How long does it normally take you to write a short story? Would the length of time be measured in hours, days or months?
How many drafts do you generally write?
It usually takes me a month or so to finish a story. I'm very nitpicky with editing and keep finding little errors here and there. I can't let my stories go until I've found as many as possible!
To answer my own question, it usually takes me a month or so to finish a story. I'm very nitpicky with editing and keep finding little errors here and there. I can't let my stories go until I've found as many as possible.
right now it's taking forever lol. I want to write but I don't have time.
About a month for me for a short story. Lately though it's been a bit longer.
Ages now days...I write a line here and there when I find the time.
I'm pretty harsh on my own writing. I've found the process to be fun since I've been able to revise some of my stories into completely different ways. I can write 10 or more drafts to insure I'm happy with it, for a time.
Sometimes a month sometimes a week.
"Tomorrow is a new day!" *from chicken little the movie"
Sassy
Going from experience and the time it took me to finish my last story. I wrote 2,000 words in about 3 hrs on the p.c. I used to hand write; but I let my self type away without stopping myself. I usually find from start to finish about three days for a short story.
ok, going against the grain here, but normally, i get an idea, i sit down, i write... i don't stop writing unless forced too, and then i work it out in my head while working, cleaning, driving, etc... it's rare to take more then 2-3 days, sometimes just one - this is SHORT stories, btw, not novel lenght stories! once it's done, i do my best to fix typoes, reread, polish it up a bit, and then it's done. i deal with an ADD brain, so it HAS to be done quick, or i lose it and move on. it frustrates me at times to re read something a month later and nit pick at it, but then, there are times when i think i acheive what i wanted.
Like Sprite, I tend to write a short story in short period of time, from a few hours to a few days. I don't like stopping once I start, because it ruins my flow, and I feel like my story suffers because of it. It would be nice to learn how to spend a little more time on it, as I have noticed that most of the writers who spend a longer amount of time on their stories have this whole other level of storytelling that I just can't reach.
Depends on what I'm writing. It could take me six weeks or six months.
It takes me about an hour to write one page in Word...so, a six page story would take about six hours...
Most of my stories were started and finished in the same night, but a few were started, usually only a paragraph or a page at most, then finished later...anywhere from two weeks to five months later...
Though the last story I wrote, a Halloween story, was actually started the year before...but, that was an exceptional circumstance...I was supposed to work on it with another author, but she got busy with school and it didn't get finished in time for last Halloween.
I only write a story once...I don't do "rough drafts"...but, that's just me...
I once knew a drinker who had a moderating problem...
The rough drafts are the best for me. They contain what you really want in your story. I usually do a rough, then an extensive editing process before I type it up and post.
I am a frustrated writer that's why I only write poems... I tried drafting a story before and what happened was, after the climax im stuck.. i just don't know how to end it... That's why I admire writers who writes and only takes a few hours to finish it.. cause my story, never ended.. hahaha
I only write one draft, but it takes me a long time to finish it. Then, like Lisa, I go through and try to find my mistakes. This also takes a long time, and even then I don't catch everything. My own editing would go quicker if I knew more of the actual rules of punctuation. Hopefully, I'll get better at it by hanging around websites like this one.
It really varies... anywhere from one day to a week if I'm properly committed to the story. I have other pieces that I start and stop that can drag on for months, but once I'm invested and hooked on a piece of writing, the story almost tends to write itself rather quickly.
Like XuanMai, editing is not my strong suit, probably due to lack of patience. I will do superficial edits (reading it through and cleaning it up once or twice), but that's about it.
I've never written more than one draft for a story, and I've never gone back and changed a plot direction, or rewritten something I wasn't happy with. I do want to improve on my self-editing. Sometimes I'll go back and re-read something I've written a few weeks later and see where I should have tightened up my writing, or expanded on certain plot points.
One draft, multiple self edits. Thank gawd for word processors. Then I enlist one or two other sets of eyeballs as a test audience.
A 7000 word story might take one week to one month.
Poems are 10 minutes to a few hours. Those can be nailed fairly quickly.
I write quite a bit of formal, business communications, and the writing is very dry and proper. Breaking out of those tendencies when I write creatively is the challenge for me.
Tell me a fact and I’ll learn. Tell me a truth and I’ll believe. But tell me a story and it will live in my heart forever. I heard this from Steve Sabol about his father.
Another 'old' topic that deserves reviving....
Personally, I can write a short story (around 2000 words) in two to three hours. With re-reading and editing maybe another hour.
Most of you know that I love micro-fiction, yet even those little buggers can take longer to write than you might imagine! usually, though, an hour is about average.
My longer stories (those over 2500 words) can take anywhere between several weeks and several months to complete, depending on how much time I have to devote to them and how interested I am in the story I am writing.
Depends on the story and purpose. I try to just let it flow start to finish about an hour or two. I detest editing but I do mainly mechanics and grammar repair, no story changes, for a short. This, even with aids, is a day or so.
I seldom write for formal publishing unless it is business related, so I only do a rough draft. In college I had an English 202 prof. who wanted 3 page essays (hand written thankfully) rough draft and final in 1 hour. I learned to do this well enough for an A but it hurt at first.
I find it interesting to read this thread and see the different ways each person creates and spins the cloth of their words into a story. BTW this took me about 15 minutes.
May your parchment be smooth, your ink never blot, and your writing never block.
The amount of time is all dependent on a number of factors. Subject matter, the time I have to put into writing, the mood I am in, editing and proofreading. I love doing research and learning about new subject matters, so the time for that I am more than happy to 'waste'. I am not a huge fan of editing and proofing, but it needs to be done. It changes constantly the amount of time. Sometimes I can have something done within a few hours or a day or so, sometimes it can take a week or more.
It varies from story to story. Some will take weeks of research while I write rough drafts. Others have only taken just a few hours. Including posting and find an appropriate image. It all depends on the subject and my mood.
"Them ain't no militia, that's the Army of the Potomac!"
I recently started a serial and have found it takes about a week to do 4-7000 words. I do it all on PC so rough draft vs. edit is sort of simultaneous. I usually proof, edit and revise as I go, then take 2 days for full grammar check (Blasted comma's) missing words, wrong word wright sound etc. This is working about 3 to 4 hours a day. It is a memoir so research is minimal.
May your parchment be smooth, your ink never blot, and your writing never block.
Hours to years. For me, the quality of the first draft is most important. If I enough time to knock out a complete draft, the rest will come more easily. If I only have some, it takes me weeks.
