As a yet unpublished writer, I find this fascinating. My first book, titled Something Special poured out of me. First draft start to finish took 44 days. That was obviously not perfect, but the story was compelling enough that I've never thought it was crap and I have friends who've read every incarnation too. I've fixed things, but never redone the main story because that part is good. It has a lot of characters, but many were just mentioned.
Book 2 took 39 days for the first draft. Both of these books are 125,000 words. There are aspects about Too Much that are better than it's prequel, but each is compelling for its own reasons. Too Much has better momentum because there was less necessity for making the world understandable. I also didn't have to have a character learning her magic.
The third in the series took 52 days. That may seem like a slow down, but given that the book is actually 100,000 words longer, it wasn't. I have many times thought about trying to divide this book in half. But there's just so much going on that I can't see where. I did some giant battle scenes in this and wound everything up -- in some cases too much, so New Realities still needs some rewriting.
My fourth book was an accident. I did seed paragraphs for someone else, and when she remarked that one particular seed seemed complete to her, I decided to add to it -- you know, to disprove that -- and then I couldn't stop. 41 days later, I had another book, entirely different from the first three: different POV (first), different genre (mystery/humor), and different type of ending (he doesn't get the girl and is sad about the way it had to end).
I've since started a fifth and sixth book. Some way, I can't seem to finish either. One is a story belonging to the world of the first three (Wrath of Golreth) and I'm hanging at 17 chapters. The other is Gothic and was another accident. I started it as a challenge that was to be a group effort for my writing circle, only I couldnl't let it go. The speach is Edwardian, the story set in 1901 and is a werewolf story, though in a new sense because these critters are the creation of a Dakota God, who meant only to save his people, though they had other ideas. I'm on chapter 11 of that. The thing that slows me down within it is the Edwardian style. Though I also slowed for a lack of time (changed jobs and got very busy with life). I've been working on one or the other for about six months now.
Why do I keep writing when I haven't yet sold a book? Somewhere I read that you should because while you may not sell the first, you'll probably sell the tenth, then go back, fix the first and sell it. In my head that became a need for ten books.
It's good to see your history. It makes me feel not so weird. sylvia_rachel is one of my closest friends and part of my writers group. She currently has just one and I think she will probably sell it -- it's good and well-written. The fact that I'm holding on to four completed books while she actually gets partial requests sometimes leaves me feeling weird. But if you did that too...
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2008-03-03 06:48 am (UTC)Book 2 took 39 days for the first draft. Both of these books are 125,000 words. There are aspects about Too Much that are better than it's prequel, but each is compelling for its own reasons. Too Much has better momentum because there was less necessity for making the world understandable. I also didn't have to have a character learning her magic.
The third in the series took 52 days. That may seem like a slow down, but given that the book is actually 100,000 words longer, it wasn't. I have many times thought about trying to divide this book in half. But there's just so much going on that I can't see where. I did some giant battle scenes in this and wound everything up -- in some cases too much, so New Realities still needs some rewriting.
My fourth book was an accident. I did seed paragraphs for someone else, and when she remarked that one particular seed seemed complete to her, I decided to add to it -- you know, to disprove that -- and then I couldn't stop. 41 days later, I had another book, entirely different from the first three: different POV (first), different genre (mystery/humor), and different type of ending (he doesn't get the girl and is sad about the way it had to end).
I've since started a fifth and sixth book. Some way, I can't seem to finish either. One is a story belonging to the world of the first three (Wrath of Golreth) and I'm hanging at 17 chapters. The other is Gothic and was another accident. I started it as a challenge that was to be a group effort for my writing circle, only I couldnl't let it go. The speach is Edwardian, the story set in 1901 and is a werewolf story, though in a new sense because these critters are the creation of a Dakota God, who meant only to save his people, though they had other ideas. I'm on chapter 11 of that. The thing that slows me down within it is the Edwardian style. Though I also slowed for a lack of time (changed jobs and got very busy with life). I've been working on one or the other for about six months now.
Why do I keep writing when I haven't yet sold a book? Somewhere I read that you should because while you may not sell the first, you'll probably sell the tenth, then go back, fix the first and sell it. In my head that became a need for ten books.
It's good to see your history. It makes me feel not so weird.
Anyway, thanks for sharing.