation.
ReplyDelete* How long does it take you to complete a first draft?
Anywhere from two months to two years, depending on how invested in the project I am.
* How long do you let your first draft "rest" until you return to begin editing?
On average, a couple of weeks. However, if I write a project and realize I'm not ready as a writer to tackle something that size, I'll put it in storage for years. I wrote the first draft of a fantasy novel back in 2003, and it's still waiting for me to mature enough to rework it.
* How many "still perfecting" works do you have on the table?
As in, they've past the "revising" stage and entered the "perfecting" stage? I have two that will be ready for submissions with just a little more work.
* How many "query-able" (queriable?) novels do you have in shiny gold boxes?
Three- a trilogy.
* What's your genre--and why??
Fantasy, urban fantasy, science fiction, horror, and sports fiction. The first four for the pure fun of it, the last for love.
How long does it take you to complete a first draft?
ReplyDeleteAbout a month. I do NaNo each year, started two years ago.
How long do you let your first draft "rest" until you return to begin editing?
Another month, or two. First one was about a month, the second closer to two. I worked on a short piece during the down time after the first one.
How many "still perfecting" works do you have on the table?
Two, my first NaNo, "Crossing Over" (a High/Epic fantasy novel) and my second, "Cri Du Coeur" (a vampire murder mystery novel).
How many "query-able" (queriable?) novels do you have in shiny gold boxes?
0. I queried the first one a few times, got some interest, but it didn't go anywhere...its not near ready I realize now. Going to get back to it after I complete the one I'm working on now.
What's your genre--and why??
Fantasy/Mystery. Love reading both genres, that's why!
• How long does it take you to complete a first draft?
ReplyDeleteDefine first draft. Is it the first time you put words on a paper forming random chapters with no real direction but you numbered the pages anyway? Or is it the first copy you waste money on printing it?
• How long do you let your first draft "rest" until you return to begin editing?
I don’t ever LET it rest. It keeps me awake at night, it distracts me while I am trying to do other things, it mocks my indecisiveness so I do the same and the10, 20 30, 40 thousand word draft does not get wink of sleep until it decides to grow up and become a book.
• How many "still perfecting" works do you have on the table?
Several and several under and next to the table as well.
• How many "query-able" (queriable?) novels do you have in shiny gold boxes?
All of them are query-able. If I just could find the right combination of words!
• What's your genre--and why??
That is the most difficult part of writing or rather submitting. Agents/publishers are the experts on where books fit – they should form a clearing house of sorts that one could submit an outline/synopsis and a couple of chapters to and then for a small fee get an answer to that age old head-banging question – where exactly DOES this book fit?
words4sale,
ReplyDeleteI really like you final suggestion. If that were the case, I wouldn’t have wasted about 30 agent’s time, pitching the wrong genre!
How long does it take to complete a first draft? My first novel, a 102k suspense/thriller, took almost 5 years with work and many other family responsibilities looming large. The second novel took 30 days. I wrote it on my own and was very pleased with myself. I have subsequently woven in a sub-plot and made several revision passes so it's now up to a respectale 92k words. I then discovered NaNo and have added 2 other 30-day wonders to my virtual shelves. Last year I completed 6 novels and one this year with 2 WIPs. My genre is steamy romantic suspense and a couple of steamy romances without the suspense factor. :-)
ReplyDeleteMy critique group is a lifeline and as valuable as the air I breathe. The one novel I completed this year is "resting" while I work on polishing others...Of the pile, 7 of the 10 are worthy of sending out, although an editor would certainly have thoughts to offer. I guess that I never feel like a novel is completely
"done" and will continue to tweak them until contracted.
How long it takes me to complete a first draft depends mainly on how well thought-out the story is when I begin -- unless you count the percolating days/weeks -- and how much actual at-the-keyboard time I give it. I've had no problem doing the NaNoWriMo 50K in November the last two years, but it took me 3 years to finish the first draft of another book.
ReplyDeleteHow long I leave a first draft resting depends on what else is going on and how many "Oh! I know! I can have this happen!" thoughts I have about it when it's not on my screen.
I have a couple of things that need "a little more" work, and one that I've just decided to expand from a single novel to a trilogy, so it needs lots more work.
I always thought my genre was fantasy and/or sci fi, but lately I've been doing contemporary vaguely occult stuff, and seem to like that pretty well. I would love to do mystery, but haven't got the plotting skills yet.
Congrats on 60K, 20K to go!
ReplyDeleteTime/1st draft: Depends: With YA, I've settled to four month cycles. Editing prior while researching next, until my fingers start itching and I have to write once more(again while editing) I'm a research nut. Adult-six months, but I've a 10 year researched historical family saga from the 1100's.
the above has a built in "arghh" break. I'm limited by what I'm reading. If it's a 'perfect' book from a fav author, I'll lose two weeks in a funk, knowing that I can NEVER do that! Why do we most admire a style that we, by nature, can't accomplish. It assures me that I'll never get lax or over-confident.
