Voices of Fiction – Time to write a book – Part Five

Welcome to Voices of Fiction.

We continue with our discussion of how long it takes to write a book.

Please welcome our guests.

Joy Brooks is a Southern lady in love with the mystery and adventure associated with medieval warriors and royalty. She fills her spare time with reading, writing, cross-stitching, and playing with her seven cats. She enjoys the quiet life in a quaint, historic Georgia town. - Website, Blog

Bobbi Carducci’s book, Storee Wryter Gets a Dog, earned a GOLD Mom’s Choice Award for excellence and was named A Best Dog Book for Young Readers by Cesar Milan, The Dog Whisperer. She is an award winning short story writer, columnist and professional book reviewer. Bobbi will be the luncheon keynote speaker at the 26th Annual Pennwriters Conference in May 2013. - Blog, Website, Website

Born in France, award-winning author Vijaya Schartz never conformed to anything and could never refuse a challenge. She likes action and exotic settings, in life and on the page. She traveled the world and writes with the same ease about the future and the far away past. Her novels collected many five star reviews and literary awards. - Website, Amazon, Barnes/Noble

Cindy Cromer is a scientist with degrees in Chemistry and president of a laboratory network. She has written numerous laboratory procedures and research documents. In her new endeavor, writing mystery novels, she utilizes some of her career experience into her plots, but doesn’t overwhelm the reader with scientific jargon. She has recently been selected as one of the "50 Great Writers You Should Be Reading." Website, Books/Books, Vero Beach Book Center

Welcome Authors!

Question: How long does it take you to write a book?

Joy Brooks: On average maybe four months to write. When the ideas get to flowing, I can't quit writing. I write until all my ideas are on paper. Then I start editing and that adds some time. All total including edits, maybe 8 months. I try to be real through in my editing.

Bobbi Carducci: There is no real answer for this question, in my case anyway. The book I’m currently working on has been in progress for five years. Ouch! But, it’s deeply personal and I had to deal with some heavy emotional issues as I wrote. I am back on track now and hope to have the first draft done in a few weeks. After that the editing and rewriting begin. It’s important for writers to understand that it’s better to take your time. Rewriting is as much as a part of the process as the initial writing. My book for young readers was initially written as a picture book. It was pretty awful. The rewrite was better. Then and editor suggested it be expanded for an older audience. That took about three months. The final edition is so much better than the original idea that I’m grateful I didn’t stop with the first try.

Vijaya Schartz: My first book took me three years to write, about two years for the second, and a year and a half for the third. Now, after having over twenty titles published, I can write a full length novel in five months. I try to write two full novels and one novella per year, to keep my readers engaged. The more often an author has a new book coming out, the better. You do not want your followers to have forgotten all about your last novel when the next one comes out. I guess that’s why the most popular authors are using ghost writers and co-writers, so they can produce more books.

Cindy Cromer: It depends on the book. My first novel, Desperate Measures, took me about two months. The second book Desperate Deceptions took much longer. It could be considered a sequel but I strived to write it as a stand-alone. I had to be very careful and not re-iterate the first book when introducing the characters. I also found myself over analyzing and editing each word and scene instead of writing first then editing. Onto a completely genre, I wrote a children’s book in one day.

Thank you all for joining us today.

Readers feel free to ask questions concerning this topic in the comments. Also feel free to send questions to chergreen@chergreen.com Subject: Voices of Fiction Question, and have them answered by the participating authors in later editions.

There’s also room for more authors to participate. Drop me an email, Subject: Voices of Fiction.

(Disclaimer - Bios and photos submitted by authors.)