: Re: How long should it take to write 100k words? 100,000 words makes a novel. For a perfectionist each line is poetry. How long should it take to write a novel? Not a bestseller. Just enough

@Lee1909368

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To produce something no more nor less publishable than some bestsellers bare minimum would be about a year broken down like this:

Two Months: First Draft (taken as 2xNaNoWriMo some people do produce 100k+ in this month but 50k is generally thought to be achievable)
Two Months: Cool down time. Maybe first draft a completely separate project.
Three Months: First Pass. Most of the good work is done here. By the time you've finished all that should be left is grace notes.
Three Months: Cool Down Time. More important. Get a lot of distance, should definitely work on something else consuming here, try to forget as much of the detail about your work as possible.
Two Months: Second pass and final polish. Time to murder the darlings, hoover up most obvious typos etc. By the time this is finished the book will still have mistakes of various types but none that can be spotted without an editor.

This should be ample time to produce one book and get underway on a couple more. If you have any talent and dedication what you produce should be up to the quality of what sits on many bestseller lists (midlist sales will not allow you to "survive in the city" you have to glean a large advance or respectable sales for that).

As to whether your offering will fare as well in the world's most Kafka-esque lottery (AKA the publishing industry)... well, that's another matter entirely.

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