It takes at longs as it takes to write a novel. And it’s true.
But.
Ah, writing a novel these days…
The publishing world changed dramatically over the course of the last three decades.
Self-publishing now have its own profitable market.
Which makes an already over-satured market sure DARN freakadoodle crowded, dears writers friends.
For the traditional publishing market, producing a novel every six to twelve months seems to be the norm.
And being forgotten unless your debut novel was a BIG, HUGE hit seems to be the norm too.
For the self-publishing market, publishing a novel every six to eight weeks (!?!?!) is, from what I gathered from my research, the norm.
Plus, an author is required to as SEO, Blogging, Community Managing, Social Media Managing, Marketing and Events Planning, and I’m sure I’m forgetting keys things here.
Ok, feeling overwhelmed here. Let’s talk about what didn’t change much.
It’s all about the story?
One thing didn’t change, even though we might think differently now: writers need to be great at sharing with others, marketing and selling.
Another thing that didn’t change: every novel is different.
A story can take a writer six months to draft, re-write, revision, re-write, edit, send to critiques partners, edit and re-write, send to beta-readers, edit and re-write and hard core copy proofing before querying.
Or.
It can take a year, or two.
Or more. Again, I really feel like it depends on the story, sure, but also your goals as a writer, and who you are as a person.
Donna Tartt wrote three novels throughout three decades. And they are great novels. And she is making a leaving being a fiction writer (according to Wiki anyway).
It’s all about the story. It’s also all about who we are as human writers.
Long story short: you didn’t make your deadline, did ya?
No.
And this diary will be a weekly diary now, since I’m gonna work one third of my writing time on this YA fantasy novel.
The rest of my writing time will go to a MG fantasy novel.
The MG novel simply feels my heart&soul with joy right now. Also, spoiler but not really, the MG novel turns out to be a bit of a cross-over with a big-time big YA epic fantasy novel I’ve been sporadically working on for the past eight years.
Is it professional to simply stop dedicating all my writing time to finishing a novel I previously wanted to be done with in less than six months?
While the jury is debating that one, I will go back to writing.
Thanks for reading!
Marie Alice Writes & Reads 