How long does it take for you to write a chapter? And edit it?

[AliceShiki]

Just a question of curiosity that came to me as I finished editing a chapter today, like...

I usually write roughly 1000 words per hour, which I think is a pretty decent pace, it lets me finish a chapter of my story in roughly 2 hours... Then I take a break to take my mind off the story and go back to proofread it and edit things out.

In the first chapter this process took like, 5 or so minutes and it only consisted of correcting typos. Nowadays though, I think I'm taking 1-2 hours in it as well, I'm rewriting entire paragraphs, changing word order, even adding new paragraphs too. There was one time I deleted the first half of my chapter and rewrote it from scratch.

In my latest chapter for example, I added 2 paragraphs of text between the 1st and 2nd paragraphs because I wanted to develop something better that my initial draft didn't quite show.

So uhn... I got curious, how long does it take for you to write/edit/proofread your chapter? Share your own experiences~

 

[Scribbler]

I write at half your speed, but it takes me minimal time to edit.

 

[Devils.Advocate]

hm... I am not a speedy writer.... some times I'd mull over a single scene for hours, even days. But that means I edit as I write I guess.

if I am just writing with out a hitch maybe 2 to 4 hours for 1500 to 2000.

as for editing, I tend to let the writing cool off. then edit it so, 8 hours + 1 to 3 hours of actual editing.

 

[AliceShiki]

hm... I am not a speedy writer.... some times I'd mull over a single scene for hours, even days. But that means I edit as I write I guess.

if I am just writing with out a hitch maybe 2 to 4 hours for 1500 to 2000.

as for editing, I tend to let the writing cool off. then edit it so, 8 hours + 1 to 3 hours of actual editing.

Ah, I usually take some time to cool off too before editing, it helps to look at the chapter with a fresh look~

 

[LWFlouisa]

A chapter for me is 700-1,000 words. A full length for me is 15K-20K. In a pure run without cocentration issues, at that flash fiction length per say you're looking at a month, plus or minus two weeks.

I've coming to prefer 10,000-18,000 words though.

 

[SillyIslandBum]

I think this changes as your novel progresses. In your first chapters you are laying a base, maybe introducing characters, building personalities and so on. However, as you continue forward you now have to worry about consistency in your characters and storyline. It’s more to keep track of and not always easy to maintain. That aspect of the novel becomes real work you spend a lot of time making minor adjustments to chapters to avoid plot holes or other issues that can derail a story.

 

[AlwaysxDreaming]

I feel like it takes me several hours up to an entire day to write a chapter of about 1000-1300 words. Editing doesn't take very long maybe thirty minutes but I like waiting a day sometimes so I can reread with a fresh mind.

 

[AliceShiki]

I think this changes as your novel progresses. In your first chapters you are laying a base, maybe introducing characters, building personalities and so on. However, as you continue forward you now have to worry about consistency in your characters and storyline. It’s more to keep track of and not always easy to maintain. That aspect of the novel becomes real work you spend a lot of time making minor adjustments to chapters to avoid plot holes or other issues that can derail a story.

*nod nod nod* That's pretty truthful, I started changing things a lot to better reflect the current state of mind of my character... Not so much about keeping consistency in the storyline and the plotline though, those are easy to avoid for as long as I keep my personal glossary up to date~

I feel like it takes me several hours up to an entire day to write a chapter of about 1000-1300 words. Editing doesn't take very long maybe thirty minutes but I like waiting a day sometimes so I can reread with a fresh mind.

I feel like taking a break before editing is very helpful indeed! Whenever I try editing shortly after writing, I always feel like I didn't do enough in my editing... So I generally prefer taking the break for sure.

... On the other hand, I'm an impatient person, so if I have the time to do it, I want to take a go at it right away... >.>

Good luck with writing, hopefully you can get faster with time! ^^)/

 

[Kotohood]

I feel like it takes me forever to write something. Sometimes I sit down and write for like 2 minutes then stay idle for like 10-20 mins, only getting like 50 words or so done.

Sometimes I just go at it for like hours past my bedtime only to see a few k words of progress.

Editing on the other hand, much easier to do and much faster. But them my edits don't usually involve rewriting much, just to make paragraphs flow better and stuff.

The most dreaded part for me is when you are far ahead into the story and you realise to have to add something in the past, rewrite something or even worse, completely thrash and write something else. I draft like hell to avoid those kinds of situation, but them there will be times where you just have to suck it, I guess.

