One of the most popular questions I get asked is: “How long did it take you to write…?”
Honestly, that’s a question I ask myself too. I need to know how much time I invest and how much I earn for each hour invested for all my other jobs (translator and editor, in case you’re wondering) and this summer I decided I would begin to keep track of my writing time. Now I’ve decided to share some results with you.
These numbers apply to a short story (5,500 words; usually, a full novel is around 70,000 words), and I was lucky enough to be really, really inspired for it. Still, I think it’s worth noting and sharing, for comparison purposes.
| Plotting time: | 1hour 30 minutes |
| Writing time: | 8hours 50 minutes |
| Self-editing time: | 1hour 24 minutes |
Note that I set my short stories in the worlds I built for my full novels so much of the research is already done. Plotting here means just that: figuring out what happens, and how it happens. Also, self-editing is the process where I go through my own work and does not include the time my professional editor invests in the story (or, indeed, the time I spend going over her edits and comments).
What are your stats?
