My first love is fantasy and perhaps in no other genre do authors torture readers with long waits between books. Patrick Rothfuss made us wait four years between the first book in Kingkiller Chronicles, The Name of the Wind and The Wise Man's Fears. I'm not sure how long I've waited for Terry Goodkind to come out with his next Sword of Truth book. I couldn't even guess how long Brandon Sanderson will make us wait for the book following that ten-pounder, The Way of Kings.
I think a big question on fantasy readers' minds is how long it will take George Martin to write the next book in Fire and Ice series. We waited six years for A Dance of Dragons. The series if a very involved book with a huge world and a cast of thousands but six years? I'm wondering if having his books made into an HBO series will inspire him to write faster. Or, worse case scenario, might it slow him down?
My fantasy books aren't as long as the big stars I mention as examples. Usually they're about 100,000 words rather than 2K. It does take me about a year to complete one. But I'm also working a full time job and raising a family. Could I do better? Probably if I let some things go, but as of right now, I'm working as fast as I can.
How long does it take you complete a book? What is the longest you've waited for the next book in a series? What book, besides your own, are you anticipating right now?
5 comments:
I've only written two, and the first took almost two years. The second one three months to write and another five to edit.
I share the frustration of wanting the next book sooner, but now I know authors can only write so fast.
Complete a book? People really do that? I've always admired the tenacity of novel writers!
For a while there, Anne McCaffrey was putting out books faster than I could read them.
I wrote my non-fiction book in three months, but the fastest I've ever written a fiction book is six months. (Ironically, it was my longest one.)
My first book, 6 months.
Second, 7 months.
Third @8 months and half done.
WTH
The waiting game for the Wheel of Time books by Jordan and Sanderson is the difficult one.
I think you all write faster than I do. I always get side-tracked by revising something further along in the process and my new work suffers from lack of attention.
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