"Rest" depends--good outline, good feedback from fellow writers, I'll send it on to editor as long as my mind has heavily moved on to the next project.
"still perfecting" I had a wise teacher that said you're never done until its published. I deem it ready when I know the story is right, and that the pace and characters are solid. This isn't subjective to me. I know when it's right.
"Query-able" 2
Genre: YA for now. Why? in professional mode, "Because it's a great launch base for adult genre flexibility."
In my heart? "Because I'm a Midwest nut who wants young adults to know that there are healthy loving sexual relationships, loving families, intelligent warrior girls who turn into amazing women, (and men who love them), faith (in whatever) gives you strength and power beyond the mere physical attributes we've genetically inherited, that you can disagree with those you love and still be loved, that there is hope that the world makes sense within the walls of our homes, that we can change what is wrong outside our walls--if we break them down, that religion diversity should unite our world--not tear it down, that sex, race, socio-economic status, handicaps, etc will never limit the human spirit.
Did I mention that I'm a Mom. Did you figure out my '2nd take'? (Last Lecture) That I'm writing for my new grand-daughter and future great-grand-children?
And I can best do that in scifi/fantasy where it can be disguised as magic or advanced science. All disguised as a really great fun and exciting ride for me and for the reader.
* How long does it take you to complete a first draft?
ReplyDeleteI have three very long ones and decided I needed a shorter novel. So I started a 'shortie' This one took me about three months. It's a suspense so I had to tie in pieces of the puzzle. Which I did on a story board. The plot changed as it developed. The longer ones took well into months because they also needed heaps of research. The world build on two of them is particularly hefty because without it, I wouldn't have been able to suspend disbelief.
My first drafts are like the base of a clay sculpture. I tend to want to pace and get on. Like in art from the general - to the particular. When you start a painting you splash over the entire canvas - not getting too bogged down so the story flows. This stage for me is called 'blocking in'.
* How long do you let your first draft "rest" until you return to begin editing?
I don't. I get straight into editing. My mind is fresh and my characters are still my very close close friends. I know them and they sometimes need to change a little here or there. I've blocked in on the draft so now I'm on the next stage of my clay sculpture. Shaping and smoothing. Stage one above was the general, now I am starting the stage of the 'particular'
I will probably have three edits and when I feel comfortable with where I'm at, probably sitting on a couple of crits, I let it just 'rest' for maybe a month, during which I'm likely to be working on something else.
* How many "still perfecting" works do you have on the table?
When I realised the beginning hook needed changing it threw the emphasis I had into a new edit and change. It was query-able before. But the change cost me a few thousand words, so I'm going through again to get it back to my original word length of 65K.
* How many "query-able" (queriable?) novels do you have in shiny gold boxes?
None. They will all get their turn when I decide they need it. One of my greatest faults is I'm a time waster with good intentions and ideas. I wish I was 100% focused but I'm like Prissy humming down the road singing after finding out the doctor couldn't come for Melanie's baby.
* What's your genre--and why??
I do well with comedy. My nature is slightly ironic. I like strong characters, but I like to show their vulnerable side. That's a bit like what Margaret M. did with Scarlett and Rhett. I'm on a voyage of self discovery because I started contemporary - then a little bit of the paranormal with a n historical in an anthology - then a Regency which I just loved writing - and you have such a wide scope for everything I love - rollicking, fun, with Darcy types, in that wonderful way of Jane Austen's contemporaries (which they were when she wrote them).
My current working is contemporary romantic comedy suspense.
Pennyoz
How long ...?
ReplyDeleteUsually, three to four months depending on length.
How long ... "rest"?
A week or two not longer (time enough to get the preliminary planning for the next project done)
How many ...?
none
How many "query-able" ...?
four (only one in English), one of them (YA Fantasy in German) is under contract with an agent, one (MG Fantasy in English) is currently out to "meet" some agents and one (historical novel) is under submission with a publisher.
What's your genre--and why??
I started with writing historical novels because I stumbled over an interesting story in something a genealogist friend of mine found out about her family. I am now fascinated with history and will continue to write historical novels but my hear lies with YA/MG Fantasy. I love creating worlds that feel real with unusual characters.
1) Anything from 6 months to 2 years depending on the time I have and if I'm inspired. I never push myself to write!
ReplyDelete2) About 4 months rest period then I'll pick it up again and start to rip it to pieces.
3) All my novels are published but I have 2 W.I.P around 40% completed.
4) My genre is urban thriller.
Exciting novels about bikers. Drugs, sex and rock!
Why? .... Because I allow my readers to escape the norm, become rebels and behave how they would want, but never dared.
I write about life. Nothing is too far fetched in my books.
First draft: I think it was about two months to complete drafts for 4 novels
ReplyDeleteResting period: Um, I didn't know to let them rest when I started this process. But I've left my WIP rest for a month or more since I started
No. of "still perfecting" One. The rest of the novels I've left alone while I work on this WIP
No. "query-ables"? none
Genre and why? Children's novels. I wrote in this genre because I read an ad from a publishing company that wanted fiction about youngsters to teens. It's what inspired this journey.