How long does it take to write a novel?

 

I spent well over a year on my first attempt at a novel, a 110,000-word, still-not-finished mammoth of a YA Urban Fantasy. I had plot threads going every-which way, I took two months to start revising when I hadn’t even finished the story, and I couldn’t figure out how to end the darn thing. I always felt like I couldn’t move onto the next scene until I had the one I was working on absolutely perfect. Eventually, I just stalled.

 

It was frustrating. I’d never written anything before, but I hadn’t expected it to be this hard. I beat myself up about it for awhile, but then I realized something: Although I’dspent a lot of my time on a book I don’t believe will ever see the light of day, I hadn’t wasted any of my time. I’d learned a lot. About my writing style and habits, about my characters, about what works for me and what doesn’t. I went back and read what I’d written. Some of it was OK. Some of it was terrible. Some of it made me laugh. Some of it made me cringe. I knew I had to try again, but I was scared.

 

Then came NaNoWriMo.

 

For those of you who may not be familiar with NaNo, it’s basically a challenge to write a novel of 50,000 words during the month of November. I read about it in an article and it intrigued me because I’m much more likely to accomplish something if I have accountability and a schedule to keep to. So I decided to give it a try.

 

Before November 1^st rolled around, I was perusing the message boards, looking to see who else was going to attempt this crazy conquest. NaNo has a wonderful on-line community which is where I met Beckie! We cheered each other on, offering encouragement when things got tough and celebrating our accomplishments along the way. And at the end of the month – I had 50,000 words! Of a real story! That kind of made sense, if you tilted your head and squinted a certain way!

 

OK, so I didn’t have a complete novel. But I did have 50,000 words. NaNo taught me that sometimes it’s OK to skip around in your story and write the scene that’s really demanding to be written, even if it’s not, technically, the next one. The scene will still be there whenever you’re ready to work on it. I noticed that a lot of times when I worked ahead, a character would do something that actually tied back to a part I’d been stuck on before, and all of a sudden my problem was solved.

 

I eventually finished the story, (a 70,000 word YA Fantasy about missing princess) but it’s still a work in progress. Even if I finish it, it might not be publishable. And that's OK. Because I thoroughly enjoyed bringing my story to life, and I know every time I sit down and write, I'm getting a little bit better.

 

Happy writing!