How long it takes...

[GioRocket]

I am relatively new at this fanfiction game, writing wise anyway, so while I have been talking to different authors I have realised that some authors can actually finish writing a whole chapter in one day. Is that normal? That seems ridiculously quick to me lol

Each of my chapters are around the 5000 word mark and it take me a month to finish a chapter, is that slow? Or is it just because I am new at this?

How long does it usually take you to finish writing chapters?

 

[LightningTopaz]

About 30 minutes to an hour, if the idea is a quickie. Longer episodes may take several hours, depending on my mood and distractions.

A month to write 5000 words seems a bit slow to me--are you just taking a while to edit, or are there tons of distractions?

 

[GioRocket]

Well, both lol I do edit a lot, and with university deadlines creeping up I don't get as much time as I like to work on it. Or I could just be lazy...that's always a possibility xD

Maybe I'll get quicker as I get more experience, but still, doing it in hours seems mind boggling to me right now haha

 

[Caitlin]

Once I get into a groove, it usually takes me two or three days to write a chapter and another day to go over it and edit it. However, I have to balance that between real life obligations, my other hobbies and things that are just generally more worth my time.

I guess if you stripped it all down, 6-8 hours to write something around the 5000 word mark. A lot of that is redoing stuff to make sure it flows properly.

 

[Kelleo]

Well, between taking breaks and doing other stuff, it takes me a week or two to finish a chapter. Mine tend to be pretty long though, so yeah. And now that I have a job, I might actually take longer. xP

 

[AetherX]

If I actually sat down and wrote for a whole day then I could totally finish a chapter. I just never do that. I'm with Caitlin, to be honest. When I do find time to write I can probably finish a 5k chapter in six or seven hours, then I wait a day and edit it.

 

[Nereus]

I'm quite similar, because I'm easily distracted and I can't find enough time for writing due to many tasks I have right now Also I tend to change my mind, therefore I edit a lot sometimes, so yeah, I'm a slow writer.

However, when we had winter break, I've written three 4k words chapters in a week. I just can't focus very well, when I have lots of other responsibilities :/

 

[Flaze]

I could finish my chapter in a day if I actually kept my focus on them xD I usually take a month but that's only cause I take too long to actually get started on the chapter. My usual number of words? I don't have one really xD aside from that I don't actually keep track of the wrods as much as just the pages so I guess I'm different in that sense.

 

[Drakon]

It can take me months to get a single chapter out. This is due to a mix of distractions, time crunches and editing.

A more usual time is maybe a a few weeks.

 

[NoirGrimoir]

I think the quickest I've ever written a chapter was maybe two and half weeks, and the chapter was about 16k words, I think. Usually it takes me a month, absolute minimum. More like two or three months though, is my usual, when I update at all. O_O Mostly this is because I write very long chapters and because I'm a perfectionist and read and re-read my chapters over and over as I write. And of course sometimes I do get stuck on parts, or I write something and then change my mind about it and toss part of what I've written. I have to be at least 95% happy with something before I'll post it.

I actually think going from writing to post in a single day is a bad idea, even if you can write it that fast. What you write one day may seem fine but after you sleep on it you'll notice a lot of your mistakes or where you can improve the chapter. After you 'finish' a chapter, you should really give it a day to recheck and edit before you actually post. I think a lot of people's writing mistakes could be avoided that way.