How long do you take to write a story?

[MSTarot]

I will usually have only about an hour or so a night to write and maybe four or five on the weekend. So I generally spend that hour a night doing spell checking, or editing, or research. Then I'll sit down and write on Saturday morning.

Because of my job I'm kind of stuck with a five in the morning wake up whether I want it or not. So I get up and write till around ten then go do whatever has to be done around the house.

I will also sometimes wake up at three or four in the morning unable to go back to sleep. Some of my better stories have been done at that time.

Now the fun part I have about seven stories going at various stages and I will jump from story to story. Maybe doing a few hundred too a few thousand word in each. An idea will falter in one story but be just right in another. So save , open, paste. and I'm back to writing but in a totally different story.

Shrug, it's what works for my dyslexic brain I guess.

 

[Duleigh]

I think the more you "feel" a story will also affect the speed you write it.
I did a 33k story once from start to finish in a night.

Wow! The fastest I've ever done was 28K in a week. I've only done one story in a single sitting, and that was only 5,000 words. Personally, I let the stories write themselves.

 

[Smuttyandfun]

When I'm inspired, I can write all night, and usually finish a story by morning. When they come slowly, it can take months, even years. I have some chapters I have to finish that I keep mulling over. I will get them done, but I have to wait for an idea that's right for the story. As was the case with 'One Look' and 'Finally' which the readers seemed to enjoy, though it took me quite a while to come up with endings that worked with those stories.

Of course I still have to edit and read through a few times, and have another set of eyes look it over for missed words and other mistakes I might have overlooked.

Sometimes a story will almost write itself, and I just plunk away at the keys while the story pours out of my head. If I try and ignore it to finish something else, I get distracted and realize I'd better get the one done that's nagging at me. Stories have kept me awake at night, with dialogue going on in my brain. I'm hoping it's just writer's brain and that I'm not crazy!

 

[Voboy]

Wow.

Necrothread...

Some stories write themselves. I did a story once in 22 hours or so, from the basic idea (in the shower in the morning) to writing, then proofing, then submission. I just checked: 9,432 words (quite short, for me), 15,931 views, 4.55. So not awful?

Others take for. Freakin'. Ever. There's no rhyme or reason, except that in a lot of cases, a long gap in the story-writing process means I never complete it.

 

[KeithD]

Depends on the length and complexity of the story. I have them from 750 words to nearly 100,000 words. (Was this a trick question?)

 

[jsmiam]

I'm a new author who has recently posted my first story in 3 parts, "Dad is an Exhibitionist" in the incest theme. I am waiting for another story to be approved to be published under the gay theme "The Dreamer". My question involves how long it takes most of you to write, edit and finally publish your story. Admittedly I'm a bit of a perfectionist, but I probably spend a month of more writing, then rewriting and then editing multiple times. ….

Arguably my best, most polished work was my longest, and it took so long, I needed a vacation from writing.

In the end it was better, fewer mistakes, more cohesive, and didn’t have that ending that was a byproduct of me getting tired of writing. Which I’ve done. More than once.

But the journey of writing it did make me tired of writing.

I probably take myself less seriously than some. This is a hobby. A pastime. And a lot of passed time. I have a job that pays me and a lawn that grows and a family that starts getting mad when I work too much. I have my Priorities, a battle that I lost many a time in the past, where today I’ve achieved a degree of balance, that’s right for me. Each of us has a “too much” point, depending on jobs or not, retired or not, spouse or not, real sexual opportunities to chase or not.

We’re all different. For me the 750 word project a while back let me write a bit and also get it over with too. In and out in under a day. I had an idea I loved for April fools and didn’t get around to it, and same for at work and geek pride themed contests.

I think (@ the OP), maybe you found that “how much is too much” point. It’s perfectly good to listen to that little voice on your shoulder. Your earnings from your lit writing will not be affected!

 

[Zeb_Carter]

My very first novel length story, 129,000 words, took me a year. My second one, 95,000 words, took six months. I have knocked out a 5,000 word story in two hours with another hour to edit, then posted it.

My last novel length story, 235,000 words took me about a year, with the last part being put aside for two years before I finally finished it.

It all depends on whether the story almost write themselves or I struggle to get what I want but the characters seem to want something else.

 

[Kumquatqueen]

Somewhere between 2 days and 15 years, so far. A handful of my stories have been incubated for a year or more, mostly a month or so, a few just spew out of my thumbs almost fully-polished.

Which ones are better? They're different. The longer-gestation ones generally have me wanting to get to a particular place, rather than just characters getting their rocks off.

 

[MsNatalie99]

TBH, I don't have anything (aside from poetry) on Lit. But when I have done stories for other sites and school, I found that it was all about how invested I was. A love story I did between two guys 1 voting trump the other hilary, took me a month to do. It was only 5800 words. Where another one about a alien trying to figure us out. Took me a week. It was around 10000 words. That's just me. I imagine others are faster and more consistant, while procrastinating less.

 

[BiscuitHammer]

That's completely variable, because it's so circumstantial. I thought I'd have more time during covid, but I had far less. Also some nights I'm just more prolific than others. It took me roughly six months to get a recent chapter of Mike & Karen drafted and ready to go, about 48k words.

On the other hand, on a completely unrelated story and subject, I once pounded out a chapter that was about 40,000 words in the span of twelve hours. I wish I was always that prolific.

Unfortunatement, of late my muse has manifested as a hamster swimming in a bucket of Thorozine, so progress is... slow. Even being harangued and sworn at by the Smut-Zulus that are the Lit fanbase has not stirred her from her lethargy (can't imagine why).

Yeah, I'm one of those writers who is all over the place in terms of productivity. I can churn out multiple chapters in days, or not a single one in months.

Ah well, nothing to do but give my muse a hug and squeeze her 'til her pretty pips squeak.