Those are time suckers, which is why people often say just write whatever, but I prefer to get it right the first time you know.

 

[PrincessFelicie]

I have a very wildly varying writing speed. Sometimes I’ll write you an entire chapter and then some in a day, sometimes it’ll take me a month, sometimes that entire month will be spent in writing block hell.
Editing-wise I’m lucky enough to have gotten myself an editor (...as least most of the time, they’re on break right now), but when I do it myself it tends not to take me too long because I’m a perfectionist from the first draft anyway.

 

[AliceShiki]

I feel like it takes me forever to write something. Sometimes I sit down and write for like 2 minutes then stay idle for like 10-20 mins, only getting like 50 words or so done.

Sometimes I just go at it for like hours past my bedtime only to see a few k words of progress.

Oof, that's pretty rough! >.<

Keep trying your best though! ^^)/

Editing on the other hand, much easier to do and much faster. But them my edits don't usually involve rewriting much, just to make paragraphs flow better and stuff.

Ah, that's what I did at first... But then I just started reading my chapters and felt like... "I really need to add some new stuff here", and so they started growing and growing... >.>

The most dreaded part for me is when you are far ahead into the story and you realise to have to add something in the past, rewrite something or even worse, completely thrash and write something else. I draft like hell to avoid those kinds of situation, but them there will be times where you just have to suck it, I guess.

Those are time suckers, which is why people often say just write whatever, but I prefer to get it right the first time you know.

Oh, I hate those times so much! >.<

There is an entire chapter I want to delete in my story right now, but then I'd need to edit a chapter or two to reflect the fact that chapter no longer exists, and then I'd need to notify the readers about it and like... Uuuuuuuuuugh...

So I'm just rolling with it for now, but if I ever bother with rewriting my novel from scratch, I'll definitely scrap that chapter out.

Generally speaking I also prefer to get things right in the first time, but like... Sometimes I'm really troubled on how to make a scene work in the way I want, so... I decide to just go ahead and write it in however way I can, and then I can come back and edit it later... I found out it's a lot easier to write a hard bad scene poorly, and then improve it to become good, then it is to write that hard scene well in the first go.

... Which is why I'm starting to take longer and longer to edit I guess... >.>

I have a very wildly varying writing speed. Sometimes I’ll write you an entire chapter and then some in a day, sometimes it’ll take me a month, sometimes that entire month will be spent in writing block hell.
Editing-wise I’m lucky enough to have gotten myself an editor (...as least most of the time, they’re on break right now), but when I do it myself it tends not to take me too long because I’m a perfectionist from the first draft anyway.

Wafu! >.<

I'm lucky that I never go through writer's block, which certainly helps my consistency considerably... But nice that you have an editor, having an alternative pair of eyes to look at the story must always be good! Though it's nice that you don't take too long even when you do it yourself~

 

[LostinMovement]

Writing gets more difficult the further you progress into your story. I write different scenes within a chapter and let them cool off, unedited. Later, I go back and edit them. I make sure to maintain the proper flow and pace between the scenes. Once I end up with a satisfactory outcome, I publish the chapter. I'm not a paid writer so I write for pleasure. I don't impose a certain schedule on myself so that gives me the freedom to tinker certain parts of my story as I go along.

 

[honeymilkwrites]

I spent an entire day writing and reviewing/editing one 2,000-word chapter on my story for about the first week and a half. I was very careful about avoiding plot holes and inconsistencies. Then I just went crazy in the last few days. Sometimes I manage to get two chapters/4k words done & edited in a day. I still try to avoid inconsistencies, but I spend less time fretting about whether or not people will think this or that scene is stupid.

 

[gaylolis]

It depends on my mood but I generally treat it like a pastime. Though I didn't really write that much per week, probably around 2 or 3 chapters at most. They're around 1k to 2k chapters, but I can write more shenanigans if I feel like it. the ones that's not related to my current project.

The longest time was coming up with a draft that I can really be satisfied writing from start to finish, if I couldn't do so, I would just delete the half-baked ones--I won't settle for that and that's why I hate having to meet deadlines. the editing doesn't take long in comparison. I wasn't really a perfectionist since all I have to do is making the sentence sound right to me and double-check via grammarly.

Though I did leave one day to cool down. Like when I finish them at night, I edit that tomorrow.

