How Long Does it Take to Write a Novel?

If it was up to me, as a writer, I'd be stuck in revisions, obsessing over perfecting my novel. So last year I came up with a plan to write two novels in a year. The writing plan forces me to move on when I'm spending too much time in one section. Each month attacks a different step for each novel.

An explanation follows below, with a concise list afterward. While I am working on one step of novel 1, I am at a completely different spot with the novel 2. It doesn't matter how I divide my month. I might work for a week straight on novel 1, or alternate days. If I spend the first half of my month on only one novel, mid month I switch it up.

This way I am never bored, or driving myself nuts if I am sick of something.

1. & 2. Snowflake and outlining. I give myself a solid month to plan my novel. And even though it's a solid month, I'm also working on revisions for my second novel. I divide my time between the two. If I become tired of outlining, I have something else to break up the monotony.

3. While my other novel is out with beta readers, I have a month to write 50,000 words for the novel I just outlined. My own NaNo.

4,5,6 & 7. This step is filling in the gaps that my rough draft left. I read through the draft and compare to my outline. I expand scenes. I analyze the scenes to make sure they accomplish their goals.

8. I hate saving revisions until last. So I start tackling revisions as I go along. Alternating with months of analyzing my draft. I have my own personal list of revisions that I check off as I go.

9. I go back and compare everything to my notes again and expand descriptions, and even add scenes.

10. More revisions. Focusing on misused words and poor grammar.

11. Steps 4-7 again.

12. Finally time for beta readers! I give them a whole month with a very polished copy. I would hate to have them tripping over obvious typos.

13. Finish revisions list and work on suggestions from beta readers. Beta readers suggestions can be overwhelming so I allow a month to allow time to stew.

14. It's so important to edit your novel backward and even read it out loud. You will catch many mistakes.

15, 16, 17 & 18. This is the polishing. Sending to an editor. Type setting. You want to allow plenty of time for this if your editor doesn't have a fast turn around. My editor is usually done in two weeks, and I edit from her suggestions for about two weeks.

19, 20, 21 & 22. More polishing.
23. Publish. Allow a nice month to sit back and catch your breath. Implement promotion plan.

A Year’s Writing Plan at a Glance

1. Brainstorm with Snowflake and General Sketch.
2. Draft waypoints and outline.
3. Write rough draft.
4. Compare draft to outline and waypoints. Make adjustments to story arc.
5. Read through while scanning for mistakes and content.
6. Elaborate scene descriptions and emotions.
7. Analyze scenes for impact and importance.
8. Begin revisions list.
9. Repeat steps 4–7.
10. Continue revisions list.
11. Repeat 4–7.
12. Submit to beta readers. Let the novel rest.
13. Finish revisions list and beta readers’ suggestions.
14. Work through novel backward while line editing.
15. Send through a program such as ProWritingAid.
16. Read novel aloud or listen to novel aloud.
17. Send to editor. Make corrections.
18. Type set and format.
19. Read final version as a formatted PDF so it feels like a real book.
20. Order a proof copy. Proofread.
21. Create ebook files.
22. Scan through MOBI and EPUB files on an ereader with a brown or black background to check for formatting errors.
23. Publish and promote.

A chart to keep each month straight. Feel free to adjust the months based on what works for you. January and July are better NaNo months for me, so I built my calendar around those. The numbers correspond with the Year’s Writing Plan at a Glance.

Month	Book 1	Book 2
December	1 & 2	11
January	3	12
February	4, 5, 6 & 7	13
March	8	14, 15 & 16
April	9	17, 18 & 19
May	10	20, 21, 22 & 23
June	11	1 & 2
July	12	3
August	13	4, 5, 6 & 7
September	14, 15 & 16	8
October	17, 18 & 19	9
November	20, 21, 22 & 23	10

So how long does it take for me to write a novel? A year. Two novels in a year. This is working for 4 hours a day, five days a week.

Pre-outlining: PUTTING IDEAS TO PAPER

I generated this questionnaire after reading K.M. Weiland's book  5 Secrets of Story Structure. This is a must read, and it's free, so pick it up.

Filling out this form is the first step in making your abstract ideas concrete. If you don’t know these answers, the reader will suffer and ultimately put your novel down after the first few pages or even the first few paragraphs.

