How long does it take you to write a story?

[MLClifton]

I know it can vary a lot, but how long does it generally take you to write a story and edit it?

 

[lovecraft68]

Depends on the piece. When I'm doing 6k or so strokers for anthologies I can write one in a few hours. Then the next day I'll go back and spend a little time editing it.

Also depends on the mood and how strong I'm feeling it. I've done 70k novels in three weeks. On the other hand I've had 25k stories take two weeks because I just don't seem to be in the mood and have to keep backing off rather than force anything

 

[SusanJillParker]

I know it can vary a lot, but how long does it generally take you to write a story and edit it?

A typical 3,000 to 6,000 word erotic story, 1 to 2 Literotica pages or 6 to 12 Word for Windows pages takes 2 to 3 weeks over 75 to 90 hours to create, develop, write, read, edit, rewrite, reread, and reedit.

Now, if you're not writing an erotic story with character development, dialogue, description, imagery, tension and plot, if you're only writing a pornographic story with just sex, sex, and more sex between two talking head, then it takes about 1 hour to write a 3,000 to 6,000 word story (lol).

Good luck with your story.

 

[NOIRTRASH]

One week per LIT page.

The newest is 13,000 words, so figure a month.

 

[Kantarii]

I try not to think about how long I invest in something I passionate about. I keep my chapters rather short, maybe a modest page length. I map out the chapter's dialogue first, then paint the story around the dialogue with words to help visualize the scene. I'd say it takes about 3-4 days to write a chapter for me, then I'll spend two weeks reading it over and editing the piece; longer if I don't feel like the story flows well with the previous chapter or sets up the next chapter.

 

[SusanJillParker]

If I may, I'd like to add.

Writing erotica is usually inspired writing whereas writing a stroke story is not.

Unless you're writing with one hand and masturbating with your other, then that would be deemed inspired writing (lol).

 

[Handley_Page]

Sometimes, it can take months to get a story on the page.

 

[TxRad]

How long does a story take to write?

As long as the story needs. Sometimes hours, sometimes, a lot longer. I write until I finish it or I lose the drive. Then it sits for a while. After that i work on it as i find the interest.

I write very few 'short' stories, so it usually takes longer.

 

[oggbashan]

It depends.

In 2003 for NaNoWriMo I wrote 50,000 words, twelve chapters of my story Flawed Red Silk, in a month. I had all of it edited and posted on Literotica before the end of the NaNoWriMo month.

Some 1 or 2 Lit page stories I can write, edit and submit within a single day. I prefer not to. I like to leave a completed story a day or two before the final edit.

But some of my stories are still incomplete after fifteen years!

 

[GoldenCojones]

I usually spend 2 or more months writing, editing, rewriting, and then re-editing before submitting the story.

 

[sr71plt]

From the time I sit down to the keyboard to write it, two or three hours to write. An hour sometime later to review. The story had already jelled enough in my mind sometime before that before I sat down to write. I don't know how long that process was, as it was going on in the back of my mind.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

How long does a story take to write?

As long as the story needs. Sometimes hours, sometimes, a lot longer. I write until I finish it or I lose the drive. Then it sits for a while. After that i work on it as i find the interest.

I write very few 'short' stories, so it usually takes longer.

What he said.

Some have taken a year or more, some a couple of hours. I rarely write a story that's less than 6k words in length. Most are quite a bit longer.

 

[ChloeTzang]

..............

 

[StrangeTamer]

My story is 8 lit pages around 27000 words and took me about 7 month to write, go over it send it to an editor and post.

 

[HeyAll]

It depends on a number of factors, particularly time & ideas.

Mainly it's coming up with ideas. If the ideas area already there, it can be completed in 3 days. Sometimes, I've been able to complete stories in single day, including writing and editing. I recently wrote "squeezed together with sister" in a single day with editing, and it turned out great. That's because it was based on a simple premise and the ideas came easy.

Other times, it can be more complex, searching for what to happen or add to spice things up. Now that I have school again, it takes longer since I have less time.

 

[oggbashan]

For the current Summer Lovin' contest I have submitted three stories as oggbashan and one as jeanne_d_artois.

The earliest one was first started in March 2016. The last one, six Lit pages long, submitted in the last hour, was started seven days ago.

 

[sr71plt]

The major factor for me in the length of time is the number of words in the story. Once I sit down to write, I'm ready not to get bogged down. Only novellas and more wordy aren't done in one sitting.

 

[lovecraft68]

The major factor for me in the length of time is the number of words in the story. Once I sit down to write, I'm ready not to get bogged down. Only novellas and more wordy aren't done in one sitting.

And what's your approach when you plan on it being a novel/novella? You set goals to reach in each sitting? X amount of chapters or just write until you feel you're done for that particular moment?

 

[sr71plt]

Other than wanting to complete the draft of a chapter or at least a chapter section in that one sitting, I don't put any expectations to it. I tend to just work away at what I'm working on at that time, though. If ideas for something else come up, I just take notes. Sometimes I never start on an idea I've had and written down, but I can't remember ever putting something aside and not finishing it and not finishing it as the "current work" once I've started writing to it. I have inbuilt time regimentation, though, I'm sure. I was in the flash news coverage business for over two decades.

 

[rjordan]

I know it can vary a lot, but how long does it generally take you to write a story and edit it?

When I wrote for a living, I figured on 8-10 typewritten pages of draft a day (~250 words/page). That was non-fiction about something I had a lot of experience with and engineering-level knowledge of--motorcycles.

With fiction, it is completely different. I have a couple Lit-posted stories that took an hour to draft, both requiring minimal editing. I have stories I haven't posted that started 12 years ago. Sometimes a story tells itself. Sometimes it refuses to be told. Admittedly, I don't work at things I don't get paid for very hard.

rj

 

[Hypoxia]

Sometimes minutes, sometimes years. BRIDE OF KONG took about a decade. The first A TASTE OF LEMONADE took about an hour and I could have done another story in the 45 minutes I had left before contest deadline but I would have cheated. Right now I'm in a lull -- I have a dozen or more stories plotted and ready to write -- I need merely force myself to DO IT!

 

[SamScribble]

It depends. 'Writing it long' doesn't take that long; but 'writing it short' can take two, three, four weeks. Of course, I'm seldom just working on one thing. In a typical day, I might be working on a couple of non-fiction pieces, a novel, and a short story. A former editor used to call me Butterfly Brain. I think that he meant it is a kindly way.

 

[NOIRTRASH]

It depends. 'Writing it long' doesn't take that long; but 'writing it short' can take two, three, four weeks. Of course, I'm seldom just working on one thing. In a typical day, I might be working on a couple of non-fiction pieces, a novel, and a short story. A former editor used to call me Butterfly Brain. I think that he meant it is a kindly way.

Twain apologized for having too little time to write a short letter.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Twain apologized for having too little time to write a short letter.

Winston Churchill also apologised for writing a long letter, because he didn't have time to write a short one

 

[dansouthwest]

spent a week writing the story (1 page on Lit), spent another week editing it after receiving feedbacks. So about 2 weeks I would say for a short story.