Q&A: How long did it take to finish your first novel?
Your first finished novel doesn’t have to be fast—it just has to be finished, and sometimes that means learning to push through the stalls without panicking.
I started my first novel back in fall of 2018—my first real attempt at writing a full book. It’s been almost seven years, and I still don’t have a completed draft. I keep wondering: am I just being too hard on myself? Or is this normal? I’d really love to hear from other writers—how long did your first novel take?
Hi!
It took me four or five barely-started or half-finished novels before I finally finished one. The first book I completed took about seven months and came in at 79K words. Since then, I’ve written several more—some in a month, some over the course of two years. It just depends on the book and the deadline.
What really helped me (and might help you) was shifting my mindset. Yeah, I know, mindset, eye roll—but hear me out.
When I used to hit a wall with a project, I’d immediately think: “Ugh, writer’s block.” That thought would spiral into anxiety about having writer’s block, and pretty soon I’d stop working on the project altogether.
Now, X books deep, I understand two key things:
I am going to stall out on a book—probably more than once.
There are a bunch of different reasons why that happens.
Knowing that it’s normal—and temporary—helps me step back, figure out what’s actually going on, and respond instead of panic-quitting. Here are some of the usual suspects and how I deal with them:
I don’t know what happens next.
I’m a plotter, so this doesn’t happen often in the drafting stage—but when it does, I ask myself, “What’s the next thing I know for sure happens?” Then I jump ahead and write that. Problem solved.
I’m trying to write linearly and my brain doesn’t work that way.
I used to force myself to write in order—page one to The End. That doesn’t work for me. Now I write the scenes I know about first and stitch things together in edits. Way easier.
I’m burned out.
If I’ve had a 3–4K word day, the next day I’m often a husk of a human. Instead of pushing through, I pivot to writing-adjacent tasks: playlists, Pinterest boards, working on the summary or outline. That keeps me in the story world without draining my tank further.
I think everything I’m writing is stupid.
Yup. That’s a classic. It still happens with every book, and it used to stop me cold. Now, I still feel like everything I’m writing (including this post!) is crap, but I do it anyway. Not because I’m magically confident—but because I’ve practiced sitting with that discomfort. Even five or ten minutes still gets words down.
Shiny New Idea Syndrome.
I used to get halfway through one book, get struck by lightning with another idea, start that one… and repeat. Now, I break up “writing a book” into self-contained stages—idea, brainstorming, storybreaking, drafting, editing, etc.—and build in re-entry points. That way I can pause and explore a new idea without abandoning the current project.
Hope something in there helps—and sending all the luck your way! You’ve got this.
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