Thursday, July 03, 2014

How long does it take to write a book...?

How long does it take to write a book? The question people love to ask, but writers hate to answer - it's enough to send your brain to mush...

For a start off, no two books are the same, some might have a clear starting point where you start to write, and keep your head down until it's finished. Others might have floated about in the imagination for months or even years before being caught and committed to print.

Some books might get shelved in favour of another, and then rise to the surface when the time is right. And then of course there's the time when technology gets in the way of what you're trying to do... you know what you want to do but just can't convince the computer to let you.

Picture books have another dimension, when the story is written, but the words have to shuffle about to make space on the page for the pictures, often throwing up new ideas and possible changes to the script...

Of course there are other times when life just seems to get in the way, and things don't get done as fast as you'd like, so when asked how long it takes to write a book, instead of being totally struck dump, or trying to waffle something as I try to remember when each book started, maybe, at the risk of sounding rude -  I should just be honest and give one of the two possible answers:

  1. I have no idea
  2. It takes as long as it takes 

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