30 Days Writing Meme -- Question Twenty Three

23. How long does it usually take you to complete an entire story—from planning to writing to posting (if you post your work)?

Uh… it depends? *weak smile* That's such a cop-out answer, but it is true.

Some things get written in a matter of days/weeks, and some things take a longer time to come together and gel. I'd say that, honestly, it often has less to do with the book in those situations for me as it does the writer. There's usually* nothing in the writing process that's causing the hold-up, it's just RL getting in the way. Then there's the really obvious things, like the actual length of the book (a factor that seems to increase exponentially in relation to how long I work at it and how much fun I'm having, weirdly enough...), and whether the book is for a particular line or submissions call, in which case it has a set deadline that comes into play. I've pulled 35k, plus revisions and edits, outta my ass (...sorry for that image *headdesk*) in a week before now, and a 3k contest story has taken twice as long.

So yeah, it depends on a whole bunch of things, but ultimately, on me. Which is why it's important to take your obligations and responsibilities seriously in this game. "I didn't feel like it" really doesn't cut a whole lot of slack with anyone.

(*Of course, some stories do end up taking an interminably long time for the simple reason that the story itself -- or one of its component elements -- just doesn't work. But even then, it's the writer's (*points at self*) stubbornness in terms of wanting to try every possible permutation of keeping that element in the book, even if it's screaming out in radiation coloured neon that "this doesn't work for this book, get over it!")