Book Title:

Thesis or theme:

One sentence summary:

One paragraph summary or blurb:

What is the goal of my novel? Or, another words, how do you want your reader to feel, or what do you want your reader to learn from the experience?

What is the Lie the Protagonist Believes? What does he want in the overall story? What are his goals? What is he trying to achieve?

Protagonist:

What mysteries lay hidden in the protagonist’s past that must be uncovered to confront them and move on?

Antagonist force:

What is the Hook? What happens next?

Inciting Incident: What event starts the ball rolling in the plot? Where does the conflict begin? What sets the story in motion?

Key Event: What event reveals what the story is about? How does it draw the protagonist into the story line?

First Plot Point: What event kicks the protagonist out of the normal world? How does he try to regain his footing?

What is the doorway between the first and second act? What is each side of the doorway? (The Key Event and the First Plot Point)

Act Two: What is the main conflict that the protagonist has learned?

First Pinch Point: What is the new information that foreshadows the Midpoint and Third Plot Point? How does the Pinch Point influence the following scenes? How does the Pinch Point provide new clues about the nature of the battle the protagonist is waging? How does the protagonist react?

What choice will the protagonist ultimately choose? What forces are out of the character’s control? What does he not comprehend about the situation?

Midpoint: Moment of Truth: What is the central truth about the nature of the story that shatters the Lie the Protagonist Believes and changes his perspective? What is the catalyst that makes your character fight to resolve his conflict? What does the protagonist understand about what needs to be done? What does he do to fight back?

Second Pinch Point: What happens to remind the reader what is at stake? What is at stake? What slaps the protagonist in the face? What is he willing to pay to defeat the antagonist and achieve his goal?

Act Three: Third Plot Point: What event turns everything around and lands a deep emotional blow to the protagonist?

What is the climax of the protagonist’s inner arc? How does he finally face the truth? Will he rise above and conquer or will he fall deeper in a tragic negative arc? How does he embrace the new truth he has learned? Or, how does the Third Plot Point force him deeper into darkness, reaffirm his Lie, and compel him to rise bent on destruction?

Climax: What is the true conflict that is the heart of the story, and how is it resolved? How is the protagonist’s conflict obliterated? When is the protagonist’s true goal realized?

Resolution: How is the protagonist different from whoever he was in the beginning? How has the world changed around him? How does his future look from here? What is the final emotion I want to leave with the reader?

Understanding a Character's Motivations

Plotting for NaNoWriMo.

Who’s with me? 

With only five days to start, I had better solidify my ideas. I have a concrete plotting schematic I follow when outlining my novels, but sometimes events and specific scenes don’t come to me until I’m almost finished the first draft. And even then, sometimes epiphanies will come, and I’ll rush to include this new breakthrough into my story.

When I was writing Master of Time, I wrote out all eighty-something scenes on sticky notes and laid them out on my dining-room table. I preceded to label the scenes according to the plot points on my outline. It wasn’t as easy as I thought, and it wasn’t until later that I learned what I was doing wrong.

I was confusing my characters’ inner and outer motivations and trying to fit them onto one linear line.

The two are completely different.

The characters’ outer journey manifests in the physical things that the reader sees happen. The actual events that open the doors between acts. In Master of Time, my first plot point occurs when Meuric and Catrin set out on their journey. Fifty percent of the way through the novel, BAM! Another course-altering event takes place. And then 75% of the way through, another door opens and the characters’ journey takes another turn.

This is not the inner motivations that drive the characters or the characters’ emotional trek. The outer journey has a continual uphill climb until WHACK, the characters reach the apex of the story and it all goes downhill from there.

Not true with the emotional journey. Both Meuric and Catrin went through so many ups and downs that their paths looked more like a seismograph wave. 

Just remember—three catastrophes and an ending. That’s plot point one at 25%, plot point two at 50%, and plot point three at 75%. The ending is the climax, somewhere around 90-98%. All the other way points pertain to the characters’ emotional journey or are there to propel events forward, like with the Hook and the Inciting Incident. The All-is-Lost Moment is another pivotal scene. They are events, but not the KEY events.

Think of the plot points as answering what and when while the inner motivations answer the how and why.

Once the distinction is made between inner and outer motivations, laying out your outline and mapping your plot points is a piece of cake.