How Long Does It Take to Write a Book?

Writing a book, especially for the first time, is a huge and exciting undertaking. You get to create an entire world with nothing but your imagination! But once you get moving your pen on the paper, you might start to wonder, how much longer is this going to take? I want to be finished already so I can get published!

The answer is that it really is different for every writer. But there are a few elements you can look at to see how long it will take you to finish your book, and some tricks to make your creative writing time as efficient as possible. Let’s dive in.

Audience and genre convention play a role in the time you spend on your book. For example, a children’s book of around 5,000 words can be done in a rapid-fire weekend, while a complex high fantasy novel for adults might take five or six years of devoted drafting.

Factors that affect the length of time to write a book

If that seems like a pretty big range, it’s because no two books are the same—even books by the same author! Each one is a new journey with new challenges and surprises. But, there are a few factors that will affect how much time you’ll need to invest in your creative project.

1. Genre and word count

It probably won’t come as a surprise that longer books take longer to write! An average YA or adult novel ranges from about 75,000 words to about 90,000 words. Some genres, like high fantasy (think The Lord of the Rings trilogy or A Game of Thrones) may go even higher than this. Books for younger readers (called MG, for “middle grade”), are usually between about 40,000 and 70,000 words.

Some genres are also more demanding than others. For example, historical fiction writers have to do a lot of preliminary research on their chosen time period before they begin writing their first draft. Many writers of elaborate fantasy or sci-fi might have to undergo a similar process (called “worldbuilding”) to establish the rules and cultural norms of their story world. You may also need to do some research if you’re writing literary fiction about an unfamiliar culture, demographic, or occupation.

To get a sense of how long it will take to write your book, ask yourself approximately how many words you’re aiming for, and how much research you’ll have to do as part of the writing process.

2. Availability and discipline

The time you spend writing also depends a lot on the time you spend writing. Professional authors will often write for six to eight hours every single day, and finish a first draft in just a few months.

But, this rigor isn’t going to work for everyone. You might have another job, family to take care of, studies, and so forth. So decide how much free time you can devote to your writing project, create a routine, and stick to it.

Discipline is one of the most important skills you can have as a writer—even more so than talent. The most successful writers are the ones who kept at it, even when they lost their inspiration and patience. Even if you can only write one or two hundred words each day, that will add up over time if you just keep going.

3. Planning approach

Writing speed is also impacted by how you prepare your project. If you start writing a fiction book blind and discover the story as you go (also called a “discovery writer” or “pantser”, because they fly by the seat of their pants), the first draft might take a bit longer. If you create a novel outline and plan each chapter or scene in advance, you may be able to get through them faster.

Remember that writing a great book isn’t just about speed, so try out both methods and see which feels best for you.

4. Number of revisions

Finally, a huge part of writing a book actually happens during revision, or editing and polishing a rough draft into a work of art. You’ll need to do this both at a line level (also called copy editing) and at a broader story level (also called structural editing).

Most writers go through numerous drafts of a book before they have a manuscript that’s of publishable quality. So how many drafts do you need? This can vary between about three to at least a dozen, depending on how many revisions you need to do and how well you structured your story.

How much time you spend on editing will partially depend on how much time you spend on your initial planning. It will also depend on your skills as a writer, and you’ll find that your revisions will become less demanding and time-consuming with practice.

How to increase your productivity and write faster

We hope that’s encouraging, but we won’t blame you if you want to pick up the pace a little. Here are some tips to keep in mind if you want to condense your overall writing time and write more efficiently.

Create a writing schedule

The best way to write a novel faster is to create a consistent writing schedule that you follow every single day —or at least a few regular days each week. You can use a writing app for this, or join an accountability group to keep you on track.

Try to choose at least three days per week when you can set aside a time to really focus on your writing. Then, find a time on those days that works best for you. Each writer is different, and one bestselling author’s 5am regime may not work for your night owl body. You may need to experiment a bit to find the time of day you feel most productive and creative.

Then, determine a goal for what you’re going to write during those sessions. This can be either a set time or a target word count—for example, 20 minutes or 200 words.

Make sure you work towards this goal every session, and maintain your sessions week after week. There will inevitably be days when you don’t feel quite as up to it; but if you force yourself into a regular writing habit, you’ll find getting the words down on paper becomes easier and easier.

Embrace accountability

Remember how we said accountability groups can help maintain a regular writing routine? Connecting with a writing group or writing partner is a great way to stay on track and hit those writing goals.

This approach does a couple of things. First, it makes you accountable to your goals and gives you a set time and place (even if that place is on your Zoom screen) to show up and write (this is called “body doubling”, by the way—a psychological phenomenon in which things become easier once you see someone else doing them too).

Second, writing with others can give you the motivation and courage to keep going when you run out of inspiration, or feel discouraged. Other writers are people who understand the rocky road to writing a novel, and they’ll be the ones to cheer you on. Which means that you’ll be able to push through the tough bits and make it to The End.

Plan some of your story in advance

How do famous authors slam out so many books in a row? By carefully outlining what’s going to happen in the story—and how to build suspense with cliffhangers—before they even begin the writing process.

How much planning and how much “pantsing” (that’s discovering the story in real time as you write) goes into a new novel really varies from one writer to another. Some authors like to plan ahead and outline the entire plot beat by beat (this is an especially popular approach in screenwriting), while others like to spend a few weeks mapping out a rough breakdown of the major plot points and fill the rest in as they go.

Regardless of how you develop your own process, if you know the key points you’re writing to instead of just writing into the void, you’ll get to that final draft a lot faster.

Finish your novel and get that book deal

You’ve probably learned by now that coming up with a promising book idea isn’t the same as holding a finished novel in your hands. Writing a book takes commitment, perseverance, and dedication—all traits that contribute a lot more to the writing process than born talent.

The key moment in any writer’s path to literary acclaim comes when they want to give up, but they keep on going. That’s the difference between a successful author and a hobbyist with big dreams.

Whether you want to explore traditional publishing or become a bestselling self-published author, spending the necessary time crafting your manuscript is the first step.