To me, the key to be able to write consistently was basing stuff on things I actually cared about. Rather than exploring new things, I base them on what fun things I experienced, the deeper it was, the better.

As such, I spend more on reading up things I'm curious about and having fun, than thinking 'bout the story itself, and it actually worked better for me. I only wrote the chapter when I feel like it, and that's why I didn't release as often.

 

[AliceShiki]

It depends on my mood but I generally treat it like a pastime. Though I didn't really write that much per week, probably around 2 or 3 chapters at most. They're around 1k to 2k chapters, but I can write more shenanigans if I feel like it. the ones that's not related to my current project.

The longest time was coming up with a draft that I can really be satisfied writing from start to finish, if I couldn't do so, I would just delete the half-baked ones--I won't settle for that and that's why I hate having to meet deadlines. the editing doesn't take long in comparison. I wasn't really a perfectionist since all I have to do is making the sentence sound right to me and double-check via grammarly.

Though I did leave one day to cool down. Like when I finish them at night, I edit that tomorrow.

To me, the key to be able to write consistently was basing stuff on things I actually cared about. Rather than exploring new things, I base them on what fun things I experienced, the deeper it was, the better.

As such, I spend more on reading up things I'm curious about and having fun, than thinking 'bout the story itself, and it actually worked better for me. I only wrote the chapter when I feel like it, and that's why I didn't release as often.

That's fair, for me I only deleted the first draft once because it seemed really bad... Usually I just roll with what I have written and just think that I can edit the whole thing later if I wanna publish it formally~

I don't spend much time thinking about the story itself either though, I just roll with the flow and it somehow works! \(^^)/

 

[taesijr123]

I edit it but its still trash.
SO i just send it out even if its garbage.

But for some reason people point it out for me and fix it.(If i feel like it.)
Because my english sucks ;3

 

[AliceShiki]

I edit it but its still trash.
SO i just send it out even if its garbage.

But for some reason people point it out for me and fix it.(If i feel like it.)
Because my english sucks ;3

Well, that's the nice part of having dedicated readers! It's always wonderful to have people that care enough to point out our mistakes to us! \(^^)/

 

[Sacred_Night]

It varies a bunch, because my chapters are roughly 2500 and I have an issue to where I can not stop editing as I write. It's honestly pretty painful lol. I remember being in college and hating writing for the life of me, but when it comes to writing what I want, oh i love it.

I tend to have my chapters mixed with 1 or 2 plot points, then the rest is discovery in context leading up to the next plot point. I find brain storming while I'm not writing to help ease a few hours off my time. If I don't, it can take up 6 hours. But that's my procrastination as added in, because discovery on the spot is a bit difficult for me.

Oh also 1k dialogue will take me about an hour.

 

[AliceShiki]

It varies a bunch, because my chapters are roughly 2500 and I have an issue to where I can not stop editing as I write. It's honestly pretty painful lol. I remember being in college and hating writing for the life of me, but when it comes to writing what I want, oh i love it.

I tend to have my chapters mixed with 1 or 2 plot points, then the rest is discovery in context leading up to the next plot point. I find brain storming while I'm not writing to help ease a few hours off my time. If I don't, it can take up 6 hours. But that's my procrastination as added in, because discovery on the spot is a bit difficult for me.

Oh also 1k dialogue will take me about an hour.

Ah, writing stuff we don't care about is pretty annoying for sure. Writing what we love is much better~

I do some brainstorming while I walk or bathe too, it helps put our head in the right place~

... Still, most of what I do is always on the spot... >.>

Editing as you write sounds horrible though! I prefer to just write and go back later to it! >.<

 

[Sacred_Night]

Ah, writing stuff we don't care about is pretty annoying for sure. Writing what we love is much better~

I do some brainstorming while I walk or bathe too, it helps put our head in the right place~

... Still, most of what I do is always on the spot... >.>

Editing as you write sounds horrible though! I prefer to just write and go back later to it! >.<

Horrible? It's a malignant growth, I desire to remove at all costs lol

Honestly I've spent multiple hours on a paragraph or sentence as I'm writing the essay or ch etc. I've done that all my life. I've learned to live with it but, trust me it's very unpleasant. Idk why I do it either. Probably an ocd thing or something. I never thought I was a perfectionist, but that's probably it because I do the same when it comes to sculpting and drawing